looking for cichlids that grow really big and are aggressive

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well what i was thinking is putting the jd in the 55 since it isnt that big at 8 inches its actually pretty small. the 55 gallon has 12.75 inches of turn space it should be fine by itself in there. then the 100 gallon i have a short body flowerhorn that hasnt grown for the past few years its stuck at 7 inches. short bodies max out at 8. so now i have an entire other half of a 100 gallon with no fish in there so i was thinking why not get an oscar or something. cause a 100 gallon has 17.5 inches of turn spice and its 48 inches long theres plenty of room. the turn space is what matters right? an oscar or red devil would max out at like maybe 12-13 right? if not yall could recommend me a fish that maybe only gets 8-10 inches and ill grab one of those. cause on the 100 gallon i have 275 gallons of filtration. it just looks really lonley with one tiny flowerhorn taking up so little room. i have a smal divider in there and then the other half has enough room for a decently large fish to turn and have plenty of swim space. what do yall think? it just looks really weird and lonely on one side lol.. unless i can somehow get a tankmate that can cooperate with the flowerhorn without fighting lol.


Half of a 48 gal isnt enough room of anything your interested in. Infact even your flower horn only has two feet of swim space. Even though you have 4ft length your not devoting it to the fish. Essentially each fish would have 2ft lenght and 17 inches of width, would be like swimming in a cube


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Yup. I had an Oscar in a 72g bowfront and felt it was way too small. 4' is not enough room for a 13'' fish. The bioload is tuff to keep up with no matter how much filtration you have. Big fish need big tanks. its that simple. I want a dovii but my biggest tank is a 150g, but that is too small. So I don't have a dovii.

Totally agree. I have my 10-11" amph in a 75 and I can't wait to get him out of that tank.


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Half of a 48 gal isnt enough room of anything your interested in. Infact even your flower horn only has two feet of swim space. Even though you have 4ft length your not devoting it to the fish. Essentially each fish would have 2ft lenght and 17 inches of width, would be like swimming in a cube


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Totally agree with this too. You don't really have 100 gallons of you're permanently dividing the tank.


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so whats my best option here. thanks for yalls opinions im a beginning fish hobbyist only been in it for a year. i dont really understand all this bioload and stuff. so heres my 2 options: either i can move the JD or the flowerhrn to the 55 gallon, or keep both in the 100 gallon behind a divider and put maybe some small plecos, jds, firemouths, convicts, salvinis, or blood parrots in my 55. or, i can move one of the fish from the 100 gallon to the 55 all by itself, and then make a community tank out of my 100 gallon.. although ive heard not many fish can coexist with a JD, especially mine its the gold jd, its 8 inches atm. any advice guys? also, the 55 gallon i just bought off craigslist i started it up on wednesday its been 2 days, u think i can start putting fish in there? the guy who sold it to me gave me his old fluval 105, so im running his old filtration to get the biological filtration up and running, but i dont have a test kit to see if the water is steady. thanks again for all ur advice.
 
My suggestion...slow down a little bud. Do some research about the fish you're interested in. Read up on the nitrogen cycle. Get to know the basic fundamentals of the hobby before you end up with a total disaster on your hands.

The Fluval 105 won't be enough to filter that tank and if the tank was shut down prior to you buying then the bacteria in the media will be dead.
 
@ jaws7777, should i remove the divider? im afraid the jack dempsey and flowerhorn will fight but ive never tried.. what do u think? theyre both about the same size, but the flowerhorn is alittle fatter and thicker. i can take pics of my tank so u can see the setup im a bit confused on what to do myself. basically i didnt exactly think it through enough based on inexperience. i am an impulsive buyer so i just buy and deal with it later lol. thanks for your help you seem to know ur fish.
 
@bradley- yeah i know i just found out it only filters 25 gallons. i have another 30 gallon hang on back filter ima put in there. for now im not putting anything in there until i get this situation sorted and planned out. thanks for your advice.
 
Move the flower horn to the 55.

Remove the divider in the 100 gallon and attempt to add fish to the 100 gallon.

The problem you'll come across is you might have trouble finding fish you want around the same size as the jack Dempsey.

Just make sure you do a quick google search on whatever you intend to add.




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Totally agree. I have my 10-11" amph in a 75 and I can't wait to get him out of that tank.


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My general rule of thumb is a 4' tank is only good for fish 10" full grown or smaller. Of course there are some smaller very active fish need bigger tanks. Like full grown silver dollars. Even though they only get 6" they will hurt themselves in a 4' tank if they get spooked.
 
My general rule of thumb is a 4' tank is only good for fish 10" full grown or smaller. Of course there are some smaller very active fish need bigger tanks. Like full grown silver dollars. Even though they only get 6" they will hurt themselves in a 4' tank if they get spooked.

i think youre after my heart. when i was new to the hobby i had some silver dollars that were around 3" in a 55 and that didnt last long. those guys would slam into everything... from left panal to right panal at full speed sometimes. never again and i always advise against silver dollars in 4' tanks now.
 
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