A wild male dwarf gourami is an astoundingly beautiful fish. The deep-bodied, laterally compressed male can reach a size of about 2.5 inches, with the female staying a little smaller. The wild form of the male has a metallic turquoise blue face and body, with a dozen or more bright orangey-red vertical stripes transecting the body from behind the gills and extending into the long-based dorsal and anal fins, as well as into the tail fin. The attractive female fish, on the other hand, is not nearly as colorful as the male, being a pale silvery-blue with a faint trace of orange-yellow vertical stripes from behind the gills.
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