Help identifying my cichlid!!!

paytheplayer

My girlfriend recently came home with a bunch of fish to put into my 120 gal community tank. Although I always advise her not to do this for me, she did it anyways. Most of the fish I recognized, but one I did not, and put it in anyways. After seeing one of my tetra with it's head missing, I suddenly realized that I DO recognize it, it was a cichlid. I moved it to another tank, but she doesn't know what the name of it was. I don't have a picture right now, but I was wondering if anybody could help.
It's about the size of a loonie (Canadians know what Im talking about), and its black and grey striped. Thanks.[/code]

iamntbatman

Non-Canadian here. Do you mean the actual bird, or the coin? I'm going to hope you're talking about the coin. Are the stripes vertical or horizontal? I'm going to assume it's not a more expensive type of cichlid since it would be unusual to purchase an expensive fish without knowing what it is. My best guess is that it's a convict. It could be something else, though. If you do have a convict, it will get larger than a loonie (the coin, not the bird) and terrorize/kill most of your other fish. Convicts top out at about 5-6 inches and should really only be kept with other mean fish.

paytheplayer

Yeah I meant the coin lol. The stripes run from it's back, to its stomach. I've started to notice some blue spots on him also. I don't know, but is it possible that he could be a Jack Dempsey?

thespiff

There are sooo many cichlids out there. You'll really need to supply a picture. Or you could go back to the pet store you bought it at and try to look for a match in the tanks there.

Lupin

Tilapia buttickoferi?