# my first fish tank..questions



## mikelbjr (May 9, 2014)

Hello everyone, I'm a new member and new to the aquarium hobby. I have a 37 gallon fish tank and I'm doing freshwater. I'm currently doing my first nitrogen cycle..less then a week in. My question to you all is do you think the list of fish I want to put in once the cycle is done is too much and will I run into problems between the fish?

1 Angel fish
6 cherry barbs
2 electric blue rams
1 dwarf gourami 
And 3 oto catfish

Also any advice or tips are always welcome!!


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Your list may work well for you,all are good looking fish.
The angel may get to big ,but since you only want one it is probly safe to try(if you wanted a pair the answer would be NO).
The dwarf gouramis are a pretty fish ,but due to poor breeding by asian fish farmers have become so genetically weak that they have their own disease named for them!
It's worth a quick search and some reading before you get a dwarf gourami.search "dwarf gourami diseaes".If you choose to get one make sure it is healthy.As with any fish purchase(especially if you do not have a Quarentine tank) DON'T BUY A FISH THAT HAS ANY SICK/DEAD FISH IN THE SAME TANK!
WELCOME TO THE FORUM!


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## mikelbjr (May 9, 2014)

My first thread and already I found something useful out lol. From what I've seen the dwarf gourami disease only effects dear gouramis...is this correct? Cuz the last thing I would want is for the rest of my fish to die as well if I were unlucky enough to get a dwarf gourami with the disease. Also I am finally getting ammonia readings in my tank, how long does it usually take for the nitrates to start to spike for the cycle?


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

i actually think the dwarf gourami disease can infect other fish!
How are you cycling your tank?with ammonia or food?


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## hotwingz (Mar 3, 2013)

Welcome to the forum! That will be a nice tank with that fish list.


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## bolram (May 17, 2011)

Nice selection there.
The rams add great character once they realise who you are. Gourami's as mentioned are a bit hit and miss sometimes i've never had any last anywhere near as long as other fish i've had and they seem more susceptible to diseases


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## rtmaston (Jul 14, 2012)

welcome and that should work fine.i love my chery barbs.


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## mikelbjr (May 9, 2014)

I'm using fish food for the cycle because I couldn't find pure ammonia anywhere around where I live


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

mikelbjr said:


> I'm using fish food for the cycle because I couldn't find pure ammonia anywhere around where I live


How fast the food degrades and what amount of ammonia it adds to the tank is very hard to qualify.So you need to keep doing whatever you are doing and test for nitrites.To incorporate the ammonia cycling with fish food ;when you see nitrItes I would cut my feedings off to whatever you are doing to every fourth day and look for nitrates .If you are not adding food every day then when you see nitrites I would divide the timming by 4(if you added 2 flakes every 3 days then you do 2 flakes every 12 days).
This is all just "educated" guessing as the food method is hard to track.I have cycled my last 2 reef tanks with food and never lost a fish to water quality.
I always before learning more on this forum and from others here just went with " I feed invisable fish for 1 month and then change water before adding fish?" 
It really is hard to say but it did work for me?


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## yekoms (Jul 7, 2013)

Welcome to the site. You found the right place to be. The folks on this site have been a great help in the success of our tank. Just incase you didn't see this yet here is a site to check out. 
AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor


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