Angels Or Gouramis?

[Mommabear]

My 55 gallon used to be home to my lovely old Angelfish. Unfortunately he passed away at the ripe old age of 7. He is truely missed. I didn't want to go out and " replace" him with another angel out of respect ( yea I'm like that). So I had my heart set on a fish I've never kept successfully dwarf gouramis. I went to my usual fish store to find they are not stocking them at this time of year ( for whatever reason). They did however have blue and gold gouramis. Both of which I decided I needed to do more research on. How many would I get? Females. Males? I read they are aggressive to eachother no matter the sex.
Anyway. They had tons of baby angels and I couldn't stop looking at them.

SO I think I want an angel. Or three? What's the best number to have in a peaceful planted 55? The other inhabitants include 10 cories. Several platies. 4 killifish and a bristle nose. Mind you the stock has not changed since my angel died.

Could I have three that live peacefully together? Should I only get one to avoid conflict?

 

[TallTree01]

Angels pair up. If you had 3 you would probably get a pair that would gang up on the third and kill him. What most people do and reccomend is get 6 angels, wait for a pair to form and then rehome the other 4.

 

[Sophie]

Angels pair up. If you had 3 you would probably get a pair that would gang up on the third and kill him. What most people do and reccomend is get 6 angels, wait for a pair to form and then rehome the other 4.

Exactly what I did - had 6 then when they started shredding each other, found the pair and rehomed the rest. Or have 1. I have one pair and just one on it's own as you can see.

 

[Metka]

I have 7 angels all raised together, all living together happily. I have a known breeding pair, which when she begins to look gravid, or are obessively cleaning/guarding an area of the tank, they get moved to their own breeding cube to lay their eggs. Once they have finished they go back into the tank with the other angels, with no problems.
 
So far so good.

 

[SouthernCross]

I have two, that I have had since they were babies together. They are not a pair, and apart from the occasional flare at each other they get along fine. But I think my case is an exception rather than the rule.

 

[Mommabear]

So do you think if I got a pair of dime sized angels, they might end up being "friends" in a heavily planted 55 gallon? I can rehome one in a 20 or a 30 gallon if I have to, so i'm prepared to break them up.

 

[DreamertK]

You might as well go with the 6 and wait for them to naturally pair up. Even if you get just two, if they're not compatible they'll fight each other to the death (such as with gourami and bettas).

 

[Sophie]

Even of they don't kill each other, bullying will occur and be stressful. My pair coloured up beautifully when I rehomed the other four. The other four also stopped getting their fins ripped on a daily basis. Went through a ton of Melafix! Was also the first time he stopped showing his vertical stripes - calm enough to 'turn them off' unless I approach the tank when they have eggs (not sure of terminology - stress lines? Heckels bands? Verification?).

Happy non-stressed fish are the best