Recently, we adopted new fish. Long story short, we were asked by an older gentleman that we know if we were interested in acquiring his 55 gallon aquarium along with his fish. He wanted someone who would care for them as he had two aquariums and did not want to let these fish "go into the wild". He had them for a while and they were his only surviving ones of this kind.
My husband went to speak with him about it and see what kind of fish they were, etc. He basically came back with the fish in the bucket, the tank and the whole nine yards. I immediately noticed that these fish were HUGE but didn't know what they were. The older gentleman said that in the beginning the fish that were given to him were what he called Silver Fish and that these were a fifth generation of the orignals that he had been given. He said only again that they were silver fish.
I don't usually do things on a whim and wasn't planning on my husband bringing the fish home that night, nor was I expecting themto be so huge. The largest one is about 7", and the next size is about 6", the last two are around 4" each. They are pretty big fish besides being long. My first reaction and everyone else's when they see them is "WOW. Those are big. What kind are they?" I'd like to know for sure myself.
Upon investigation, research, a trip to the tropical fish pet store and online inquiry we discovered that they might be some sort of Cichlid or Tilapia. Oreochromis Aureus or Oreochromis Niloticus. We do not know for sure and we would like to know.
Since aquiring the aquarium and the fish and investigating Cichlids, though, we have become very interested in making use of the aquarium and our new love for the Cichlid species. But we would like to begin with finding out what kind of fish these are first. What other types of Cichlids we can incorporate with them or if at all. We even are willling to start a new aquarium dedicated to Cichlids who will get along in a community together. We are not interested in these fish we have breeding out of control either although they all seem like they could be male because of the aquarium territory issue of one of them and none of the others pal around one another as if they are thinking of spawning.
Basically, though, if I can know what kind of fish these are then we can proceed from here in whatever direction we need to take and aquiring any additional information we will need. Thanks in advance. Enclosed are pictures that will have entire glimpses as well as specifically taken pictures with the patterns of the fish for identification. Thanks!
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