I like them both. Goldie are harder to obtain then Zaires, if you can go with the goldies and buy Zaires later. People are starting to breed Zaires more and more so they come up for sale quite a bit and pretty affordable in my opinion at $10-20 for 1" where as goldies go for $60-80 at 2". Not sure of current price for plecos..it seems like price for plecos is gradually increasing and appears to continue to do so. Have the best of both worlds!! If you can only do one or the other, go with your stronger passion.