Help! Which fish do I keep, if any?

WateryWorld

Girl out of water
Oct 27, 2008
150
0
0
Louisville KY
I am fairly new to this. (I do have a small saltwater tank, that I manage okay with.) Anyway, I ended up buying two used tanks that came with fish, decorations, etc. The one I am keeping is a 125 gallon so I have pretty good amounts of space.

I do not know which of these fish I should keep, if any of them. Ideally I would decide in the next 12 hours or less, but I suppose I can keep them all til Monday or Tues. I don't want the rush to be bad for the decision making. I don't have a lot of time in the next days though.

Of course the ultimate goal is to end up with fish that are a good fit for my preferences. Money is somewhat a concern, so ideally I would like to get at least half of my fish as 'adopted' inexpensive ones. Although I'd rather not 'clutter' my tank with fish that I don't really like that much.

I'm not even that sure of what I have here. The 125 came with something like 11 cichlids and 2-3 other fish (unknown type), which get along with the cichlids since they were all put into the tank at the same time. The 55 came with a large algae eater (catfish looking but I guess he's not) which is around 10 inches long and has a black pattern that is almost leopard like. It also came with a 6 inch long fish which is a gourami I think, and two small ones which she said are kissing gouramis. And then supposedly the two others are black dot belly mollies? They look about the same as the gouramis to me.

I'm thinking that I do not want to own any cichlids, or any fish that would be harder to adapt to new fish? I don't like the idea of ONLY having cichlids. My tank is more suited to cichlids, apparently, with the gravel and slate and stone pieces, but I can remove half or more of the slate and stone. I like the idea of occasionally being able to buy a new fish or maybe three new fish at a time. So do I rehome the cichlids? I was told that the 6 inch fish was semi-aggressive and will pick on any new fish.

I know that being able to have large fish is kind of the point of owning a big tank, but I tend to prefer having many smaller fish than larger. I like variety, and variety of colors and looks/types would be nice. Definitely want some fish that are going to be somewhat visible from across the room though.

Despite the fact that I don't prefer large fish, the algae eater looks kind of cool, and would probably be good to have for a tank that's so large? He is supposedly something like 8 years old already. Should I be getting multiple smaller algae eating fish instead? Good chance I would be happier with that? I don't know all the considerations and pros and cons I should be weighing, so I hope I can get some good advice here.

I don't really like the way this 6 inch fish looks coloring wise and such. He is supposedly about a year old.

A bunch that came in the 125 are cool looking, one is maybe 8" which I don't care for much due to color, and one 6", the rest fairly small. Two are skinny. I am not even positive I can tell the cichlids apart from the non-cichlids since they are just in murky buckets (w/air bubbler) for tonight. I wasn't wanting to put them into the tank if I'm just going to have to fish them out to rehome them.
 
Any chance of pictures of the fish?

Personally I really like gouramis. In my experience they have great personality, but you'll want to know what species you've got because some can be territorial.

I've never had cichlids so I can't say anything about them.

Some local fish stores may offer you a store credit for your unwanted fish if you get "stuck" with them. Or there would certainly be people on this board who would give them good homes as well.
 
Yeah I temporarily put the other fish into small glass tanks so that I could photograph them. There are more than I thought. Poor fish are already stressed out. I know it was especially bad on one of the big ones, being in the jar, oops. But only for 2 mins.

[Ugh, the forum changes the order of my pics, it puts C1 first and D1 second because they were large.]

A1.jpg... First three fish
B1.jpg... The big fish and a tiny fish below him who likes to stay by the glass
B2.jpg... Pair of fish and 'tiger striped' one.
C1.jpg... Five more fish including white.
D1.jpg... That small one on the bottom I actually have two of. And you can only see two of those 'spotted' types but I think there are three in this tank.
D2.jpg... A closeup of the yellow one that you can't see very well in D1.jpg
Those were the ones that came with the 125 gallon tank and apparently all get along.
Apparently 20 fish in total. (There was a teeny one that didn't survive the move already.)

The ones who were and are living in another tank together are:
E1.jpg... The big algae eater.
E3.jpg... The other 5 fish. Including six inch that's orangy with stripe.
E2.jpg... Closeup of the small fish with black spot.

So, someone please identify them all :)

A1.jpg B1.jpg B2.jpg C1.jpg D1.jpg D2.jpg E1.jpg E2.jpg E3.jpg
 
My favorites (mostly going on looks, since I don't know much about personality) so far that I want to keep are... 1) the white one with yellow. 2) the algae eater. 3) the bottom feeding little one shown that I have a pair of, would keep both. 4) the skinny stripe ones that there are 2 of, because of their looks and even more so how they'd swim around each other in circles. 5) At least one of the silver colored fish, probably would like to have both. 6) The one that has a lot of fins, it has that one cool top fin. Reddish on top with glistening turquoise. In the photo it looks mostly silver. Although I hope the fin of the one I have is not damaged, and it's supposed to look the way it does. It seems like his top fin wouldn't open up?

Would all of those get along / any reasons not to keep those I just mentioned? I don't know about keeping any of the others especially if they need a buddy of the same breed. i.e. Thinking of rehoming the rest for now, and sooner or later buying different fish for my tank. Unless they are going to be more fun personalities? Maybe keep 3+ (of the ones I don't like so much) just for now, until I am ready to buy different fish.

How much longer would that algae eater live? It's had a stressful past probably.

Are any of those fish going to get bigger than I'd probably like?

Also if I trade these fish for other fish (or fish tank things that I need) then are any of them more or less valuable than the rest?
 
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The second picture down: the one at the top is a giant danio, the one to the right I believe is a jewel cichlid, the one next to it is a cory cat. Third picture: danio, tetra, cichlid. Fourth: I believe that is a tinfoil barb. Seventh picture: pleco. Bottom picture on the right is a gourami.
 
C1: The only ones I'm fairly sure about are the bottom right, which is a Jewel Cichlid, as mentioned above. Bottom left is some kind of African Cichlid (Mbuna maybe... anyone?)
D1: The yellow one looks as though it may be an African too. I think most would agree that Africans and Central/South American Cichlids should be kept separate. The top fish is a Giant Danio (Danio aequipinnatus) and is best kept in groups of at least 6 or 7. The bottom white one who stays near the glass is a colour variety of a Corydoras species, though I'm not sure which one (maybe aeneus?). They are also social animals and prefer small groups.
A1: The giant danio again, along with a Congo Tetra, and what appears to be your Jewel Cichlid again.
B1: Looks like a Tinfoil Barb to me too. These guys get big. The tiny one below looks like some kind of sucking loach to me. He'll get bigger...
B2: Not sure about the ones one the right but the one on the left looks like the Mbuna (again, not sure) I mentioned above.
D2: It's hard to tell from a face on pic but someone who better knows cichlids can probably help here.
E1: Looks like one of the large Plecostomus species. You'll want to feed this guy something extra since algae probably won't be enough to sustain him.
E3: A very chubby or possibly gravid female Platy. If she was gravid, the multiple moves may have caused her to abort.
E2: The fish at the top is what looks to be a male Blue/Opaline Gourami. Kissing Gouramis are pinkish-white and get bigger than this guy. The platy is visible below.
 
That is quite a hodgepodge of fish. The danios, tetras and barbs all do better and look better in groups of six or more. The middle fish in pic 3 is a male congo tetra. A group of them along with a group of the barbs or the danios would look good.
I would rehome the Africans.
 
E3: I don't think it's a platy. It looks like a red glass barb (female).

If you want a tank full of smaller fish, I would not keep any of the jewels or mbuna (cichlids). I also would rehome the tinfoil barb as they get very large and the chinese algae eater, which will generally get aggressive as it gets older (the little gold sucker with the tinfoil barb in the 4th pic). I think I also see a "pink kissing" gourami or two in the last picture under the gold (three-spot) gourami. I would rehome them as well because pink kissers get quite large.

In fact, the only ones I would keep would be the albino cory cat fish (little white bottom feeders). If you decided you'd would like to do a semi-aggressive tank, you could keep the glass barbs, giant danios, and congo tetras making sure they get buddies to school with. Possibly the gold gourami as well. The pleco (algae eater) would go well with these guys. It's hard to tell exactly how big he is right now, but I'm guessing if he's 8 years old, he's probably not going to get much bigger.
 
I agree - either rehome the Cichlids or rehome the non-Cichlids (if the one turns out to be a JD and not a Jewel, it won't get along w/ either group).

If you keep the non-Cichlids, I'd get more to match the Giant Danio, Cory, Loach, Tetra. If you're not up for having at least 6 of each, I'd rehome what you have.

If you keep the Cichlids, you'll want more of them (like 20-25 more) to keep them from forming little pockets of aggression.
 
Hm, a little confusing. Keep in mind that the 20 or so fish have been living together for a while now. Even though it's probably not ideal for them at least they don't fight I guess. Still though, I probably can't keep most due to them not getting along with future fish.

The skinny striped one is the Giant Danio or what? Since it probably needs to be in a group of 6+ then I may pass on it. The tetra is the silvery 'extra fin' one with reddish and turquoise highlight? Maybe pass since it wants a group. Dunno. They are pretty cool.

What is the white (with yellow fin) one? I guess some kind of Cichlid. Yeah, I don't want to keep Cichlids.

So maybe out of all of them I should keep only the pleco (algae eater) -- but would he get along with new fish I buy? Also wondering how long he would live? Would it be relatively inexpensive/easy to feed him? Other concerns?
 
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