stocking a 25 gallon (dwarf gouramis)

[jb_lyndon]

I'm currently working on recovering my water as we bought too many fish too quickly before the cycle matured resulting in hight ammonia levels. When we reach a mature cycle and the water is fine we hope that our 12 neon tetras will still be with us. Then we're thinking of acquiring 2 or 3 dwarf gouramis.
Wondering?... do the different colour varieties (specifically red and blue) of dwarf gourami see each other as friends or foes? I believe they are the same species but do they accept one another regardless of colour difference?

Ok so we hope to eventually have in our 25 G:
12 neon tetras
3 dwarf gouramis (2 blue, 1 red)

Any advice on some additional beautiful and compatible fish??(I know beauty is subjective but unfortunatley we aren't to keen on Corys)
We're thinking of maybe some harlequin rasboras?
Or maybe red eyed tetras, but I've read that the may nip the fins of the gouramis.
ANy suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

jb_lyndon

[PumaWard]

I would scale your dwarf gourami down to 2, and the color morphs don't know the difference between each other.

I wouldn't get anymore schooling fish. It might look a tad messy with your 12 neons.

Instead of cories, have you looked into kuhli loaches? Here's a picture of one:

http://www.erdingtonaquatics.com/fish/kuhli.jpg

They are very peaceful and get to a length of about 4 inches. They do like the company of others, maybe 2-3. You probably won't see them often unless they are really comfortable in your setup; you will see them around feeding time then.

[jb_lyndon]

Thanks for the suggestions PumaWard.
I like the kuhli loaches but unfortunately he looks as though he is "wearing" perfect camouflage for our gravel :( Question though, if we do aquire a couple kuhli loaches will they make the aquisition of a pleco unnecessary and redundant??

About more schooling fish looking a bit messy...
I was hoping that the 2 schools would sort of stick to themselves and avoid intermingling, or possibly reside in different levels of the tank. Like I said I was hoping (as I have no experience) but I guess I'm out of luck?

If anyone has any other advice or suggestions Please let me know.
As a newbie I'm not quite sure of the parameters of my options and frankly I just don't know what's out there.

Anymore help at all would make me Happy Dappy!!

[PumaWard]

No prob,

The tetras will all occupy the same zone in your tank for the most part. You may want to look into a trio of guppies, they don't exactly school, but they do like to hang out with each other.

As far as the kuhlis, there is also a black varient. Heres a link with some pictures:
http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/pangio_javanicus.html

They won't eat algae, so they won't eliminate the "need" for a pleco. But you may also want to look into otos instead of plecos as they stay small and are also of a shoaling category.