African Cichlids? Need help with ID

[JennieEilerts]

I did something last night I just don't approve of -- I got fish I know NOTHING about. There was a girl trying to rehome her fish so she and her husband could afford a battery of tests he needs. For $65 and some custom silver rings I got a 55 gallon with filter, lights, really neat stand and boxes and boxes of supplies. It also came with a few fish. There are two sailfin plecos and some sort of eel-ish thing, and then a bunch of fish I don't recognize. She said they are cichlids. I recognize them vaguely as such, but then again, I'm not sure what kind. So, after hours of looking through google images I'm no closer to knowing what I have. Can anyone help me ID them? I don't even know if they're African cichlids! Any help would be greatly appreciated. I apologize for the photos -- they leave something to be desired. Thanks in advance!

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These are brown and about 2"+ long.
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The one on the left is pretty true to color; the one on the right is a very, very light blue with some irridescence and two weird long "antennae" under his chin. He's probably 2.75" long... maybe bigger. The one on the left is about 2.5"
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Weird pinkish-orangish eel thing
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Very zippy little black and orange fish. Bad photos because he won't hold still.
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Almost transparent, definitely translucent slightly orange fish with gossamer-esque tails and fins.

[alexrex20]

pic 1: black skirt tetra

pic 2: giant danio on the left, dwarf gourami on the right

pic 3: dojo loach

pic 4: harlequin rasbora

pic 5: white skirt tetras and black skirt tetras

[alexrex20]

oh, and none of them are cichlids.

the photos aren't that bad. we all know how hard it is to photograph fish.

[JennieEilerts]

Thank you! You are my HERO! I thought I was maybe just really stupid because I couldn't find any of the tetras in the cichlid photos. They really love the cichlid foods they came with -- should I cut those out and feed them something different? I feel like a moron, but I'm actually really relieved to learn that they're NOT cichlids. Now I can plant the tank to my heart's content! Knowing that he's a loach now, and looking at photos, the poor little thing has no pectoral fins! He just has little stumps! He gets around okay -- not perfectly, but he's eating well and everything else. Would the gourami have eaten them off? Should I think about moving him to his own tank? I just feel so bad for him! I'm not the most knowledgeable person, but I'm glad I got them! I'm going to change out the substrate in a few days -- they're in gross coated black gravel. Seriously, thank you so much. Now I can make their environment perfect. :-)

[alexrex20]

I don't think the gourami would've chewed off the dojo loach's fins. Poor water conditions can cause fin deterioration in loaches and catfish. Once you get the tank set back up and it settles down, hopefully it'll grow them back. Fish are pretty resilient though so as long as it can get around and eat well, I wouldn't worry about it.

Cichlid food is probably fine, but once you run out maybe try some "tropical fish food" flakes or pellets. The fish look healthy though, so you could just keep buying/feeding the same cichlid food.

Glad I could help!