I have (or soon will have) a 5 gallon aquarium that I'm going to be putting in our kitchen. I would have preferred to go up to at least a 10 gallon aquarium but my wife vetoed that idea and it would have probably looked too large for the space I'm needing to put it anyway.

So, in that 5 gallon aquarium I would like to put a Dwarf Gourami and 3 Corydoras.

I have several questions that I'm hoping you can help this newbie with:

1) Will a 5 gallon aquarium handle the dwarf gourami and 3 corydoras?
2) Are the 3 corydoras a good match for the dwarf gourami?
3) I would say that these 4 are probably pushing the max capacity of the tank...if not, what could I add that wouldn't be a strain on the tank but would get along with everyone else?
4) What substrate should I use with the DG and the CDs? Knowing my wife well, I know she would prefer colorful gravel that has some purple in it (to match our kitchen decor).
5) Several years ago was the first time I cycled a tank and when I did, I used three fish to do so (I think I used zebra danios). What is the preferred way to cycle a tank now?
6) What other advice can you give me to help make this aquarium a success for the fish?

Thank you for any and all advice you can give.

TripleB67

A 5G tank is really too small for a Dwarf Gourami, they ae active swimmers. Better are a Betta or two Cardinal Tetras.

It's going to be hard to maintain water quality, as the tank is small. As well, kitchen tanks do tend to pick up more airborne pollution (cooking etc) than tanks in other rooms.
That being said, I would aim for the smallest fish I could get. If you want Corys, think first of the pygmy cories, pygmaeus, habrosus and hastatus. If they are unavailable, think of panda corys. Try to avoid any of the larger, heavier bodied corys, as your tank will look like a parking lot.
Be prepared for a 40% weekly water change (easy in the average kitchen).
The nicer small Gouramis are very rare in the stores now. The corporate chains have really strangled diversity of choice - they all seem to carry the same fish. Most of the supposed dwarf gouramis are not dwarfs anymore - the genetic modification and hormone treatments that have changed their colours seems to have carried the side effect of radically increasing their size and often their aggressivity. They are still selling "honey" and "dwarf" gouramis, but the fish under those names in 2000, and the ones sold by those names now are really different. In 2000, I would have said you'd be great with gouramis. Now, I'd suggest a second look at a Betta splendens.