How many Dempsey's would fit in a 125. Also would it need to be a harem situation with one male and all females? Have an empty tank just toying with some ideas. Talking reg dempseys no ebjd or any of that.
Dempsey only tank
- Thread starter Guapoteguy291
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In nature, JDs live in loosely knit groups, except when spawning (when a pair breaks off and stakes a 4ft by 4ft territory all to themselves) .
A group of 4 or 5 females and 2 males would probably work nicely in that size tank, with a couple large rock formations to divide male territories.
You could also do a shoal of surface dwelling live bearers, if they were large enough to not be eaten, or if all your JDs started out young growing up together.
A group of 4 or 5 females and 2 males would probably work nicely in that size tank, with a couple large rock formations to divide male territories.
You could also do a shoal of surface dwelling live bearers, if they were large enough to not be eaten, or if all your JDs started out young growing up together.
Get a group of 6 that way you are more likely to end up with either 2 males or 2 females. That has been my method when I got all my cichlids. Matter of fact with my Managuans I ended up with 3 males and 3 females. They they all lived together with no problems.
Are you planning on getting them small? They will definitely get along better if raised together.
Don't really have any plans yet just tossing around a few ideas. Always liked the look of jds but they are always so skittish thought maybe in a set up like that they might be more out in the open and interesting to watch
I would suggest watching the specific fish you plan to buy - many JDs are very skittish and you don't see them much. But if you have time to watch the tank for a bit you'll notice certain ones are quite bold and outgoing. Get those, and they won't hide on you.
That's what I did and my JD is always at the front watching me and interacting with me. But mine may just be a weirdo - I think he is permanently stunted, even though he is beautifully colored, fat and healthy acting. He is a EBJD x normal JD cross and the LFS had him and a group of his siblings in a 55g for over a year before I bought him, at about 1.5-2inches, now I've had him gotta be close to two years and in that time he had lived in a 90g and a 160g and he is still only about 3.5 inches long... Either he was stunted early on or the EBJD genes in him are affecting his growth...
So just be aware that in general JDs grow insanely slowly for cichlids, and you may end up with a "dwarf" JDs depending upon where you get them from and/or their genetic background.
That's what I did and my JD is always at the front watching me and interacting with me. But mine may just be a weirdo - I think he is permanently stunted, even though he is beautifully colored, fat and healthy acting. He is a EBJD x normal JD cross and the LFS had him and a group of his siblings in a 55g for over a year before I bought him, at about 1.5-2inches, now I've had him gotta be close to two years and in that time he had lived in a 90g and a 160g and he is still only about 3.5 inches long... Either he was stunted early on or the EBJD genes in him are affecting his growth...
So just be aware that in general JDs grow insanely slowly for cichlids, and you may end up with a "dwarf" JDs depending upon where you get them from and/or their genetic background.
Another idea, you could do a smaller number of JDs and then have a decent sized group of Rainbow cichlids with them. They are both species from Honduras, and you could also add Green Swordtails if you'd like! Now that I am convinced mine will never get above 4-5 inches I decided just to put him in my 38g Honduran biotope with my Rainbow cichlids and Green Swordtails. You could do a bigger version of that idea... A school od Swordtails at the top, a colony of Rainbow cichlids and few JDs mixed in! Look at some of Lee Nutall's tanks on YouTube if you'd like some inspiration!