No ammonia spike

Question
Hi again Karen! (G'day)

You have provided me much helpful advice on setting up my 20
gallon tank (tropical freshwater).

My next question is...the tank has been set up for three weeks
now, two and a half of those with fish...there has been no
change in the ammonia level whatsoever -- always has been
zero. (one Angelfish, three black skirt tetras and last week one
sucking catfish thing as I was getting a bit of brown algae on the
rocks and plants).

I have been fussing around tidying up the tank nearly every day
and changing a bucket or two which I guess has helped.  

I want to get two dwarf goramis tomorrow and am wondering if that's
pushing my luck. Is the spike still to come perhaps or have I
escaped bad things?!

The lady in the fish shop thought not adding any more fish for 6
- 8 weeks was a bit extreme.  But she also sold me a Chinese
algae eater when I wanted an otto or siamese algae eater....I
didn't ask the right questions and she got the size wrong when I
said "grows about 12 cm?".  Oh dear. I think this one grows
28cm and will be bossy!

It's a great looking shop though with very clean tanks and
healthy everything...except I also bought mondo grass
masquerading as 'pongo weed'.  I am an avid gardener and
though it must be 'underwater mondo grass'.  But when I was
putting it in the tanks I went "no way, that is mondo grass
through and through".

It's a learning journey isn't it?!

Working out well so far,
still don't want to stuff it up!

Gillian from Australia,  : ))

Answer
G'day Gillian! ;-)
I think it is possible that you can be so careful with your tank stocking during the "break-in" period that you see no ammonia spike. I imagine your bioload (waste load) is so low that you never have gotten an ammonia spike. This is quite rare but also wonderful in that your fish have never had to endure this. And three weeks is plenty of time for ammonia to buildup, if it was going to spike, it would have done it in the first few days of adding your first fish. I would imagine your stocking levels are so low you have gotten away with no high levels of toxins in your water. Your frequent water changes certainly have helped with the cycling greatly.

~You're still gonna want to be careful with stocking. If your ammonia/nitrite levels at zero you know your tank has cycled and it is generally safe to add most of your fish. So since everything is safe and OK I would say it would be fine to add a couple of Dwarf Gouramis. These are beautiful fish! I love them! You'll probably still want to test your water a day after adding the dwarf gouarmis just in case.
Chinese Algae eaters are certainly not Ottos or Siamese algae eaters. The Chinese and Siamese get mixed up frequently. And unfortunately the Chinese Species do grow large and often stop eating algae once they grow large. They have also known for becoming bossy fish as you already know. Siamese Algae eaters and Ottocinclus are best known for their algae eating ability and peaceful nature. Sorry you got a bad deal.

Well...about the Mondo grass. It is actually NOT a submergible species. It is often sold as a totally aquatic plant to unwary aquatic gardeners but this grass doesn't do well submerged in the long-term. Sorry again...

Well I hope this helps! I'm glad everything is going so lovely with your aquarium and all.
If you have anymore questions, feel free to email me...

Best wishes and Happy fishkeeping!
Karen~