Has anyone experienced aggression between sparkling gourami?

I've been dreaming of getting sparkling gourami for some time now, but after reading so, so many forum posts, I've gotten a bit concerned.

The general recommendation is to have a group of 6+, ideally twice as many females to males. However, I've now seen multiple accounts that once they reach maturity, they pair off and get extremely territorial when they are spawning or babysitting eggs...which is pretty much all the time, to the extent that anyone other than the pair had to be moved to a different tank. These were accounts of people with tanks I would consider more than sufficient for that size of group, 20 gallons+.

Has anyone who has kept sparkling gourami into maturity NOT experienced this? What was your tank like? Or, are you someone who has experienced this yourself? Is it impossible to keep these fish happy without completely isolating them every time they are spawning? Would just two have higher odds of success, or would they get lonely when not spawning? Does that aggression extend to other fish?

Currently, I'm most comfortable with fish who have a low survival rate for their young and generally get along with each other. My espei rasboras have done a bit of bullying among their ranks, but nothing severe that wasn't exacerbated by other issues. I love the sparkling gourami, but I don't know how comfortable I'd be if I had to constantly be managing their relationships and space.