Honey Gourami (Colisa chuna)

The honey gourami is a small but interesting fish. It tops out at around 2'', with females a bit larger than males. Like cichlids and bettas, they will swim to the front of the tank to greet you. You can tell males from females by their colors; the male has a golden edging to its dorsal fin and a chocolate brown chin. The females on the other hand, are more drab but seem to have a bigger appetite than the males. Female honeys also appear fatter. Both sexes have a horizontal stripe across the middle of their bodies when stressed. Since they have relatively small mouths, they should be fed smaller flakes and pellets. Honey gouramis are best kept in the ratio of 1m/2f, but I have 2m/2f and they get along fine. They do best in planted tanks of 20+ gallons without much current, similar to a setup for female bettas.

Female Betta (Betta splendens)

(This profile will only cover female bettas, as I've never kept a male betta before.)

The female betta is a very interesting and inquisitive fish that tops out at just under 3''. You can tell it apart from males because unlike males, females have shorter fins. Also 2 females will usually not fight to the death when put together. This does not mean you can keep only 2 females in a tank, as this would entail bullying of the weaker one by the stronger one (like with most fish). Instead, female bettas are best kept in sororities of 6+. They will develop a pecking order, but the aggression will be distributed among the females.

The good part about keeping bettas is their big personalities, which differs from one to another. They also come in assorted reds, blues, greens, purples, and other interesting and nice colors. Feeding is easy, as they accept both flakes and pellets, as well as frozen brine/mysis shrimp and bloodworms. I fed my 4-betta sorority an algae wafer once and a few of them got injured overnight while eating it. I presumed there was a little fighting involved. Also, they were all extremely fat afterwards; so I'd recommend maybe splitting half an algae wafer in two instead if you want to feed those.

The bad part about bettas is that they're very susceptible to diseases and infections, probably because of the inbreeding to maximize the color and color variety of the fish. This is unfortunate, as most if not all of the female bettas I've kept eventually wound up with bacterial infections, developed dropsy, and died. I do not recommend Maracyn 1/2 to treat it, at least from my experience. It used to help, but recently (2010), I've treated with the Maracyns and my L. dorsigera is now virtually colorless and very drab looking. Another WCMM I treated with those meds wound up with a permanent jag in his stripe and also seems to be smaller than the rest. Instead, I'd recommend treating with kanamycin sulfate, available as Kanapro online, with daily water changes and remed.