Jack Dempsey Advice?

[SAChichlidLover]

Hello again, Hope everyones well!

So, I've always wanted to keep a Jack Dempsey cichlid and watch it grow however I have 0 experience with this fish and I'm reading multiple mixed opinions on tankmates etc, in my case I wanted to keep a female on her own amongst acaras, severums and possibly other fish (all depending on what size the fish max out). Multiple people including my lfs have told me it will work as long as I create a good territory for the JD but I've also heard about them being overly aggressive especially towards severums. This sparked the idea if I went for a juvinile female singleton who would grow up with the acaras and severums would this by any means reduce the bullying/aggression risk? Or would I be dancing on a volcano here.
Tank size - 80 us gallons ( I intend to move the larger bulkier fish into a 100 or 120gal when I can afford this)
PH - 6.8
Water is on the softer side
and current fish is two gold 4 inch severums and two 5 inch Threadfin acaras but I plan on adding a true blue acara and some larger dither fish when I can afford them and a secondary filter.

 

[FishGuest5123]

IMO, Jack Dempsey are extremely aggressive and you could end up with a tank of dead fish. Sorry.

 

[Wills]

I would really advise against mixing south and centrals when ever I’ve tried it it’s always ended badly. With your soft water a growing jack would probably not develop properly some hard water cichlids develop like a beak shaped mouth in soft water because they don’t get the calcium they need from hard water as they grow.

What is it about jacks that you like? Just wondering if there is a south that fills the same niche

 

[SAChichlidLover]

IMO, Jack Dempsey are extremely aggressive and you could end up with a tank of dead fish. Sorry.

Aww it’s okay don’t worry thank you for advising me against it! Could’ve ended extremly bad if I went of my lfs advice gosh, maybe one day i’ll be able to get a tank for them

 

[SAChichlidLover]

I would really advise against mixing south and centrals when ever I’ve tried it it’s always ended badly. With your soft water a growing jack would probably not develop properly some hard water cichlids develop like a beak shaped mouth in soft water because they don’t get the calcium they need from hard water as they grow.

What is it about jacks that you like? Just wondering if there is a south that fills the same niche

Thank you so much for your advice! I've always loved the overall shape and look of the adults, for some reason they've always striked my eye and I like the colouration on some of them. I think they're pretty awesome fish haha. Is there any similar south americans you know of? I quite like the true parrot cichlids but I've not found alot of information about them or seen any in Lfs

 

[Wills]

I was thinking a green terror but could be risky with your other fish as they are unsurprisingly a terror... what about satanoperca daemon? Sort of similar mouth and the chunky yet slender shape and lots of spangles? True parrots are very nice but also very big check our pier aquatics in Wigan for rarer South American’s they do postage too if your not in a drivable distance

 

[SAChichlidLover]

I was thinking a green terror but could be risky with your other fish as they are unsurprisingly a terror... what about satanoperca daemon? Sort of similar mouth and the chunky yet slender shape and lots of spangles? True parrots are very nice but also very big check our pier aquatics in Wigan for rarer South American’s they do postage too if your not in a drivable distance

I was thinking the exact same thing, I would love to own a GT but I would have to moniter it a lot.. Maybe if it was a female and grew up with the other fish? hmm I guess it all boils down to the individual fish. I'll have a look at santanoperca daemon do they have any specific requirements? And I will do thanks so much for your help so far and that's awesome I'll check them out aswell

 

[Wills]

I was thinking the exact same thing, I would love to own a GT but I would have to moniter it a lot.. Maybe if it was a female and grew up with the other fish? hmm I guess it all boils down to the individual fish. I'll have a look at santanoperca daemon do they have any specific requirements? And I will do thanks so much for your help so far and that's awesome I'll check them out aswell

Some of those techniques are workable with some fish I’ve never seen a GT work in a comm tank I don’t think it’s worth the risk.

 

[SAChichlidLover]

Some of those techniques are workable with some fish I’ve never seen a GT work in a comm tank I don’t think it’s worth the risk.

You're definetely right. GT's just aren't built to get along well with some fish haha. I'll order the blue acara soon and I might see if I could find some three spot geophagus like you recomended and focus on bottom dwellers and dithers afterwards as I'm likely going to have to move the sevs when they grow up so I'm probably asking too much trying to add more larger cichlids to my tank.

 

[Wills]

I'm probably asking too much trying to add more larger cichlids to my tank.

You have learned an important lesson

So your plan now is to stock the 80 gallon around the Blue Acaras and move the Severums to the bigger tank? The Daemons would be better in the bigger tank too as they get pretty big (but are very slow growing).

Wills

 

[SAChichlidLover]

You have learned an important lesson

So your plan now is to stock the 80 gallon around the Blue Acaras and move the Severums to the bigger tank? The Daemons would be better in the bigger tank too as they get pretty big (but are very slow growing).

Wills

Thank you
And yes thats the plan! I've got lots in mind Blue and threadfin acaras are easy to work with thank god and when the sevs get to adulthood hopefully I'll have enough for the larger tank and the daemons and definetely to go with them! Very exciting plans haha I will fill the gaps the sevs leave when I move them with keyhole cichlids as they are also very easy going fish