Pearl Gouramis in a 20 Long?

[RWaters]

Do you think two pearl gouramis, about ten harlequin rasboras and two kuhli loaches would be alright in a 20 gallon long? They're currently in a 40 gallon with two angels, eight brilliant rasboras, five gold white clouds, a couple rainbowfish and a bristlenose pleco. The reason I'm asking is that I'd like to thin the ranks in the 40.

[lauraleellbp]

Pearl gouramis get about 4"... I think you could try it, but keep an eye out for aggression. Smaller quarters may change their behavior towards each other.

The 20L will definitely be heavily stocked at that point- you'll need to keep up with weekly water changes to ensure that the water quality stays good.

[Feral]

I've had Blue Gouramis in a similar set-up. They should be fine but like lauraleellbp said, keep up with the water changes. Aggression may be a problem but I've never had problems with Gouramis attacking smaller fish. They tend to bicker amongst themselves or with similar sized fish. My Moonlight Gourami harasses my Angels. The Angels will soon be bigger than him so we will see if that changes.

[RWaters]

Thank you for the replies. I seem to recall hearing that others have had some dificulties keeping angelfish and gouramis together. I also have an empty 29 gallon, so maybe I could move the angels and some other fish into that and leave the gouramis in the 40 gallon tank. Would that be better?

[seAdams]

I would probably put the gouramis and 10 rasboras in the 29. The angels and rainbowfish need the 40 more, IMO.

[lauraleellbp]

I agree, the angels and rainbows (depending on the species) need as large a tank as possible (personally I wouldn't keep them in less than a 55- both species need the 48" of swimming room).

[RWaters]

laureleelbp - I guess I should have been more specific. The 40 gallon is a 40 long, so it is 48". Unfortunately, one of the angels died but I still have all of the other fish in the 40 gallon. I'll probably leave it this way for awhile. Thanks to all who replied.