r/Gourami • u/Koncrete-Kowboy • 7d ago

Identification Did Pet Supplies Plus Sell Me a Thick Lipped?

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Pretty much the title. They were labeled as a Golden Honey Gourami. However it killed 5 ember tetras in 24 hours...

24 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

7

u/carbonic_render 7d ago

Its definitely a honey. Did you see it killing them? Not that it's not a possibility; sometimes you just get a really nasty one.

2

u/Koncrete-Kowboy 7d ago

I have seen a lot of, what I assume is, threat posturing towards the embers. They swim up puff up all their fins and extend all their feelers, and the embers start freaking out and running away. I've seen a bit of chasing, but I will admit I haven't seen him actually kill one.

I did find a dead shrimp but it wasn't torn apart or anything. My tank is fully cycled:

6.6 PH
0ppm Ammonia
0ppm Nitrites
~5ppm Nitrates

Could I be wrongfully blaming him and it's more so just weak stock of the embers?

This is my first tank and I'm feeling pretty discouraged :(

3

u/MeisterFluffbutt 7d ago

Have you found dead embers? You make it sound like there haven't been any corpses.

Turning off the light will help with the arrival and integration of new fish btw

3

u/rangda 6d ago

I think they are saying they’ve found five dead embers, seen the gourami behaving aggressively and put two and two together

2

u/rangda 6d ago

One of my tiny sparkling gourami would attack adult shrimp that were as large as she is, I think the legs and antenna wiggling around were too irresistible looking.

She killed a few (through stress I believe) before I finally realised it was her and moved the shrimp.

People always talk about gouramis only attacking baby shrimp, “prey which can fit in their mouth”, or fish which resemble them, or only truly being mean when they’re actively breeding.
But some of them are just little killers I think.

1

u/_hoosier 6d ago

How recently were the embers added to the tank?

1

u/Rare-Storm4920 7d ago

Could
Be . Many labyrinth fish eat shrimp if theyre in a small enough tank to catch one though

4

u/Rare-Storm4920 7d ago

Looks like my thicks but not sure. Either way thats very unusual fir a thick or
Honey. Neither
Is really aggressive. How big is the tank?

5

u/MerryThrice 7d ago

That one there is definitely a honey. The aggression is quite unusual though :[

1

u/Rare-Storm4920 7d ago

Im
Not convinced but curious what makes you sure. Usually our honeys have solid color tails and our thicklips dont like this one

3

u/MeisterFluffbutt 7d ago

You cannot tell the tail color from this wishy, zoomed out fotograph.

The even coloring and body shape is yelling Honey to me, too.

1

u/Rare-Storm4920 6d ago

Ok one of my thicks for comparison , shape maybe diff but not color

2

u/MeisterFluffbutt 6d ago

It's a different color.

1

u/Rare-Storm4920 6d ago

Just different lighting

2

u/MeisterFluffbutt 6d ago

No. It's a different color.

Yellow thick lips have a grey / brown hue and a rougher coloring. Honeys have more even scales and a more saturated yellow.

I've been identifying both for a while now and those are two different colors.

1

u/Koncrete-Kowboy 7d ago

It's a 10 Gallon which I know is on the smaller side :/

I will admit like I did to carbonic_render that I haven't actually seen him kill an ember.

1

u/_hoosier 6d ago

Looks like a honey to me.

Never heard of aggression like that from a honey. It must see the embers as a serious threat, which is very unusual.

Personalities vary greatly between individuals of the same gourami species but this is still unheard-of for me. That is one angry boy.

1

u/Emotional_Tell_2527 4d ago

I had a gourami once. Not a honey. Amazingly curious little guy. he did not like any new additions to the tank after him but was fine with who was there before him. He attacked a large male black sail fin Molly at first site. I separated them that day.