I would suggest a trio - 1 male, 2 females.
They are wonderful fish. Active but peaceful. Mine never harass anything - not even each other.
Males are beautifully colored (though they can look dull in an LFS's tanks). Females are a little paler in coloration but still are beautiful fish. They are easy to sex due to these color differences but body shape is also obviously different with females being wider when viewed from above and deeper-bodied than the more streamlined males. Males also grow larger and tend to have more pointed and longer dorsal and anal fins.
I imagine you know this already but they grow to 4" and enjoy a varied diet that includes live/frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, blackworm or daphnia and veggies such as blanched zucchini or deshelled and crushed green peas. It's a good idea to have a relatively well-planted tank for them. Males will build a floating bubblenest, usually under floating leaves, to spawn but it's difficult to raise fry within a community tank anyway. Floating plants are, nonetheless, good for keeping them calm and comfortable. They don't like strong lights and look brighter against a dark substrate and with plants for shade. Don't worry - they are not shy fish by gourami standards!
Sylvia. I noticed the ones at my lfs were hiding, maybe from the bright lights. My tank is lightly planted, so maybe I'll add some floating plants.
