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i have a 20G tank. id like to put some blue rams in it by themselves. the guy at the LFS says that 1 male and
5 females will be nice, does this sound alright to you?
would a pair of dwarf gouramis go well with them?

A Pair of rams would be better as the unpaired fremales will try to kill other females To gain better possiblity of becoming the mate of the male. I'm sure dwarf Gouramis are fine with rams, But I have not kept them together so I might be wrong. try to Buy a pair of D gouramis That are in the tank together at the Lfs. As it varies on invidual gouramis's personailty. I once bought a female gouramis after a while I bought a male.. put it in the tank went away for a few days.. came back to a dead female.. and badly injured Male.. Unfortuately.. the male died..
So be sure not to make the same mistake I did.

R_Boy

Do not try to spawn 2 different semi agressive fish in the same tank. Either rams will kill the gouramis while spawning or the gouramis will kill the rams. Someone will get beat up and it's likely all fry will be eaten by the other species or possibly their own parents due to the stress of competing for space.

For rams I would do either a pair of rams or 1m to 2f. There could be an unpaired female that gets picked on but I've heard of alot of trio spawnings from that type of setup. I also have a trio of rams that get along great but I was breeding in a 10g so when a pair laid eggs sometimes the 3rd got picked on and had to be moved. I think it's more likely that they'd do fine as a trio in a 20g but if you try it be prepared to rehouse the extra female. Some people also have luck keeping 2 spawning pairs to a tank but usually this is not a good idea unless you have a large tank such as 30-55g or more.

As for dwarf gouramis they are more difficult to pair up than rams and they do not both gaurd the eggs. Usually when you breed labyrinth fish you have to setup either a large tank(~55g) or 3 small seperate tanks so you have 1 for each parent and 1 for spawning. Some will just never get along in the first place. The best way to breed them is to condition a pair seperately, place them together in a spawning tank, and then remove the female after spawning. Remove the male after fry become freeswimming. It is sometimes possible to keep them in a the same tank if you plant one end really heavily so the female can hide but she'll get stressed out and may eat the fry. A male and female can coexist in a 20g just fine if you do not allow them to spawn by keeping too much surface agitation for the male to build a bubblenest.

OK, i think i,ll get a male and 2 females along with a small school of neons.
I have kept 2 males and 4 female dwarf gouramis in that tank before hand, they got along fine without any agression.
thanks

OK, i think i,ll get a male and 2 females along with a small school of neons.
I have kept 2 males and 4 female dwarf gouramis in that tank before hand, they got along fine without any agression.
what kind of filter would you recomend for the blue rams? i was think of getting a power filter. wil that do?
thanks

Dwarf gourami male and females can get along if they are not allowed to build bubblenests. If you had any filter on the tank it would disturb their bubblenests keeping them from breeding. Most people though haven't had any luck keeping males together. Mine killed each other in a 55g.

If your not breeding a powerfilter will be fine and the rams won't really care. If you are breeding rams you need very low flow to keep the fry from being sucked up into the filter. Sponge filters work best just make sure to clean out any debris in the tank since the sponge filter will not pick these things up as well as a powerfilter. You could also go with a very small power or internal filter but there's a chance of fry getting sucked up.

OK,
thanks for your help

do rams like black water conditions?

Yes but not necessary. I've seen them spawn in water over 8.0 ph. I think it's much easier to acclimate them to a tank with a lower ph and peat filtering and they are more likely to have a good spawn than a hardwater tank but it can be done without losses if you take your time.

Ideal ph for breeding is around 5.5-6.5 but as sham said it ca n be done in higher.