Hi, I'm new and of course have questions

[Bdoggy]

Hi, My name is Bernie. I live in northern California. I recently moved and can now own an aquarium. So I went out and bought a 35 gallon cube. 22"x22"... I set it up with gravel and some live plants/rocks. I only let it run for 3-4 days. Which I'm finding out was a bit of a mistake. I have 2 bamboo shrimp. 1 female pearl gourami, and a few fish I cannot remember the species.
2 fish that the guy at the pet store recommended to me. Which I'm finding out may have been a mistake as well.. As he was the one that recommended getting a male and female pearl gourami. Now the male is in my roommate's tank, because they couldn't get along. I was hoping I could post a picture of the fish he sold me and you guys might help me identify them. So I will know if they will be ok in my tank....
Anyways thanks for reading this and I'll probably have. Aton of questions.
Bdoggy

 

[Bdoggy]

Here's a couple more pics of my tank.

 

[Rocky998]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

The top photo looks to be a form of cichlid. Maybe an apistogramma or ram. As for the others I don't know but the yellow/green one COULD be a form of killifish?...
To keep the cycle going in the tank sense it's only been up for 3-4 days, I would keep doing large daily water changes.
As for species compatibility I do not exactly know BUT I don't think those fish are the best mix and you may see forms of aggression. Again, maybe someone with more experience will correct me.

Advice from petstores are never that good unless you can really trust them... But usually they just want to sell stuff.

Pearl gouramis are really good fish and usually are peaceful but it's good to keep a trio of them with one male and two females

 

[Rocky998]

Here's a couple more pics of my tank.View attachment 163439

Looks nice!
I would get more of the smaller fish because they are more than likely a schooling fish that needs about 6 or more in a group. But keep in mind your footprint space is only 22 inches. So I would stick to small species that can be in small groups. Your tank has many stocking options! It's just what to stock it with... Bottom dwellers would be really nice but not really with the gravel. Sand is better in that way.
Bamboo shrimp are really cool creatures that need an area to be in medium-high flow to catch their food in their "fans".

Do you know the hardness and PH of your water?

 

[Back in the fold]

Ooooh ! I see an exceptionally nice male Aplocheilus lineatus Golden Wonder Killifish among your pictures. You have impeccable taste in your selections.
Congratulations on your new aquarium and welcome to TFF and the greatest hobby in the world.

 

[Bdoggy]

Yes it does look like a cichlid. That's what I was worried about. But I would like to identify him for certain so I could research them a bit...
I have been changing about 20 gallons out every day as that is the only thing that brings down the nitrites. They spike pretty much every day... Hopefully that gets better soon lol.

 

[outofwater]

Yes it does look like a cichlid. That's what I was worried about. But I would like to identify him for certain so I could research them a bit...
I have been changing about 20 gallons out every day as that is the only thing that brings down the nitrites. They spike pretty much every day... Hopefully that gets better soon lol.

You could help speed up the process a bit by adding "bacteria in a bottle" products. It won't magically cycle the tank, but certainly helps.
And like others said, welcome; and that's a vey nice setup and fish you have.

 

[Bdoggy]

Looks nice!
I would get more of the smaller fish because they are more than likely a schooling fish that needs about 6 or more in a group. But keep in mind your footprint space is only 22 inches. So I would stick to small species that can be in small groups. Your tank has many stocking options! It's just what to stock it with... Bottom dwellers would be really nice but not really with the gravel. Sand is better in that way.
Bamboo shrimp are really cool creatures that need an area to be in medium-high flow to catch their food in their "fans".

Do you know the hardness and PH of your water?

Yeah there are 4 left from the 6 I bought. They normally do school up. But after I feed the nitrite spikes and they start acting weird. Like hanging on the bottom and hiding... I need to change the water... The water is pretty hard here apparently... Like purple on the little test strips... I better get to changing my water.....

 

[Bdoggy]

Ooooh ! I see an exceptionally nice male Aplocheilus lineatus Golden Wonder Killifish among your pictures. You have impeccable taste in your selections.
Congratulations on your new aquarium and welcome to TFF and the greatest hobby in the world.

Thank you

 

[Bdoggy]

You could help speed up the process a bit by adding "bacteria in a bottle" products. It won't magically cycle the tank, but certainly helps.
And like others said, welcome; and that's a vey nice setup and fish you have.

My roommate does have some of that.. It says to use biweekly however. Maybe I could use it more often.
And thanks

 

[outofwater]

My roommate does have some of that.. It says to use biweekly however. Maybe I could use it more often.
And thanks

As far as I know those are to be used when cycling a new tank or when you add more fish to an already established one to - again -help speed up the natural process. Like everything else, opinions vary and some people disregard them as little more than gimmicks, i personally think they do what it says. The bacteria colonies adapt to the tank's load and on an established tank anyway, it doesn't take but one or two days, but it is something useful to have on hand.

 

[Rocky998]

Seems like you are doing good with the water changes and all!
If you do get bottled bacteria use the tetra brand because they have the correct species of bacteria in there while a lot of other brands use species that don't last long at all.

The fish you chose look very beautiful!

 

[The603]

Hi and welcome to the forum, you'll find plenty of help and knowledge here.

 

[Wills]

Hi welcome to the forum great to see you have a lot of enthusiasm and dedication to your fish already which is great! The not so great bit is the fish you have, the cichlid in the first picture is an Electric Blue Acara which is a great fish but not really suited to a 2 foot cube, you really want it in at least a 3 foot but ideally a 40 long or bigger. As mentioned the gold panchax is a golden wonder which is a great fish too but again a bit too big for a 2 foot cube. The schooling fish look like Red Tailed Rasboras which are quite a nice find Not very common but look great with the red tail and green shimmer to the body.

You do have a mix of hard and soft water fish in there - though the harder water fish you have are ok in soft too. But worth considering as you work out what to do next

Wills

 

[Bdoggy]

Hi welcome to the forum great to see you have a lot of enthusiasm and dedication to your fish already which is great! The not so great bit is the fish you have, the cichlid in the first picture is an Electric Blue Acara which is a great fish but not really suited to a 2 foot cube, you really want it in at least a 3 foot but ideally a 40 long or bigger. As mentioned the gold panchax is a golden wonder which is a great fish too but again a bit too big for a 2 foot cube. The schooling fish look like Red Tailed Rasboras which are quite a nice find Not very common but look great with the red tail and green shimmer to the body.

You do have a mix of hard and soft water fish in there - though the harder water fish you have are ok in soft too. But worth considering as you work out what to do next

Wills

Sheesh. Yes it definitely is an electric blue acara. I think from now on I need to do my own research on what fish to put in my aquarium. So I'm assuming he will get aggressive as well as big. I actually have two of them lol... Well I'm going to leave them be for now...
Thanks for the info,
B.