Honey Gourami

The Honey Gourami is a small labyrinth fish native to shallow freshwater habitats of northeastern India and Bangladesh. It is among the smallest and most peaceful members of its family, making it a popular choice for gentle community aquariums. Non-breeding individuals and females show a fairly plain silvery-tan body with a faint dusky lateral stripe, but breeding males undergo a dramatic color transformation, flushing a rich honey-gold to orange-yellow across the body while the throat and lower flanks darken to near black. This striking seasonal dichromatism gives the species both its common name and its alternate name, Sunset Gourami, referencing the warm glowing tones males display. Like other gouramis, it breathes atmospheric air using a labyrinth organ.

• Small, slender, laterally compressed body rarely exceeding 5 cm
• Breeding males: bright honey-gold to orange-yellow body with a blackish throat, chest, and lower body
• Non-breeding males and females: pale silvery-tan to olive with a faint dusky horizontal stripe
• Rounded dorsal and anal fins, less elongated than in larger Trichopodus gouramis
• Long, thin, filamentous pelvic fins typical of the gourami family
• Much smaller overall size than related Three Spot or Pearl Gouramis distinguishes it at a glance

Honey Gouramis are native to shallow, densely vegetated freshwater habitats of northeastern India and Bangladesh, including ponds, ditches, flooded rice fields, and slow-moving streams. They favor warm, still or barely moving water with abundant floating and submerged vegetation, which provides cover for this small and relatively timid species. As labyrinth fish, they are well suited to the low-oxygen conditions typical of shallow, vegetation-choked pools and seasonal wetlands. Their native range experiences a pronounced monsoon cycle, and populations often expand into temporarily flooded habitat during the wet season before retreating to permanent ponds and ditches in drier months.

Honey Gouramis are shy, peaceful fish that spend most of their time sheltering among plants rather than swimming in open water. They feed omnivorously on small insects, zooplankton, and other invertebrates, along with algae and plant matter. As labyrinth breathers, they regularly rise to gulp air at the surface. During the breeding season, males intensify in color and construct small, delicate bubble nests among floating plants, then perform a courtship display to draw in a female. After spawning, the male guards the nest and the resulting fry, chasing away intruders until the young become independent, while females and other tankmates are excluded from the nest area.