Ideas For 55 Gallon

Sorry if this is the wrong forum...

So right now my 55 gallon tank is lacking fish. I have a female Pearl Gourami, 1 platy, and 2 striped Raphael Catfish. Obviously, I would like to add more fish...but I'm having trouble deciding what would even be good to add. I would love to have a school of something, but I think whenever I get very small fish, they get eaten by the catfish....I would also love to add some color to my tank. I'm looking at maybe getting a few Blue Rams, as I read they can be peaceful. I also really like the rainbow fish that I see at my fish store, but they're sort of expensive for a schooling fish. Any ideas or suggestions on what else I can put in here?

I'm also thinking about maybe redecorating the entire tank while I have so few fish. Thinking of maybe putting them in a spare 10 gallon I have, and just taking everything out. I'd love to get some more plants set up, and maybe even switch from gravel to sand substrate. I feel like my tank is just kind of ugly and messy right now and I want to make it look...better.

 

How about some cories?

 

Maybe you could get some more Pearl Gouramis. I was planning on getting some for my tank before I realized that they wouldn't work (temperature compatibility issues), and everyone told me that they were social fish. If you get more, you should have at least 2 females for 1 every male.

 

More gouramis of any kind would do fine in your tank. I agree with Aqua 59 about getting cories. I know of many schooling fish but not about their compatibility with the catfish...:
~ tetras
~rasboras
~white cloud minnows
~hatchetfish

To add more color I recommend rams, cardinal tetras, white cloud minnows, and celestal pearl danios. Plant-wise, some cool-looking options are dwarf sag, sword plant, anubias, bolbitis, cryptocoryne, java moss, java fern, and cambomba.

 

More gouramis of any kind would do fine in your tank. I agree with Aqua 59 about getting cories. I know of many schooling fish but not about their compatibility with the catfish...:
~ tetras
~rasboras
~white cloud minnows
~hatchetfish

To add more color I recommend rams, cardinal tetras, white cloud minnows, and celestal pearl danios. Plant-wise, some cool-looking options are dwarf sag, sword plant, anubias, bolbitis, cryptocoryne, java moss, java fern, and cambomba.

I'll probably look more into tetras and rasboras.

And I know Pearl Gouramis are supposed to be social...I just didnt know it when I bought mine. I think I've had her for about a year now, and shes a lot bigger than the ones at the pet store. I'm just worried that she might not react well if I put more into the tank now. I used to have a honey dwarf gourami, and while they weren't really aggressive witheach other, I could tell there was some territorialism. I just really like my pearl and I don't want to cause issues by throwing more gouramis in after shes gotten used to sort of being the queen of the tank.

I also love hatchets, but I'm probably not going to put them in this tank. I have a future idea to get a 20 gallon long, and have it just be a shrimp and hatchet tank. Lots of plants, with shrimp on the bottom, and hatchets up top. Just waiting until I get a house so I don't have to move two tanks.

 

If anything, it would make your pearl gourami happier to get more tankmates. they should ideally have a shoaling size of 4+. Your 20 gallon tank could have more in it if you'd like, but your current plan is fine too. Good luck