Sushi provided you with all the information required, I can't personally help as I've never owned gerbils.
But wanted to step in and say something as well.
A lot of people say Syrians are the 'beginners' hamster but they're really not. In fact Syrians are actually a little more difficult compared to some other species of hamster that you can own.
Yes, Syrians are easier to tame. However, depending on personality they can really vary. Some can be quite aggressive. As well, it is known that Syrians are also very hard to please compared to other species.
There's a video actually here that I just remembered about after typing out the above paragraph, by someone called Victoria Raechel. A really well known hamster YouTuber with 499k subscribers. She actually completely disagrees a Syrian is a beginners hamster because of the fact that they're so hard to please.
You can watch this as she'll mention their personalities etc.
What is the BEST beginner hamster? - YouTube