Is this a honey gourami or something else?

Seems like a popular question, but I browsed the forum and internet and couldn't find a fish that looked exactly like this one. I had a pair of honey gourami until October, when my male died, and finally the LFS (where I got my original pair) got in a shipment of "Golden Honey Dwarf Gouramis", so I bought one to replace him (not sure of sex, I think too young to tell). I didn't realize how different the colour was until I got it home, it has a red border to it. Is this a different colour variation or a different species? Or maybe is just young and the colours haven't developed yet? (my current gourami did not look like that as a baby though, I checked back in my photos)

The new one is about half the size of my adult female.

Photos:
1. My adult honey gourami I've had 1.5 years
2. The new one I just bought
3. Different angle
4. Both of them in one pic (was hard to get sry its not the best)

 

I would google some colour variations of honey gourami, as they can come in different colours. I have a pair of red honey gourami. This appears to me as a wild type honey gourami. When looking at different colored honey gourami it is important to note that anything not labeled trichogaster chuna is not a honey gourami. There is a common gourami called the sunset honey gourami that is actually a breed between the honey and dwarf gourami, it is important you look at actual honey gourami.

 

The new one is a honey. Sunset honey gourami are a color morph of the same species.

 

Thanks - I think I've exhausted the pictures on google images lol. I did see one called a "fire variant" that had the red border. Seeing them next to each other really threw me off, but when I look at it separately it looks like a honey to me. Excited to see what the little guy/girl looks like grown up (wild, sunset, or something else ^^).

 

The new one is a honey. Sunset honey gourami are a color morph of the same species.

There is a red variant of a honey gourami, which can be called a sunset honey gourami. But there is a gourami called a thicklip gourami or trichogaster labiosa that also can go by this name. Using common names for gourami get confusing especially when they have such an overlap, apolologies.

Thanks - I think I've exhausted the pictures on google images lol. I did see one called a "fire variant" that had the red border. Seeing them next to each other really threw me off, but when I look at it separately it looks like a honey to me. Excited to see what the little guy/girl looks like grown up (wild, sunset, or something else ^^).

If you can find a scientific name for the "fire variant" you can figure out if its a honey gourami.

 

The LFS wasn't displaying the scientific names. It's just one website I saw the "fire" variant, which was labeled "colisa chuna - fire". Dunno if it's a legit thing or just a marketing gimmick, but this is the photo they had. "The new variety has the yellow-golden body of the well known “Gold”-variety of Colisa chuna, but the tail, the caudal fin and the soft parts of dorsal and analfin are deep red."

 

Are you in the US? The Wet Spots sells them on their web page altho their shipping is high, I think $40.

Trichogaster chuna is the latin name for honey gourami. Maybe your LFS could look at their invoice and see if that's what they have.

 

Oh interesting - no, I'm in Canada, but cool that more than one place sells them. Ye if I have any doubts that's a good idea to call and check, I'm feeling more confident that this is a honey now though.

 

Oh interesting - no, I'm in Canada, but cool that more than one place sells them. Ye if I have any doubts that's a good idea to call and check, I'm feeling more confident that this is a honey now though.

Colisa Chuna is also a name for the honey gourami, I am fairly confident you have a honey gourami

 

This 100% is a T.chuna

 

Seems like a popular question, but I browsed the forum and internet and couldn't find a fish that looked exactly like this one. I had a pair of honey gourami until October, when my male died, and finally the LFS (where I got my original pair) got in a shipment of "Golden Honey Dwarf Gouramis", so I bought one to replace him (not sure of sex, I think too young to tell). I didn't realize how different the colour was until I got it home, it has a red border to it. Is this a different colour variation or a different species? Or maybe is just young and the colours haven't developed yet? (my current gourami did not look like that as a baby though, I checked back in my photos)

The new one is about half the size of my adult female.

Photos:
1. My adult honey gourami I've had 1.5 years
2. The new one I just bought
3. Different angle
4. Both of them in one pic (was hard to get sry its not the best)

Like DD said these are Trichogaster chuna aka true Honey Gourami.
Spoiler alert? These are what you would call "Golden" Honey Gourami a bred strain.

There is a red variant of a honey gourami

I think this can be rather misleading to say given the proportion of red in the fish is limited to around the tail and analfin. "Red Honey Gourami" or "Red Robins" are almost always Trichogaster labiosa.

It's unfortunate but with this species even the Latin name is often of no help in stores or even on stock lists. A google search was just sad to view, so few Honeys compared to Dwarf and Thicked Lipped

 

Like DD said these are Trichogaster chuna aka true Honey Gourami.
Spoiler alert? These are what you would call "Golden" Honey Gourami a bred strain.

I think this can be rather misleading to say given the proportion of red in the fish is limited to around the tail and analfin. "Red Honey Gourami" or "Red Robins" are almost always Trichogaster labiosa.

It's unfortunate but with this species even the Latin name is often of no help in stores or even on stock lists. A google search was just sad to view, so few Honeys compared to Dwarf and Thicked Lipped

Sorry, I did not mean to mislead but I definitely see how it could be interpreted that way. The red variant I was referring to is completely red and not just the tail and analfin. I have these fish and can show a picture but I did also at one point have what the store called a "sunset honey gourami" which had the red around only the tail and analfin like you stated. The "sunset honey gourami" was indeed a Trichogaster labiosa so I could see how just stating it was a red honey gourami was misleading, my apologies.

 

Sorry, I did not mean to mislead but I definitely see how it could be interpreted that way.

No worries

I have these fish and can show a picture but I did also at one point have what the store called a "sunset honey gourami" which had the red around only the tail and analfin like you stated. The "sunset honey gourami" was indeed a Trichogaster labiosa so I could see how just stating it was a red honey gourami was misleading, my apologies.

The fish you currently have are indeed T. labiosa. You liked a comment of mine a few hours ago on a thread asking about them
Again no worries, this species is in such a mess in terms of identity anyone can get confused.

 

No worries

The fish you currently have are indeed T. labiosa. You liked a comment of mine a few hours ago on a thread asking about them
Again no worries, this species is in such a mess in terms of identity anyone can get confused.

Sadly those fish did pass away due to camallanus worms, which was quite sad and quite a battle for a inexperienced aquarist. Now I have actual honey gourami with full red on them and I live in constant fear of camallanus lol. Back to the point though I completely agree that this species has so much in common with its hybrid for obvious reasons that it can be a mess to figure out what you're getting.