[james1542]

Bolivian rams are very cool. I had 6 once in a 30 gallon. Got them to spawn too but the water was just too hard for the eggs..They are not as colorful as a german blue, but they are much much tougher (always see dead/dying rams at the LFS), and get a little bigger(and they don't have a mean bone in them).

I'd go with the german blue over the dwarf gourami, they have more personality IMO, and if it's a lone cichlid, usually the agression is not a problem. For Rams the trouble starts when they decide to breed and usually it's ram on ram violence.

 

[james1542]

I had about 7 or 8 in a 30 gallon. They are very hard to sex, so if you want breeding, plan on getting a bunch, fortunately they are one of the most harmless cichlids I've come across, probably the only thing less dangerous is a blood parrot, and only because the blood parrot has no functional mouth(more like a deformed triangle). When they get cranky all they can really do is push each other around.