Two strains of RTGG? Or males and females floating around?

[Cohazard]

Are there two strains of RTGG floating around? Or is there just confusion over male vs. female?

On this page: http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/anabantoids/GiantRedTailGourami.php scroll down to the last comment, and you'll find this:

There seems to be two different type of Red tail gourami in the asian market now, one is called purple red, this I believed is breed locally, the other is the taiwanese strain of red tail gourami, this fish have got very white base. Both are of the same strain, I believed the lighter colour strain are from selective breeding, in the wild they are much darker base. The first batch that was brought in from Sabah,( about 15 years back) are caught using fishing tackle, and they will normally regurgitate out the fishing hook after a week in captivity. Now they are being bred in captivity in hatchery within Malaysia. That all I have to share for now.

Is this person right? Or is he/she just noticing sexual dimorphism in the species?

Check out these pics I found here: http://aqua-bonito.web.infoseek.co.jp/BIG/BIG.html of what I assume is a Male vs. Female RTGG:

Male

http://aqua-bonito.web.infoseek.co.jp/BIG/Osphronemus%20laticlavius07.2-01M.jpg

Female

http://aqua-bonito.web.infoseek.co.jp/BIG/Osphronemus%20laticlavius07.2-02M.jpg

It's subtle, but there are differences in shape of the anal fin, and slope of the forehead?

Let me know what you think RTGG fanatics!

I have two RTGG, and they look very different from each other. The new one I got yesterday has a darker purple base color, with red tipped fins, and red tinted pectoral fins. The other one which I've had several weeks now, has a white belly, lighter grey colored dorsal region, and red tipped fins, with clear pectoral fins.

[KurseD]

i have 3 all over 10in. they shift from light grey to grey/purple every so often, and they all have different types of red color on their fins. your pics more similiar then different. but yeah, when you point the differences out, i can see what you are talking about

[Cohazard]

Wow, can you post pics of those KurseD? I'm really interested in pectoral fins because I don't think all RTGG's are created equally in that way.

Did all of yours develop red pectoral fins? If so, at different sizes?

Thanks in advance for your help man

[KurseD]

sure, i'll post some when i get back. only one of mine developed red streamers (not sure what they are called). the other two have regular ones. when they were smaller, all their fins were red, but as they got bigger, they grew out of it. now only the edges are red. i tried feeding them krill and such to bring the color out more but it still faded.

[Muillinaust]

The tail seems more concave on the male.

[Cohazard]

The tail seems more concave on the male.

True, but I think that's because it's the angle the photo was taken at.

I started looking at the difference between the anal fins and it looks like the males fin is more relaxed than the females, and that could be why they look different, if these are even sexed fish, the sites in japanese so I don't know. :confused:

[santoury]

Having had them, I believe they are all the same species - and the two in the above photos look identical (species - wise) with just very minor variation in color which is to be expected.
The upper fish does seem to be more "chunky" - male-like, however but they are all one species, still, right?

[Cohazard]

Having had them, I believe they are all the same species - and the two in the above photos look identical (species - wise) with just very minor variation in color which is to be expected.
The upper fish does seem to be more "chunky" - male-like, however but they are all one species, still, right?

Yes, only one species of RTGG. My question is about 'strains' or line breeding.

There seems to be some much darker purple ones out there, and some with white bellies, and if the information from the earlier quote is correct, the brighter ones could be line bred.

[santoury]

Cohazard
I know what you mean now - There are "plain gray" ones, and then there are the ones with red...

How about getting some pics of different "variants" up?

[cichlaguapote]

GG's in general are now confusing to me.. I knew there was

RTGG
Albino GG
Just plain GG
And the other day someone posted a pic of a pinkish GG.. geez.. how many more variants are there..

[KurseD]

sombody posted a pic just recently of an albino GG with black markings on it. kinda looked odd.

[Cohazard]

Cohazard
I know what you mean now - There are "plain gray" ones, and then there are the ones with red...

How about getting some pics of different "variants" up?

What you're describing sounds like two species: Osphronemus gouramy, the plain grey GG, and Osphronemus laticlavius, the RTGG.

Here are two pics to show what I'm talking about:

Note the red tipped pectorals and darker base color, yet this is still a young juvie:

http://www4.pantown.com/data/2888/board9/71-20061005154740.jpg

It will grow up to look like this:

http://www.aqua-fish.net/imgs/fish/osphronemus-laticlavius.jpg




On the other hand, this is what you'll see mostly in LFS's:

Note the clear pectoral fins and brighter white belly:

http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Gouram66.jpg

These will grow up to look like this:

A little drab for an RTGG:

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/thumbnails/thumb_osphro_laticlavius.jpg

The all gray GG's are Osphronemus gouramy and look like this:

Juvie:
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/Fishpics/giant_gourami-juv.jpg

Adult:

http://www.sealsanctuary.co.uk/rosieh06.jpg

Just for fun; possibly Osphronemus exodon?:

Juvie:

http://www.aqua-terra-net.de/Hydro/Sonder/andere/bilder/Osphromenus%20exodon.jpg

Adult:

http://www.akva.lv/fish/im_pr/239.jpg

[santoury]

Okay, so I definitely have to get the other two species now :) Anyone know of sources?