Pearl gourami

[Blacksheep]

Can I mix pearl gourami and neons? I have a 55 gal. ready to set up and am trying to decide what to put in it. My clowns will go in once it is cycled. I have neons and H. Rasboas with the clowns now and plan to move them also. I guess my main concern is, can I mix pearl gourami, neons, H Rasboas and platys. And do I need 3 gourimi, or 2? I have read you need 2 females and 1 male. Is that right? or can I just put in a pair?
Would appreciate any advice and help.
TIA
Anna

[OrionGirl]

Gouramies are not naturally predatory, but they will eat just about anything they can fit in their mouth. I kept blues and golds with neons, though, and never had a problem. In a 55, a pair should be okay. You could get a pair of females and have no problems. As long as a female has enough room to get away fromt he male, they will be okay. My blues and golds are fine in a 20 right now. Only tankmate is a ACF, who ignores them just as they ignore her.

[emoore]

I have a pearl with cardinal tetras in a 55 and they get along just fine. I am planning on adding two females (if I can find any around here). Since you have a 55 I would suggest you add one male and two females. That way they both can take the abuse of the male.

[lesley]

I have two pearls, one male, one female in my tank. I hardly ever see the male harass the female. Maybe mine is just unusually docile. I have the pearls in with black neons, and I find that the black neons are much more aggressive than the gouramis. I even kept some tiny pygmy cories in there with them, and never had any problems. I'm sure neons should be fine.

[Leopardess]

Yup...I'll agree...you won't have a problem:) I've got two males in my 55 (though, I really SWEAR one used to be a female...but now, they're just gay - and I'm okay with that!:)) I've had them with neons since the neons were itty bitty babies. The gouramis don't even give the neons a second look - and, a little surprisingly, the gouramis don't even eat my ghost shrimp, though that's probably partly because they can't find them...

Either way, you'll be perfectly fine mixing those.

[Dapple2]

My pearls don't touch my shimp either, not even the lil cherry reds. They leave my newborn white clouds and corys alone as well.