New to gouramies

[Fiori]

I have a 55 UK gall tank cycling at the moment which will be home to 4 red angelfish, 6 orange laser corys and maybe a couple of polka dot loaches. Would I have room for any gouramies and which are compatible with the angels? Or would a shoaling smaller fish be a better bet?

 

[sylvia]

Are you going to keep all 6 angels or eventualy move a few once they start pairing up? You see most of the gouramies you can keep with angels also occupy the same area of the tank and, as both species are quite territorial, this can lead to confrontations if they are crowded. However, you do have space for a gourami or two if you make sure the tank has plenty of hiding places near the surface - especialy if you can get a few floating plants. Then you can go for up to 2 moonlight gouramies (which get to 7" though so stick to one if you want to keep all the angels), a single male three-spot (that includes, cosby, platinum, blue, gold, opaline, lavender and any other trichogaster trichopterus color morph) or 2-3 female three-spots (again, they can get up to 6" so this depends on how many angels you are going to end up with - males are very aggressive while females are a little less so because they lack territoriality), a couple of banded or thick-lipped gouramies (colisa fasciata and colisa labiosa respectively - they both get from around 3-4" and are peaceful fish which MIGHT be prone to being bullied by breeding angels but should otherwise do fine) or you can try a group (2-4 depending on your other stocking) of pearl gouramies though these are somewhat too peaceful (if your angels start to breed and you have kept all 6 they may be a little too crowded - unless the tank is very ehavily planted). Another option for gouramies but that isn't strictly a top-dweller is the croaking gourami. These don't get large (2.5" max.) and do well as a group (at least 3-4 to devide aggression) in a planted tank. They are very peaceful towards other fish and might be prone to being bullied so watch closely for signs of trouble if you do decide to go with these. Provide a lot of plants for cover and they'll also appreciate floating plants and ceramic pots etc.

Regardless of what you choose, keep in mind that gouramies and related species tend to be very individual and the character from fish to fish will vary greatly. Sometimes one individual will do well in a setup while another of the same species won't. Angels are also generaly quite unpredictable fish so this combination can sometimes cause problems. Generaly, the problem will be for the gouramies and the angels should be fine no matter which of those I mentioned above you decide upon. Also, I didn't realy take into acount stocking levels according to the fish you have proposed to keep as I don't know whether you want to keep all the angels permanently or not or what. Anyway, just go for fewer gouramies if you do go for all 6 angels.

As for shoaling fish, that's realy up to you. Either gouramies or shoalers will work. However, fi you do go for a small shoaling fish, make shure it's in a group of 6 minnimum, that it isn't a nippy species and, above all, that it it isn't TOO small. Neons, cardinals, rummynoses, glowlights and pretty much any other small fish of a similar shape can and most probably will get eaten by adult angelfish. To be on the safe side, stick to fish that rsemble black phantom tetras in shape (laterally compressed - similar actualy to a gourami's shape ) or that will grow to at least 1.5-2" in length. (Adult) harlequin rasboras are one usualy safe bet and are also excellent schoolers, I also love the combination of scissortails with angels and you may also want to try some of the smaller rainbowfish such as the blue neon dwarfs.

 

[Fiori]

Thanks Sylvia for a very detailed response. I am hoping to keep all 4 angelfish, if I can - although the tank will be heavily planted, I think that I will leave the gouramies for another day as I don't want a stressed tank. I have seen the praecox rainbows recently and they are gorgeous, so I may think about a shoal of them. Red angels and blue neon rainbow fish sounds like a nice combination