Stocking Honey Gourami

I would not keep 4 males in a tank this size. I would not even keep 2 males.

When I first started keeping fish, I had a 60 x 30 cm, 60 litre tank - same footprint as yours, just a bit taller. When I bought my first honey gouramis I did not know how to tell the difference between males and females - no internet back then, just out dated library books. From looking at drawings (no photos in those books) I chose what I thought were 1 male 2 females. 3 weeks later I got up to find two tan fish with black throats and they did not get along together.


If this was my tank I would get either 4 females or 1 male, 3 females.


Red honey gouramis are quite hard to sex, natural and yellow are easier. The safest thing would be to chose females form the non-reds, then try to get 2 red females. If one turns out to be a male, it isn't disastrous.
Red - look for the longest, pointiest fins for males, the shortest roundest fins for females.
Natural - the beige ones with a dark stripe from nose to tail are females. If there is no stripe they could still be females, but could also be stressed males. The ones with a darker throat are males.
Yellow - any with a hint of a stripe are females. Those with orange tails are males.

I forgot to mention that with yellows, the males do show the black throat, just not as large or intense as with natural coloured males. In shop tanks the fish are quite stressed so the black throat may not be obvious. But if any yellows do show a hint of a black throat don't buy those.

You shouldn't mix gourami species, nor gouramis with bettas. Either get a thick lipped gourami or honey gouramis.