GT and JD in a 55g

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
C

cor

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 2, 2005
173
0
0
42
North Dakota
I have a Male GT that is about 6"s and a Male JD that is about 8"s and tried them both in my 55g this weekend. Previously they had been in two different tanks.

I redisgned the tank with some tall plants across the middle to keep them out of each others faces.

After a couple of hours the two where fighting very violently with the JD being the stronger of the two. I couldn't hold off on them trying to get a pecking order, I figured it would be death so I had to put in a divider.

I think the only hope for these two to be in the same tank is a tank that is 6ft long, probably a 180 and have some other strong cichlids to dither. A 75g just wouldn't do it.
 
A 6ft 125 may do as well. Defining seperate territories is the key. I also found that when two of my CA's weren't getting along, a 3rd, larger cichlid that wouldn't be challenged cut down on a lot of aggression. My example was a male jag, and a male tex. In a 55g, they would do nothing but fight. In the 125 with a 13in oscar, their spats were much shorter, and much less violent. This of course could be attributed to the space, but I think that the large O slowly lurking overhead, kept them in check as well.
 
Thats my exact big fear, upgrade to a very large tank for them and then still have them fight. Would be better off with my current setup of a couple decent sized tanks rather then one HUGE tank.
 
True, true. But if you upgrade, and they don't get along, then one can stay in the large tank, and you can add fish. I don't see what's so bad about that! :D
 
Too true, I think thats how I have arrived at my current problem with MTS of 10 tanks and they slowly keep getting bigger.
 
I have a JD and GT in a 90 together and IMO they'd be fine in the 55 if you have enough cover. Do you have places for them to hide? you only mentioned plants. In my experience, they're fine if they can pick out their own spot. Sounds like they're fighting over the whole tank because there's no defined territory.

I'd try that before I go dropping hundreds on a bigger tank just to see the same behavior.

What do you have for cover besides plants? I have lots of driftwood and they really do well with all the hiding spots
 
I put in a lot of plastic tall plants as well as a piece of driftwood on each side and another piece of driftwood in the middle.

To get to eachother they had to swim through and around a ton of plants before arriving ontop of the other fish.

They hadn't enough time to burrow out holes or anything like that.
 
I make sure i have areas to hide under the wood etc scooping gravel out from under it with my hand. I also added about 8-10 tiger barbs to distract them. Seemed to work very well, of course the barbs will end up missing one at a time after a while, but they are very fast and usually escape without any trouble. They add a lot of color too

The only potential problem I see with the 55 is its width of 12". This may get cramped when they max out in size. Most likely the JD will be bigger and might even push 10" and make it tough to turn and maneuver around the decorations and wood. :D

You could just let them battle it out too, but there's always a chance you might lose one. After all thats what these fish do in the wild when they compete for territories, just not necessarily JD vs GT

I'd try some more fish to distract them.

Good luck
 
I really should have measured the JD when I had him out of the tank. With his tail he may be very close to the 10-11" mark right now.

He was previously in a bow front tank so it was a bit hard to gauge the size.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom