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Heidi wasn't able to provide intervention (no answer when I called her ) and some new guys came home with me. I was at (insert name of large chain superstore here) and picked up four little "copperfire" gouramis. I think they're just a color variation of dwarf gourami, but I'm not sure. (Edit: Actually, reading the page with the below picture more thoroughly indicates that it's a color variation on honey gourami?) Any ideas?

Not many hits on them on Google, but there's a picture that I think is fairly accurate.

(I really need to get new rechargeable batteries for my digicam, they die pretty much as soon as they get off the charger. )

I drained the 12 gallon tank that had been sitting unplugged with just water in it for a while. Refilled, dechlored, added cycle. They're small right now, maybe an inch or so long. I want to QT them for a while, because as usual, the tanks were full of ich-y fish. Sigh. These guys actually look pretty healthy, though.

As a side note, I had to go all the way to the registers to have someone paged to the pet dept, no one ever showed up and I had to net my own fish from the top row of tanks. (Bad me, it specifically says not to "touch or feed the fish". It also means I was probably being illegal in adding water to the 1/4 filled betta cups. ) At 5'6" that wasn't easy!



~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

We have those over here, we call them red robin gourami's, theres a lot of debate about their origins, but they could be a cross , possibly between initially dwarf gourami and a colisa labiosa to get the red colouration, and then a possible rehybridisation with colisa chuna for body shape and a "cute" size.

Trouble is, some variants have different characteristics of any two or even all three of the suggested progenitor species.

Unfortunately they arent always the toughest stock, the ones round here seem to die in droves, so you may have to prepare yourself to give them better water quality than you can get away with in the case of any of the progenitor species.

Well, all four are alive and well this morning, I think all but one is perky and erect-dorsiled. None of them look poorly, though.

I'll wait until this afternoon to feed them, hopefully by then they'll be hungry enough to ignore the fact that they're in a new environment. Besides, the lights don't go on until later. *grins* Just because I have to get up at the bleeding crack of dawn doesn't mean they have to.

I think these guys will eventually go into the 55 gallon when I get that set up (and I swear it's going to happen soon!), so they'll be a nice pop of red color. Any idea of what their temperament will be like? Will these guys get along with Pearl gouramis?

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Bad me, it specifically says not to "touch or feed the fish".

Its okay that signs is for the employees not the customers.
The only good store around me(which recently closed owner retired) called them red robin gouramis as well

"No whammy, No whammy, No whammy, STOP!!"

1984-Michael Larsen On Press Your Luck

I have a feeling they will be shy in the presence of the larger pearls,temperamentally they seem similar to dwarf gourami's but as long as there arent too many pearls they may find their own corner. Its not an ideal compatible stocking, but with enough decor and visual barriers I guess it could be made to work.

Haven't gotten the pearls, yet, but i want a larger gourami for centerpiece fish when I get this tank set up... I'm really liking the reds I've got with these guys and then the cherry barbs, as well as some of the reds in my betta girls.

I may wind up splitting my stock and keeping some in the 20 gallon, some in the 55. We'll see what happens. If anything, there would be 1-3 pearls at the most. Probably a pair, if I can find a female. Not that I think I'll have any fry with the stock in my tank, but hey, it would be interesting. I may just wind up with a single male pearl, though. *shrugs*

Hang on a moment, I'll go see if the lil guys want to eat.

Yay... hungry gouramis.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

hungry fish=healthy fish

Yup. I'm that crazy Twilight/animal/music girl

Definitely healthy little guys, then... They seem voraciously hungry. I'm thinking aaronfry was right... the feeding and touching the fish sign must have been for the employees.

Haven't seen any signs of illness or listlessness yet. Despite the fact that over half the tanks exhibited ich or other illness at the store, these guys are holding up pretty well and have settled in nicely.

As for calling them "guys", how does one differentiate male from female in the case of these gouramis? Any ideas?

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Just like you do with a lot of cichlids,and the labiosa gouramis, theres not likely to be a lot of difference in colour thanks to the hybridisation, although the females will probably be smaller thanks to the dwarf gourami blood. The males dorsal tends to be more pointed at the rear, the females more rounded, looks like theres three males in that pic, although maybe there is a chance the one one the far right might potentially be female, I cant tell if its rounded or the fin tip has just got pushed down. Wouldnt be surprising if theyre all males though, breeders often keep the females back for breeding, and show photos generally feature males.

This of course means that should any start bubble nesting you might have to break them up or seperate them since they will start the usual sabotaging of each others nests and all the beatings that tend to go with it. They dont tend to kill each other outright, but exhaustion can sometimes make them weak enough to die. These guys will be like dwarf gouramis needing about a foot of water per male when bubblenesting, although you can pretty much keep as many females as you want with males and with other females.

Ah, that's not my picture, just one I pulled off the 'net. My camera batteries are fried, just got new ones, going to see if I can get a decent shots of my own lil guys.

Think I'd actually have neon bits in my gravel? Thank you, my substrates are all very natural browns.

Anyway, the camera lasted long enough for me to get a few shots.

All four together:


A good shots of dorsil fin on one of them... they all look more or less like this, so assuming all males?


I thought this one was a fun pic.


I'm really liking the color and the personality behind these guys... They're really cute, and startle easily, but are still very inquisitive. Three of the four are bolder than the fourth... Sometimes I have to go looking for the last one.

They seem pretty hardy, considering the state of most of the tanks in the store they came from. Despite warnings earlier in this thread, they actually seem to be quite healthy. I haven't seen any sign of illness or anything of that nature.

They ARE quite the hungry bunch and have figured out what the opening lid means. As soon as food hits the surface of the water, they're at it (except the shyer one, who takes his time). They're happily munching away at FD bloodworms in the first pic.

Edit: Apologies for the state of the decor in the tank, these guys came home with me at 9:30 one night and I just kind of threw things around to get them in there. The lack of a background is due to the BF being smart enough move the lid (eclipse hood with filter built in) and tilt it while it was running, causing water to go pouring down the back of the tank. Sigh.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

lol, thats fishkeeping. Yup, they all look like males to me.

we have them here but they are caled orange flame gouramis. hey are actually just a orange veriation of the thick lipped gouramis. i think u have one female, it is the one taking a breath in the all four together photo

I have a few of these little guys myself, known as Flame Gouramis at LFS. Yes they are a color variation on the Dwarf Gourami, which originally only had two colors, red & blue. And yes they are very hardy eaters, mine eat a good variety of floating flakes, blood worms, & brine shrimp.
They are very entertaining fish and you should get many years of enjoyment from these little guys.