sundavr:

bettsplendens:

snowflakeeel:

any idea what these guys are? We just got them in at work and i love them.

The two greenish cichlid-esque ones are baby sunfish, nearly impossible to tell what kind they are at this point. They’re territorial as adults and will get at least 6 inches long, so they’ll need a pretty big tank, or need to be taken back to the river and swapped out for more babies when they start to mature. The smaller ones with the flat head tops are gambusia, aka mosquitofish. The ones with orange fins are, I think, some kind of shiner. They need to color up some once they get more comfortable. More cover would help them color up slightly, like some shelter at one end of the tank, but they need lots of room to zoop back and forth. They also need plenty of oxygen, you usually find them in fast-moving water. Try adding some sticks and driftwood in, everybody involved will want plenty of space to hide.

Orange fins are probably red horse shiners! I’ve pulled ones over a foot long and as thick as my calf out of rivers while doing electro-shocking studies. Only the mosquito fish make good pets to most keepers, with the possible exception of the sunfish depending on the species. Green sunfish typically max out at 4 inches even in the best habitat though they’ve been recorded at 6 inches. Any others would need a 75+ gal tank, and the shiners are just giant waste machines

Green sunfish get nearly 6″ and have very large mouths. Those don’t look like greenies, the mouths aren’t big enough. They’re pretty good aquarium fish if you only keep one, but you need a large tank. 
Aim for longear sunfish. A 45g tank with a single longear sunfish and a handful of gambusia is entirely viable, they’re one of the smaller sunnies. 
For smaller tanks, darters are amazing. They need high water flow, but a 20+ gallon tank with a powerhead at one end will keep darters very happy, and they’re beautiful little fish. Check in streams with lots of rocks and little to no mud or plant life.