Gourami and rams

Question
QUESTION: HI,

I set up my 30 gallon tropical tank, and i have 6 zebra danios and an albino bristle nose pleco. My tank has finished cycleing, and i am looking to add more fish. I am aiming for colour, and would lopve some help. I noticed that gouramis and chiclids were the most colourful, but they are not always compatable. my ideas would be to add
two or three dwarf gouramis + like two rams
or
a bunch of different chiclids
or
gouramis and other fish (no chiclids)

Which option would you reccomend?
would gouramis and rams be ok? if so how many of each should i get? is there another fish you would reccomend besides the ram?

or if i should just get chiclids, what types should i get?

if i should avoid chiclids all together, what other colourful fish could i get? i like bosiamni rainbows, but i dont know if my tank is big enough for them

Thanks,
Mike

ANSWER: Hi Mike,
 It is very hard for me to pick fish for other people. Personally, I really like cichlids. But, I would never put cichlids in with gouramis, particularly dwarf gouramis, because the gouramis wouldn't last long.  I guess the bottom line is that if you want cichlids, go with just cichlids.  You can keep some catfish with them, and some of the rainbows do okay because they are fast and keep to the top of the tank.  Small fish like regular danios or most small tetras or dwarf gouramis will be killed and/or eaten.  

 As for which cichlids, that is even harder to say -- there are over 2300 species of cichlids!

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,

Thanks. so even rams would not go with gouramis?

are there any particular types that i would likely be able to find that you recommend, or advise against? I know to stay away from oscars, since i only have a 30 gal, and dont want to upgrade.
can i mix south american with African? what are advantges/differences of them?

thanks,
mike

Answer
Hi Mike,
 You MIGHT be able to get away with rams and gouramis provided you had a lot of plants in the tank.  

 In general, I do not mix cichlids from different areas, so I would not put African and South American cichlids together, particularly East African cichlids (which like hard, alkaline water) and South American cichlids (which like soft, acidic water).   You might get away with
West Africans combined with South Americans because both like soft, acidic water, but even then
it would look strange to me to see those fish together.  

 You might consider a tank of West African cichlids.  Many are smaller species and quite interesting. Fishes like the kribensis are very nice, and colorful.  I personally like butterfly cichlids, Anomalochromis thomasi, though their colors are more subtle than kribensis.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>