Jamie, thank you. That's a comfort to know. You've helped me cement it, finally. Going with freshwater. Which brings me to...
Anybody want to help me stock my first freshwater tank? 
Having settled on freshwater, I'm on to the planning phase. And I figured I'd ask all you guys for your experienced opinion.
I've heard it said that the best strategy for stocking is to select the fish that you're interested in keeping first, and then build your setup around those and select compatible tankmates.
Again, my main objective for this tank is:
peaceful, easy to maintain, planted, colorful, beginner's tank. By easy to maintain I mean hearty fish and perhaps inverts, captive-bred where possible, that won't eat or uproot the aquascape, or one another. I'm thinking of a 55-75g community tank where inhabitants live in relative harmony. I also love weird stuff and vivid color -- which is why I almost went salt. I'm trying to consider the water column as well, and who likes to swim where. So, I've come up with the following shortlist. I welcome all thoughts, criticisms, hints, pointers, everything...
The current shortlist (for after the tank is cycled, of course):
Boesemani rainbows and/or pearl gourami. Twice as many females as males. The thing is, I'm not sure if these two will get along. Anyone know for sure?
Cardinal tetras or neon tetras - shoal of 5-8
Green tiger barbs - shoal of 5 or more. I know these guys are fin nippers so perhaps the gourami are out if these guys are in. I read that they do well with boesemani rainbows.
Dwarf suckermouth catfish - school of 3 or more. I was wanting to get glass catfish because they're a curiosity, but I read that they're terrible for beginners because they require at least 10 to feel comfortable, otherwise they'll never come out of hiding. Anyway, read somewhere that the dwarf suckermouth catfish is "almost mandatory" for a planted tank.
Corydoras of some sort - unless they and the dwarf suckermouth catfish are too similar. Don't wanna be redundant.
Gardneri killifish?
Maybe some type of loaches?
What about inverts? How would some ghost shrimp do? Would they be quick fish food? How about crabs, clams, or snails? I imagine the clams would really screw with the substrate, right?
How am I doing?
Thanks so much, guys.
