Funny story, I went to a Cambodian food place with my buddies from work here in SoCal. There was a tank by our table with some pretty good looking BIG fish in it. The tank was pretty bare on decorations and I was sure they were breaking the 1" per gallon rule considerably..
Anyway, my buddies knew I was getting back into fishkeeping and asked me what kind they were. I had no idea but they all had the same Cichlid body type but some had stripes, others colorful fins and tails, but red tail coloration on white bodies was the norm.
One of my coworkers worked as a teen at Petco and gave me a hard time for saying they looked like Cichlids, "You mean those tiny little aquarium fish?!?!" weren't these big monsters or so he thought. He thought it was pretty funny, but it was my best guess.
As some can probably already guess, I asked the guy what type of fish they were. He didn't speak english, but translated through one of my coworkers he said:
"What?!?"
"What aquarium?"
"That is not a show tank.. those are the Tilapia special.."
Of course I felt stupid at the time saying they looked like cichlids, only to find out later that tilapia is the generic name for hundreds of different cichlids! I sent the former Petco guy a gloating email: "Tilapia: Common name for hundreds of species in the Cichlidae.." etc.. lol
Some weren't bad looking at all! So I have to ask, does anyone have actual "tilapia" (cichlids) in their tanks?
Anyway, my buddies knew I was getting back into fishkeeping and asked me what kind they were. I had no idea but they all had the same Cichlid body type but some had stripes, others colorful fins and tails, but red tail coloration on white bodies was the norm.
One of my coworkers worked as a teen at Petco and gave me a hard time for saying they looked like Cichlids, "You mean those tiny little aquarium fish?!?!" weren't these big monsters or so he thought. He thought it was pretty funny, but it was my best guess.
As some can probably already guess, I asked the guy what type of fish they were. He didn't speak english, but translated through one of my coworkers he said:
"What?!?"
"What aquarium?"
"That is not a show tank.. those are the Tilapia special.."
Of course I felt stupid at the time saying they looked like cichlids, only to find out later that tilapia is the generic name for hundreds of different cichlids! I sent the former Petco guy a gloating email: "Tilapia: Common name for hundreds of species in the Cichlidae.." etc.. lol
Some weren't bad looking at all! So I have to ask, does anyone have actual "tilapia" (cichlids) in their tanks?
