I'm lost, need ideas

[Tamitha]

I have a heavily planted 55g with three pearl gourami and a small school of dwarf rainbow (“Skull Creek”) who all hang out in the top third of the tank. It also has 5 corydoras and a couple of kuhli loaches but I’m slowly catching those out to move to a sand bottom tank. I have super hard water and a ph of 8.2. I’ve been looking and looking for a colorful, active fish that will hang out in the bottom half, not the bottom. I’ve considered Bolivian rams or Kribs, with my water I’m leaning more toward Kribs, but I know there must be a plethora of fish I haven’t even thought of or come across. Apistos are a no go. Please! thoughts, ideas, suggestions, questions, I invite and welcome them all because I’m really tired of this tank looking half empty. Thoughts on the Kribensis idea?

[FungusOnPinkyToe]

blue gularis.

[Tamitha]

@FungusOnPinkyToeSee what I mean!?! Never heard of that fish, will check them out. Thank you!!

[tonyjuliano]

59 minutes ago, FungusOnPinkyToe said:

blue gularis.

That's a pretty big fish, size-wise, for that setup (considering the current population level), IMO.  But some other kind of killifish (smaller variety) is probably the way to go.

[Patrick_G]

Would Red Eyed Tetras work? They’re big and would be able to hold their own with the Gouramis. 
 

 

[Tamitha]

54 minutes ago, Patrick_G said:

Would Red Eyed Tetras work? They’re big and would be able to hold their own with the Gouramis. 
 

 

I had lemon tetras in there but they were so boisterous my gouramis did nothing but hide so I swapped the rainbows and lemons around which made both the gouramis and the rainbows happier. The lemons now have their own 40b and the rainbows have more horizontal swimming space. I’m not worried about my gouramis picking on anything but rather them getting nipped or chased, they really have been rather shy and reserved. The rainbows have brought them out of hiding. It’s why I’m trying to be really careful of what else I put in there.