Need advice on stocking gouramis - 55gal.

[Rebgen]

Now that I've decided on what filter, heater, substrate, etc I'm ordering for my new 55 gal. tank, I'm starting to narrow down what I want to stock it with. I've read about any thread mentioning gouramis and am a little confused. I think I'd like to stock a community tank with these beautiful fish. So far I've identified the following "candidates" as potential selections.

Pearl gouramis
Dwarf gouramis
Neon Dwarf Blue gouramis
Fire Red gouramis

I'd also love to add a few Sparkler gouramis but have read they might not fare too well around their larger cousins.

In addition to these I'll probably add:

1 - Amano shrimp
3-4 - Otocinclus
3-4 - Panda Corys

Here's the stuff I'm confused about. Some people have written you can have a peaceful community of gouramis...especially with ones like the docile Pearl's. Others say don't mix them due to territorial aggressiveness. I plan to get males due to their great color. Breeding them would be a lot of fun but not something I have the skill or knowledge to be successful at right now.

I need your advice on putting together a good plan.

1) Should I get all males or mix with a 1 male/3 female ratio?
2) Can I mix the varities of gouramis I mentioned?
3) Should I get two of each variety or biger groups of each?

I know I need to be careful not to overstock, so I might not be able to have the variety if larger groups than pairs is better.

Finally, some of these varieties are not stocked in my area and the LFS don't seem excited about ordering what they don't already have. I've checked out several internet based fish stores and was curious if that might be a good option.

Thanks for putting up with another long-winded post. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think. Now, on to getting ready to start a fishless cycle!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Gouramis are related to bettas, and the males have a tendency to fight. This isn't always true, but I think it is most common. Females will generally get along with eachother and with males.

You could definately get 1 male and a variety of females from a mixture of species, but then you are missing out on all the pretty male colors. You might be able to do all or mostly males, and treat it like a mbuna tank where there are no territories. I'm not sure how this would work with gouramis, though. I think dwarf gouramis in general tend to fight less than full size gouramis. All of them get to the same size, they just have different colors, so in a large enough group they will probably spread out aggression. A pearl will get considerably larger than any of the dwarfs, so he would likely become dominant and aggressive to the smaller ones. I think that male and female pearls look very similar as far as color, so you would probably be able to do a group of female pearls which wouldn't really bother smaller males. A few female sparklers might do okay, but I'm not really sure. A male would probably get beaten up because he'd be smaller and an easy target. I'd say leave them out until you try out your tank and see how much aggression there is.

I'd say that you could probably do 2-4 males each of the dwarf gouramis, and maybe 3 female pearls. That many males should spread around aggression or eliminate territories. That makes a max of about 57 inches or so... that's certainly fine in a 55 gallon.

The other fish/shrimp you want will work fine with the gouramis, but I think you'll want more cories.