Gourami: Regular vs. Dwarf?

I'm not sure that they're considered dwarfs, I have several, they reach just over 4 inches in size.

The pearl gouramis with red are males.

With exception of Pearl Gourami and Honey Gourami, many of the dwarf gourami are prone to, or carrier's of Iridovirus which is untreatable and contagious across more than a few other species you or I may be keeping.
Early symptom's include lethargy,loss of appetite, loss of color, followed by possible sores/blister's around the mouth/head area or on flank's of the fish.

^^ I agree ^^
The pearl is the best gourami IMO.It is the champagne of gouramis and is beautiful , peaceful easily paired .
Part of the issue with dwarfs IMO is improper stocking of 2 males all too often.
You see females are not that commonly for sale in this fish for many reasons.
Then top that off with gouramis are not always the nicest fish ,especially to each other and it is not a hard choice to pass on the dwarfs..

4" is considered dwarf imo.

Good to know about Iridovirus, I will research more about it because it will not stop me from stocking one they make a great centerpiece fish for a small tank.

I am very familiar with the male aggression of this species, they are similar to a Betta. I only plan on stocking ONE dwarf as a centerpiece fish in my 15.8 gallon, it will be Rummynose, Nerites, and Amanos although he may try eating or harassing the Amanos but I need them or at least to try to make it work but I will never try RCS they are too small.

Does anyone recommend stocking the dwarf before or after my schoolers? Is there a proper way to introduce the two? If I did the dwarf first I could quarantine him in the same tank.

following this as I am also looking at show piecing the pearl....only I am also looking on stocking suggestions as I can fit more than 1 in a 45

I have a single male red flame dwarf gourami as the center piece in my tank. He's red with a bright blue top fin and a bit of Blue on his bottom fin. Beautiful fish and he's very interactive at well. Always tries to tap me with his little feelers when my hands in the tank. His tank mates include a BN pleco, a school of harlequin rasboras and red cherry shrimp. He completely ignores the harlequins, and doesn't seem to bother the shrimp much but they were both there before him. We will see how he likes the corydoars i put in there eventually. I got him knowing about the virus they tend to carry and knowing I may lose him to it one day I hope not tho he's a pretty cool fish. An absolute pig tho always pigs out on the algae wafers I throw in for pleco.

Dwarf gourami is a good fit for a 26gal tank, or our equivalent which is roughly 1 x1 x 3 foot.
Two females and a male will fit but you want lots of vegetation.
It just gets messy for 2 months over summer while they breed, as they go hunting for plant matter for their nest.