Hey, just thought I'd toss this one out to y'all... Got a situation in one of my wife's tanks that ended up being a Jack Dempsey pair that are housed in a 29 gallon. Full grown mature m/f couple... They get along, no spawning attempts yet. Were in a much larger tank but were being bullied and moved for that reason. I know that it's not ideal but would the bioload be acceptable for awhile without kicking a 29 gallons nitrate/ammo through the roof? So far it's been fine 0/0/40ish. There is a medium sized silver dollar in there growing out also. I've had alot of tanks, made my mistakes and learned from them, not a noob. Just have a pair I care about and this is the best I can offer right now. Do you guys think they will be stressed in the tank and do you think that we will be able to keep the nitrates n ammo at 0/ less than 60 with semi weekly w/ccs. Thanks for the help, you guys are great and Plz don't just me or this one, not ideal situation, sure we've all been there time or two in the hobby. ✌
Got an emergency JD situation, any thoughts
- Thread starter Convict with convicts
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Hello; Live plants are in most of my tanks. I am not sure that rooted live plants will work with the JD's. The free floating type could be of benefit perhaps. You might look up the threads on the use of external plants, such as pothos, to take up some nitrates.
Another consideration is a benefit gained from feeding. I am thinking of hings such as fasting days and/or a food type that is less messy and/or lighter feedings. For the first decades of my fishkeeping I tended to overfeed and feed too often. I will not go into the story but will say that regular fasting days and lighter feedings have proven of benefit in my tanks for some time now.
Not sure what a less messy food might exactly be for JD's. I am thinking of a food that does not come apart in fine particles while the fish is eating it. That small stuff decays and adds to the bioload. If such a food is not available the other thing I like to do is have a population of snails in a tank. Having the excess food bits pass through the snail digestion process seems to be better than simple decay.
good luck
Another consideration is a benefit gained from feeding. I am thinking of hings such as fasting days and/or a food type that is less messy and/or lighter feedings. For the first decades of my fishkeeping I tended to overfeed and feed too often. I will not go into the story but will say that regular fasting days and lighter feedings have proven of benefit in my tanks for some time now.
Not sure what a less messy food might exactly be for JD's. I am thinking of a food that does not come apart in fine particles while the fish is eating it. That small stuff decays and adds to the bioload. If such a food is not available the other thing I like to do is have a population of snails in a tank. Having the excess food bits pass through the snail digestion process seems to be better than simple decay.
good luck
If you do bi weekly water changes that will keep the nitrates down. I'd keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrites though, it could go through the roof with that sudden huge bioload on the filter. I'm hoping u took some media from another tank with beneficial bacteria? U may want to over filter it with lots of bio ball type media to house enough bacteria for that load. If the ammonia spikes treat it with seachem prime immediately. Be careful and they should survive until u can upgrade them... soon.
Yeah, the tank was already up as kinda our quarantine tank.... It did show a slight rise in nitrite, but cycle adjusted and it's perfect as of now. It's my wife's pair so I'm more or less overseeing it. She does well with monitoring conditions and big weekly 50%pwcs.... She gave them a flowerpot some cover plants and a dim light and they seem happy and in love
hopefully we can swing a bigger tank for them asap.... The other poster mentioned plants....she has some anubias and a Lilly plant that somehow survives lol... With JD's and a silver dollar that's an uphill climb my friend but I love planted for the looks and the benefits.... Makes me think of my blackwater 75 gallon dreams.... But that's a whole different thread there.... Thanks for the help y'all ✌