Narrowing Down My Options. Some Opinions?

[Shifty1303]

hey!
 
so am cycling a new 200l at the moment (pH ~7.3) and am closing in on what i will stock it with. from my old tank i will be moving over a snakeskin barb, 2 glowlight tetras and 5 corys (cant find more snakeskins anywhere nor do i want more tetras but equally wont give them up after having them so long).
 
will be adding to the corys by buying or breeding (if i can) to get around 10 but would like some opinions on the following:
 
cherry barbs/checkered barbs - around 10 individuals initially - cant decide between these two as both are readily available and affordable to me. anyone have good things to say for either to convince me? leaning toward checkered atm.
 
gouramis - my favorite LFS stocks many types but i know some types like the dwarf are susceptible to illness etc, can i get opinions on which of the following would be best in my 200l with hardy being preferable please?
     pearl, gold, moonlight, dwarf, honey, yellow honey, orange thick-lipped, blue dwarf, blue
 
am of course open to suggestions of other suitable and hardy species if you have any. dwarf neon rainbows were suggested to me before but i cant find them anywhere
 
thanks a lot for any responses. would really appreciate them!

 

[AshleyNZ]

For the gourami - I used to have a yellow three spot (Also comes in blue) and he/she was very peaceful and friendly, a real nice centrepiece fish

 
And my tank was overstocked and not cycled (Oops) And he/she remained healthy looking, so I guess these guys are quite hardy.

 

[Munroco]

What about 6 of each? I'd find it hard to choose between them too.

 

[Lillefishy]

6 of each 3 spot gourami? the 3 spot gets around 6" so max number in your tank size would be a pair imo, if you went for the smaller honey or dwarf you could have more, one male & 3 females.

 

[Shifty1303]

think munroco meant 6 of each barb no? Soild idea but i may end up getting more of each if i go that way. i really like the honey gouramis but being only 5-7cm fully grown i though they were a variety of dwarf gourami like the dwarf blue? do all dwarf species suffer from the same fragility as the standard dwarf gourami? alternatively i quite like the orange thick lipped but honey and yellow honey would be my preference if they are sufficiently hardy and peaceful.
 
thanks again

 

[Munroco]

6 of each 3 spot gourami? the 3 spot gets around 6" so max number in your tank size would be a pair imo, if you went for the smaller honey or dwarf you could have more, one male & 3 females.

Six would only be 18 spots and at 20 litres per spot I think thats within the limits.
 
Actually as Shifty said I was suggesting 6 each of the cherry/chequer barbs