Angels and gold gourami living in peace? *garsp*

[insomniac.vivi]

Well, it's been a good 4 days since I added 6 gold gourami to my 55g. Now there are three angels (two marble and one 'silver' or plain or whatever you might call it) and the golds. The gourami certainly add some character to the tank, and keep moving around looking for just about anything. I haven't seen much aggression, if any at all. The LFS and a few of my web friends had suggested to keep them in groups of 6 or more, to reduce any competition among them. That advice seems to be working well indeed.

Now the only problem I have is with the angels. The marble male is the same size as the silver, but will chase the snot out of him once in a while. Surpise surprise, right? Well, today when I came home I noticed the silver playing a little fin tag with the marble! I was very happy, in my 30 gallon when they were smaller, the marble had nipped a lot of fins, but with this larger tank it's easier for the silver to hide, and I think the gourami are helping to distract the marble from his main source of entertainment, beating the snot out of the silver. Also a quickie: the smaller marble has some orange just above her eyes/snout. Is this a female?

I'm looking to get some more fish in there in a week or two, what else would you suggest? The LFS suggested some silver dollars, and a few others that escape me. Suggestions are welcome. :)

[wataugachicken]

i would get an assortment of cory cats (2 or 3 kinds, at least three of each kind) because they will bring some activity down to the bottom of the tank.

[insomniac.vivi]

So, lemme pull out my calculator... 6-9 catfish in the bottom, right?

[aknif]

I also have 3 angels and 6 assorted Gouramis in my 125g. I wouldn't add silver dollars to the mix in a 55g. They also like to be in schools, I have 6 of them, but they're SO skittish and spastic, they'll make your gouramis and angels nuts.

I'll second Watauga and suggest some bottom level fish. Perhaps a pair of Kribensis, some pictus cats or cories. I wouldn't get BOTH pictus and cories because I tried that too, the Pictus are much faster eaters (and pigs) they don't leave anything left for the cories.

That's my $.02 anyway!

:)

[CharlieV]

Third vote for Corries - I have 5 (3 x Jullii and 2 x Sterbai) in my 100g with 5 angels and they bring a lot of life and fun to the bottom of the tank.

Depending on how old your Angels are / how big they are I would also reccomend Cardinal Tetras as they tend to swim at all levels and add loads of colour (also get a bit of schooling behaviour if living with the angels!)

On a marble angel (P Scalare) the colour has nothing to do with sex and it's actually very difficult to tell the sex of Angels. When mature the females have a longer "tube" hanging behind the anal fin than on the males.
My Altums used to get harrassed by the scalare (2 x marble in 30g, 1 x all black, 1 x pearl) until i moved them. Now the 5 little ones are in the 100g and the Altums are hassling the 2 scalare!

[insomniac.vivi]

Thanks for all the help guys/girls/etc! I'll update you when I get the new fish- whichever they are, lol!