Oscar And A Jack Dempsy

[hungryguppy]

Would the Oscar kill the Jack dempsy? What other chiclids are compatible with Jack Dempsy's or oscars?

 

[tnhowery]

Its possible how big is the tank?

There are many variables to consider when dealing with aggresive fish.


Some other options may be...

Green Terror
Some larger catfish (lima shovelnose)
Silver Dollars(School)
Tinfoil Barb
Manganese
Red Devil

Just depends on size of tank...

 

[hungryguppy]

its a 55gallon tank, are chiclids a good choice? Would there be any main things i would have to watch out for?

 

[Zen_Fish]

I have an oscar and a Jack dempsey who live in relative peace and harmony. I've had them together for 8 months now. They constitute the leaders of the tank, the dempsey who is about 7 inches is aggressive towards the other fish a 7" pleco, and two 5" tinfoil barbs, but never towards the 9" Oscar. Occasionally the oscar will take a shot at the dempsey but its more of a staredown that ends with the dempsey backing down. I hypothesize that the size of the oscar is all that stops the dempsey from not being more aggressive, so if your going to have both of them I'd suggest making sure that the oscar is bigger, which shouldnt be too hard anyway as they grow faster than the demspey so if you get them the same size when they are small it shouldnt be a big problem at all. Maybe someone else can definitively confirm/deny that.

The 55 gallon might be a little small to happily accomodate them for long, but i started these guys out in a 45 gallon up until a week or so ago when i transferred them into a bigger tank. They were reluctant to move at first, but are much happier now in their bigger environment.

Every green terror i have ever had or seen has been terribly aggressive. I've known them to really bully dempseys of their size or even a little bigger. Oscars get a little respect if they have the terror massively outsized, almost 2:1; but then again thats just my personal exp.

Hope it helped,

Zen


BTW. Love Oscars, best personalitly on a fish. I reccommend them!

 

[tnhowery]

If you have a 55G one oscar is all that should go into the tank...

Green terrors can be rather aggresive but i had more problems with my JD bullying the Green Terror...

I would scrap the oscar and go with a pair of GT or JD.

 

[hungryguppy]

how big of a tank would i need to keep phiranas? Are chiclids shoaling fish? would one of them be okay with smaller fish? Say a bala shark? For driftwood and roscks, would it need to be something they can hide in?

 

[tnhowery]

To keep pirahnas i would go with a 90G+ depending on species. Chiclids are not shoaling fish... A bala shark will be far to large for a 55g they get big and are very skittish, keeping them in this tank will only result in harm to themselves.

 

[hungryguppy]

My tanks dimensions are 48Lx20Wx13H, will that help in giving my fish mor room to swim? Would smaller chiclids be okay in the tank? Should i stick with gouramis and other fish of such? Would red belly pacus be okay? If i go with two GT's or JD's, could i add more fish or not?

 

[tnhowery]

Pacus are a huge NoN they get far to large for public aquaria, as for anything with the GT or JDs it would be a risk and be cutting the stocking really close. You have to remember these fish will eventually be 10-12 inches long. Have you considered trying a community tank? You would have many more options for your stocking.

 

[Ferris]

If you fancy cichlids - your tank size is perfect for an Mbuna community setup (African cichlids from Lake Malawi). They don't grow as big as most New World species and have bags of personality.

If you're interested - head over to the African forum and check out some of the pinned topics for pics and info etc.

 

[hungryguppy]

thanks forall your help guys, ill check that out.