Friend For A Jack Dempsey

[penguin22]

Hello, my 440ltr tank is now set up and is housing a 3inch JD,5inch Pleck and 2 pictus catfish. Just wondering what would work best with the JD. RTBS,Firemouth or Red Devil? I like Green Terrors but they look a little too similar to him. At the moment he is pretty friendly, he chases the cats a bit but seems to love the pleck following him everywhere once hes left his piece of wood. Any other sugestion would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[shroob]

440l is a nice amount of room for a JD and a friend, the RTBS and FM should both work. I would be wary about the RD though, they can be a right pain in the backside. Some will tolerate tankmates, others will hunt them down and not have anything with them. I don't think I would risk a RD (though JD's are no push over, just I wouldn't do it personally).

In 440litres, you could probably do a JD, FM and RTBS.

 

[Talleyrand]

I had a Red Devil in a 100 gallon with an albino Oscar, a Jack Dempsey, pleco, and two large Bala sharks.
Everything was fine for a year(?). Came home from work one day and I had one fish in the tank. The Red Devil. She had destroyed every other fish in the tank, it looked like someone had run them through a wood chipper. Even the pleco.
She is a beautiful fish, but insane.

 

[penguin22]

Thanks for your replys . I have now had a firemouth for a day and a half but he is struggling a little. Unfortunatly he is only about 2 inches big and looked bigger when in lfs. My JD looks huge compared to him and doesnt like him. Although doing no major damage when out in the open the firemouth gets chased away. He seems very clever and is finding great hiding places but the JD isnt letting him get much food. Tommorow morning I will buy some more caves etc but my main question is, I have found a decent sized RTBS much bigger than usual tiny ones but still much smaller than JD. Should I buy him now hoping he diverts a little attention from firemouth or should I just keep close eye on firemouth and take him back to lfs if things get too bad. Just one final thing JD didnt like the catfish till firemouth was added but now doesnt seem to mind them sharing HIS log. At the moment the JD is a million miles away from killing the firemouth but the stress and constant hiding cant be doing him much good. Thanks for any much needed advice.

 

[cheesy feet]

If the RTB is bigger than the JD's mouth I'd probably get it, depending on how bad the situation is.They're very fast so it would be able to out swim the JD in such a large tank...If the fire mouth continues to get bullied he may develop disease, or maybe an infection if the JD nips him.
If you put the JD in a bucket for 5 minutes and have a total rescape that should sort them out for the time being.
Also for your final stocking a Texas cichlid may work (great fish), depending on its attitude, mine was an absolute psycho.

 

[penguin22]

A very good day in the tank!, I have taken cheesy feets advice and bought the RTBS this morning. He has settled in great and is constantly pattrolling the bottom of the tank. The JD doesnt seem to care that he is in the tank and he actually swims towards and along side the JD(something the other fish avoid doing). The Firemouth is staying out of JDs way but seems much calmer in the tank, not hiding as much and seeming generaly happier. I know this could all change tommorow but at moment everyone seems quite happy, thanks for all your help I might try and post some pics soon.

 

[Raechal]

I had a Jack Dempsey in a 125 gallon with an Oscar and a parrot cichlid.

The oscar and parrot cichlid act very much like a pair, and the Jack Dempsey always attacked them and kept them in one corner of the tank at all times.

I had to get rid of him. He was very mean.

 

[Davo86]

Also for your final stocking a Texas cichlid may work (great fish), depending on its attitude, mine was an absolute psycho.

Lol, that made me chuckle, so your saying a psycho fish may work? well at least you wouldn't have to worry about the aggression from the JD as much,

 

[penguin22]

Here is Firemouth

Here is Jack Dempsey

Here is RTBS

Thanks for all replies at moment everything seems happy.