Dwarf Gouramis

I have had both species of gourami, I think the neon would be a better choice than the powder blue. My powder blue often hid in the corners and would not come up for feeding time, while the other gouramis (I had 7) in the tank were "socializing" he would hang out in the corner by the heater, I had him for a couple months. He died about 2 or 3 weeks ago, I assume from starvation as he had no bites on him. My neon also died not that long ago when I transferred the other gouramis into a new bigger tank. Gouramis are traditionally hardy fish, and I have had no problems with my others, but those two were bad news in my aquariums.

Funny you should ask - I was just planning to post about these guys!

I have had several of the blue variety, and some red/orange ones that the store called "Flame" Gourami. They were exceedingly shy, much more so than a basic Dwarf. They also had a bad habit of dying. I thought it was just me.

Maybe they inbreed too much to get those colors and that makes them less hardy?

I've kept all of them, and none seemed any less hardy than the others. You do need to give them the proper environment, and they are a fairly skittish fish. They like plenty of floating plants on the top of the tank to dull the lighting coming in, and then the like a lot of plant cover in the tank itself for hiding and such things. Once they get established and start realizing that your the one feeding them, they become just as bosterious as anything else. None of the different color variants ( they aren't hybrids) are any less weak than the next one.