50 gallon llong with a 75 gallon foot print

[salstyles]

so I have a 50 gallon long with a 75 gallon foot print 4 feet long 18 inches wide but only like a foot high. I was told foot print is all that matters with SA cichlids. So is this tank as good as a 75 gallon tank for my JD? Could hold a pair with my sump filter and aqua clear 70?

Is a 50 gallon long better than a normal 65 gallon?

36" x 18" x 24"

or 55 standard

48 by 12

I have a 7-inch 6-year-old electric jd and he looks really healthy and looks like he has so much room he doesn't even use the whole tank. Usually they grow up and are so ugly. I have raised so many but this one actually looks good. I measured him he doesn't seem 7 inches until I actually measured him when I moved him from a standard 55.

Right now I have HILL trout giant danio school one rosey barb in that school with 3 congo tetra and a rainbow shark. The rainbow shark is a monster. I had a weather loach in there but the rainbow shark was always pestering it. he trys to pester the schooling fish but they are way too fast. I never had a rainbow shark that was so relentless. He trys to get in the jd's cave but leaves the jd alone. Can I add cichlid dithers like red jewel, yellow labs? I over filter all my tanks so they run crystal clear. I water change once a week also. I also wanted to add some rare rainbow fish. I feed live insects or frozen.

My other tanks I have a couple of 75 gallons I just need a stand for them another 55 a 40 gallon bunch of smaller grow out tanks. I sold my 120 and 150 because I rented out my basement and am too scared to hold them on the main floor.

 

[salstyles]

You can see his teeth in the pic but in real life they look so big. I have never had a JD with big teeth. His are like my salvini. Electric JD are usually wimps they cant fight and usually get beat up by everything but he's a beast.

 

[Deadeye]

For a fish that size, I’d be hesitant to keep in a tank that’s only a foot deep. Just not enough cruising room.
IMO I wouldn’t even keep a regular Jack in a 4 foot tank, but you have wiggle room with it being an electric blue.
Any other cichlids are sure to cause problems with it. Jewels can be mean (and it doesn’t help that both it and the Jack will have blue spots all over and look similar), and mbuna aren’t friendly either (not great dithers).
I also wouldn’t recommend rare rainbowfish as dithers. Rare always means expensive, and I wouldn’t put anything expensive with a potential piscivore.
My Dempsey does well with Buenos Aires tetras as dithers.

 

[salstyles]

I can move him to a. 75 gallon I don't think he will get bigger tho. he's so old and has those giant fangs. he seems so small. Yeah I have had a normal sized JD and they seem to do well in 75 gallons. SA cichlids seem to do good with free swimming fish compared to Africans. They do not seem to harp on or target individual fish or badger that are free swimming. Well jack dempsey at least don't. Peacocks, and haps will badger every dither to death unless it is very fast like hill trout or giant danio. Rainbow fish never last with them and they are fast just not torpedo-fast like the danio. The JD got annoyed with the gentle weather laoch when the loach got in his way he would push the loach out of his way but he would not go crazy and chase the loach the way the ruby shark does. he is less aggressive than the ruby and red-tail shark but much more powerful. The shark always pushes his luck and will enter the JD cave when the JD is turned around not looking. still the jd will just send the shark out of his tank. He could have caught the shark and hurt him but he just chases him out. I thought yellow lab might add something nice. So the whole footprint thing is not that true? I am not sure if a 75 gallon would damage for my floor or not. IF I had it my way I would get a 250 gallon!

 

[salstyles]

wait NO not a foot deep the standard 55 gallon is a foot deep his is almost 20 inches deep so its a 75 gallon foot print tank. It covers a 75 standard stand. Which is why I asked if it is better than my 65 gallon. I have a 65 gallon set up but it is shorter

so I have a 50 gallon long with a 75 gallon foot print 4 feet long 18 inches deep and 12-13 inches high. I was told foot print is all that matters with SA cichlids. So is this tank as good as a 75 gallon tank for my JD? Could hold a pair with my sump filter and aqua clear 70?

Is a 50 gallon long better than a normal 65 gallon? The 50 long is a 75 gallon foot print so 48 inch by 18 inch wide/deep by 12-13 inch hight

OR

36" x 18" x 24" that is a 65 gallon I have set up

or 55 standard I have

48 by 12 x 21

I have another 75 gallon but afraid to set it up because of floors

This is very hard for me and sucks because I am use to having six foot plus tanks I had a 6 foot and a 8 foot tank and without them life sucks because I am so limited. Good thing is I am over filted I have various sump filters and many 4 tier API filters. But this really sucks. I had to rent out my basement to get 2 thousand income a month extra. Good thing I do have extra money I can import rare fish now but must be smaller more micro fish. This is why I want to import some rare fish to Toronto in large numbers.

 

[Deadeye]

Footprint is more important than height, but only to a certain point. A fish that size in only 12 inches of water will likely feel exposed and be stressed. Still better than a 3 foot tank though.
75 is really going to be the bare minimum for the ebjd.

 

[quikv6]

Sounds like you have a 40 long...which was a traditional standard size years ago. They aren't as prevalent as they used to be.

EDIT*** - Please disregard. I thought the 12 inches you were talking about were width and not height. My apologies.