Best Tankmates for Jack Dempsey?

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What should I do With The JD?

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I kept mine in a 75 GL .. originally in a 40B. If I had it to do over again (tempting) I'd want to raise guppies or some other livebearers in a separate tank and let them reproduce. I'd treat the first ones with levamisole, and the standard ick treatment (84F temp and 3-5 ppt salt or 2 tablespoons per 5 gallons) for 3 weeks. The JD will likely eat the guppies and they would need to be replaced. If bought from a petstore, they would subject the JD to disease.
 
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Here's how JDs live in nature.
Eden2
I have found they don't do well in the company of other cichlids, even in nature.
If you compare the 1st video where JDs are the dominant cichlid, sharing habitat with live bearers and catfish, they do well.
But in the video below, where other cichlids dominate the habitat (Mayaheros uropthalmus) the population of JDs is minimal and they are quite torn up.
027 zps4b102ffd
The problem with combining JDs and live bearers in captivity is most tanks don't offer enough space for live bearers not to be cornered and eaten.
In nature JDs miss 9 out of 10 strikes.
To make it work in an aquarium, you'd probably need at least a 6 ft tank, to allow enough escape space, most cichlids won't break off chance until at least 4 feet.
 
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Tank mates depend on the individual fish. I think a 75 gallon is to small for a single male dempsey others will say its fine. He might be very easy going or he might be a terror.
Heres a vid of my male when he was about 8”. Hes in a 6 foot 150 gallon tank with an 8” carpintis, 8” male jag, 6.5” male jag and 10” male jag. As you can see he dominated all of them. At this point the JD has only the carpintis in this video as a tank mate in that 150 gallon tank.
 
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LDPatton said:
Tank mates depend on the individual fish. I think a 75 gallon is to small for a single male dempsey others will say its fine. He might be very easy going or he might be a terror.
Heres a vid of my male when he was about 8”. Hes in a 6 foot 150 gallon tank with an 8” carpintis, 8” male jag, 6.5” male jag and 10” male jag. As you can see he dominated all of them. At this point the JD has only the carpintis in this video as a tank mate in that 150 gallon tank.
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I will look into the 6 foot tank! I'm hoping my Jack Dempsey will stay easy going as he is now at his size because I hope not to need a tank that big!
 
GentleGiantsCichlidKeeper said:
I will look into the 6 foot tank! I'm hoping my Jack Dempsey will stay easy going as he is now at his size because I hope not to need a tank that big!
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Post a picture of your fish, we can hopefully tell you if you have a male or female. If it is a male, you will need at least a 75 gallon in my opinion, and are unlikely to keep other large cichlids with him in that size. Females stay a good bit smaller, you may be able to get away with a 55, but not with a severum and convict. For that combination I think something more like 100 gallonsor larger would be appropriate. You could try the livebearers as tankmates, I find sometimes cichlids ignore them; but more often if they fit in the mouth, they get eaten.
 
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Gourami Swami said:
Post a picture of your fish, we can hopefully tell you if you have a male or female. If it is a male, you will need at least a 75 gallon in my opinion, and are unlikely to keep other large cichlids with him in that size. Females stay a good bit smaller, you may be able to get away with a 55, but not with a severum and convict. For that combination I think something more like 100 gallonsor larger would be appropriate. You could try the livebearers as tankmates, I find sometimes cichlids ignore them; but more often if they fit in the mouth, they get eaten.
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I will post a picture tomorrow! At it's age now it is very easy-going and I actually don't see it much as it's usually in the back of tank with the Convict Cichlid. It's finally getting along with the Convict, and seems to be okay with it's other tankmates. Because of the way it's acting now i'm assuming it could be a female but it's so hard to tell. If it is a male I will get ready to upgrade, as i've already placed him back into the 55 gallon for now. His tankmates include the Blood Red Parrots, Convict, and Severum btw.
 
depends on what you like, Jacks can be aggressive but honestly in my experience they are pretty mild for cichlids so you have a good amount of tankmates to choose from
 
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