80gal is a good sized tank. With zebra danios, you're going to need other species that are voracious eaters like the danios, otherwise the danios will out compete for food. Danios usually stay up top and so do angels so I wouldn't suggest them together.

If it were me, I'd look for a center dwelling centerpiece fish. Then you'd have the danios up top, corydoras on the substrate and something in the middle. Perhaps gourami are center dwelling fish I do not know I've never kept them

 

ahh - maybe I'll shuffle the danios to another tank then!

I think Gouramis are more of a top level fish, and also slow to eat so would be tougher to feed them with danios.

Definitely want to get a centerpiece fish that is colorful and decent sized to contrast with the plants/black substrate

 

Hello,

1. Gouramis do spend most of their time near the top of the water, and they might not be too comfortable with the fast moving danios. If you do decide on gouramis, I'd recommend pearl gouramis. While they aren't quite as flashy as some of the other species (especially the juveniles you see in the stores), they're beautiful fish that are more hardy and peaceful than some of the other gourami species.
2. If you're looking for other ideas of fish that will do well in your water, you might look at rainbowfish. I started with ten or so turquoise rainbows in my 65 gallon tank in 2019, and I still have seven at last count.
3. You mentioned getting several species of tetra. I'd recommend no more than two species. The longer I keep fish the more I appreciate fewer species, with more of each species, instead of a few of these and a few of those. You will also get more natural behavior and less aggression. Serpae tetras, black neon tetras, lemon tetras, and pristella tetras have done well in my tanks (my water is also 8.2 pH, and hard).
4. I've had several cory species. Corydoras trilineatus (often sold as julii) have done best for me.

 

thanks for the response!
I'm thinking I might shuffle the Danio's to a different tank or swap them with a friend since I do want a more peaceful tank.
Hadn't thought of rainbowfish but those do look interesting and very striking!
On the tetra front I'd probably only stick with one type and a larger school - do they work well with rainbowfish?
Have you kept cory's on gravel/flourite black before? That is my only concern with going that route is I've read conflicting opinions on if they have to have sand. Guess I could try and make a sand section of my tank but would be tough since it's filled and scaped!

 

I have 5 Peral Gourami's in a 125-gallon tank, they are great. They do tend to stay in the upper section but will roam around. I'm not a big fan of super active/aggressive eaters such as Danios as nothing will reach the bottom of the tank for your slower eaters.

I have the following fish in the 125-gallon:

5 Pearls
40+ Green Neon Tetras
12 Black Neon Tetras - they get a little bigger than the Green Neon's I really like these fish
2 Hill stream Loaches
5-7 Oto's
12 Corydoras Hastatus - they are a smaller variety of the Corydoras but will swim up into the middle of the tank sometimes
1 Rosy Loach

I have been very happy with this combo, not a super active tank and everyone gets along.

 

+1000 for black neons, they are such an overlooked species but i kept a school once in a 75gal with discus and corydoras and they were just perfect.

also +1 for rainbowfish. the LFS near me, a full on saltwater reef store that has a small freshwater side, has a huge display tank with rainbows and congo tetras and they look great together.

 

I'm really liking the idea of rainbowfish - Love the colors they get

I ended up getting 3 gold gouramis, 9 orange venezuelan corys last weekend and so far so good in tank (even with the Danio's trying to hoover up food the gourami's and even corys are able to get pellets)

Thinking maybe I go with 4-5 bosemani rainbowfish and possibly some congo tetras down the road (and another shoal of corys to wrap it up!)

 

I have recently introduced some White-tip or Bentosi Tetras (Hyphessobrycon bentosi) in with my Chain Loaches and one last geriatric Golden Panchax. This has worked surprisingly well and the tetras give a lot of all day activity. You don't see this one about a lot in Australia but i'm liking them

 

Appreciate all the advice I've gotten on here so far, as I am in the home stretch of finishing up this tank wanted to post a fresh thread as I finalize!

I've got a 90 gallon with FX2 filter and fairly well planted with variety of swords, vals, anubias, anachris, christmas moss and crypts. Been running for about 4 weeks now and been cycled for around 2 weeks. Tank is at 0 / 0 / 10ppm for nitrates and PH of about 8.0

I have been adding livestock in groups about every week or two and testing every few days to make sure all is good.

Here is where I'm at now:

9x Venezuelan Orange Corys
12x Panda Corys
3x Golden Gourami
7x Praecox Rainbow
11x Zebra Danio

At the advice of some members on my last thread I looked into Rainbowfish and really like them (hence getting some Praecox) - I'd like to add another large group of Rainbows and was thinking either Bosemani or Turquoise, probably 7-8?

Based on AQ Advisor I'd be close to maxed with that group, but I know its a fairly cautious estimation.

I'd like to potentially add either a school of tetras or some oto cats down the road but don't want to overload the tank either.

Potential to trade in the Danio's to my LFS as well, they don't mesh as well with the tank as I'd like (not as much schooling/shoaling behavior)

Any thoughts appreciated, thanks!