Jack Dempsey tank ideas

[cbrett]

So in the year Ive been away at school, I lost about 25 fish in my 125 gallon from my JD not being fed reliably, and am looking to restart my tank. He wiped out a couple small jurupari, all of my 15 tiger barbs, and all but one of my 10 giant danios. All thats left are a pictus, 2 SAE's, a BN pleco, and a single danio. Never had issues in the past couple years, but now it looks like the JD cant be trusted around smaller fish when he/she starts to get hungry.

So, what would you guys reccommend for stocking? The tank is fully planted, and Im not looking to add anything that can compete/injury the JD. Im temped to either go to town on the giant danios or set up some kind of livebearer breeding program and hope they dont get completely wiped out.

Thoughts?

 

[jaws7777]

Are you looking to.add cichlids or more schooling fish ? Densisen barbs are really cool, many tetra types too

 

[Elcamo]

I'm torn between either a group of smaller cichlids or a good sized school. So something like 3-4 firemouths or 10-20 giant danios, as long as they arent going to mess with my plants.

 

[ragin_cajun]

Maybe a Pike? Boesman Rainbows?

 

[ShadowP]

So in the year Ive been away at school, I lost about 25 fish in my 125 gallon from my JD not being fed reliaibly, and am looking to restart my tank. He wiped out a couple small jurupari, all of my 15 tiger barbs, and all but one of my 10 giant danios. All thats left are a pictus, 2 SAE's, a BN pleco, and a single danio. Never had issues in the past couple years, but now it looks like the JD cant be trusted around smaller fish when he/she starts to get hungry.

So, what would you guys reccommend for stocking? The tank is fully planted, and Im not looking to add anything that can compete/injury the JD. Im temped to either go to town on the giant danios or set up some kind of livebearer breeding program and hope they dont get completely wiped out.

Thoughts?

Get a panel of egg crate and make a temporary divider for your tank. Grow out all your dithers on the smaller safe side and your JD should get used to the idea that they are not food as they grow out. Keep him very well fed for the entire month you release them to his side of the tank. Do not remove the divider until he kinda ignores them on his side so you have a quick place to move them to without shocking them with temp and ph differences. It may take several attempts but has worked very well for me in the past. You could also cut out holes big enough for your dithers to escape through, and still block the JD, but be sure to remove all burrs so as not to harm the fish as they pass quickly through.
It's not a perfect solution, but probably your best bet if you want a similar species arrangement without starting over with a new JD.
This will still require a lot of patience on your part in judging his behavior towards his new tank mates. It is amazing what species may be kept together when they are not breeding or more importantly, not hungry.
Please keep us posted.
As I wrote, it is not a guarantee... it is probably your best bet to regain what you lost. It sounds like you had an arrangement that left your guests that knew anything somewhat baffled as to how you pulled it off.
I hope for your continued success.

 

[jaws7777]

Maybe a Pike? Boesman Rainbows?

+1 i had some boesmani rainbows in my 150 they were tough and fast

 

[TripleW]

I'm torn between either a group of smaller cichlids or a good sized school. So something like 3-4 firemouths or 10-20 giant danios, as long as they arent going to mess with my plants.

I think that you could get away with the Fire Mouth and a nice school of Danios.