I have a Fire Red Dwarf in my tank with my Bolivian Rams, Tetras and Danios. He just swims around all day doing his own thing. Very mellow. But, he has no other Gourami to compete with, so that may be why.

Be careful that you do not get two male pearl gouramis, they will duke it out all the time. Try to get two females or one male and one female. Males will have an orange throat. In the store be careful though...you may be getting a passive male trying to hide his colors. Any hint of orange in the throat or lower fins will be a male. Do not get two males.

You can usually mix and match various dwarf gourami with the pearl gourami without any problems. I have read various sources speaking highly of the honey gourami regarding its temperament and hardiness. Look out for fungus and cotton mouth in other dwarf gourami. If you do get the dwarf gourami, I would not get pairs, males are prone to fighting when mature, like many fish. If you're really set on the shark, I would give it at least 10 gallons of your 30 gallon tank. I would provide it with a cave of some sort and get the shark LAST or it may claim the whole tank as its own territory.

If you give the shark a cave down low, and the gourami plenty of top cover, and you don't overstock, your plan just might work. The gourami will hang out near the top and middle, especially the pearl gourami will like the top. The shark will like the middle and bottom. In a 30 gallon tank, I wouldn't do any more than 3 gourami and the shark, with one of those being a pearl gourami, they get big. I have a 30 gallon tank, and I either have, or have had, everything you're planning on getting, except the peckoltia.

Z

It sounds like you've got a plan Rachie! You can speed up that cycling process. My last fishless cycle took 10 days.

Z

This is what I did. I took an established filter and a few handfuls of substrate from an existing tank and put them in/on my new tank. I also used a nitrifying bacterial product to kick-start the tank. I used half the bottle on day one and the other half bottle on day two. Forget the bottle instructions... Then every day I put a tiny bit of fish food in the tank, increasing the amount a little each day until it was equal to the amount I would be using for the number of fish I had planned for the tank. I also tested, tested, tested the whole time. Then, about day 10, my tank was cycled and I added all of the fish at once. No problems and my tank remained beautifully cycled. I've done this several times now for various size tanks.

Z

the food must remain in the tank for it helps produce the ammonia which will convert to nitrite then to nitrate, so no, the food must remain in the tank

of course you must monitor the tank like zambize did. You must test it almost every other day, to keep up with the nitrogen cycle. The water tests will tell you if the feeding should be more or less, and when the cycle is completedof course.

I never did the fishless cycle. I only have one tank. Started with 2 zebra danios, in 3 weeks, I had another 8 danios, and in 4-5 weeks the tank was cycled without losing any fish. Then I started to add other fish etc

It is a choice one must make. Some do the fishless cycle because they do not want to put any fish through stress. ZEbra danios are very hardy fish, so the cycle is not too hard for them. I've had all 10 zebra danios survive, I started the tank back on May 8, 2008.

zambize is an excellent source of experience, so you can rely on the information without any negative reaction

hope this helps