Yellow Honey Gourami

You have 2 females.
In this colour, if a fish has a darker stripe, even a broken stripe, down the side from nose to tail, it's female. Not all females have them, but if there is one, it's female. And both your photos show the dark line very nicely.
Male yellows usually have orange towards the tail, though it's not always easy to see in shop tanks as these fish go pale when stressed. An unstressed, mature male will also have a blackish throat, though they are unlikely to show this in a shop tank - stressed and too young.

If you go back to the shop, maybe ask if you can swap one female. Take someone with you. Look in the tank for a few minutes before deciding. A fish that has orange towards the tail is more likely to be male, especially of there's no dark stripe. Keep your eyes on your chosen fish and send your companion to find an assistant - and tell him that you want that fish and no other.


You could try keeping the two females and adding a male, but I have had trouble when I've tried trios with the females fighting each other. With this species, the male doesn't harass the female very badly and they do well in m/f pairs.

Attached is a photo of my male so you can see what I mean. Ignore the black throat, they are unlikely to show that in the shop.

Well I found a young gourami at the LFS that I presume is male, it has no lateral line and orange colouration on that tail and tips of the fins.

The only problem that is after adding him to the tank with on of the other larger fish he is getting chased around by the more mature honey. Do you think the aggressive chasing is because the young fish is another female? Will it settle down or should I return the young honey to the LFS.

Thanks for the advice Sue, they have calmed down a bit now.

Steve.