how big of tank

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
O's are often big babys. I think you'd have a better chance with a GT then an O but honestly a Jag needs to be by itself if it's in a tank smaller then 125 or so. If your determined to keep a Jag with other cichlids you should look at around 4 or more RD/Midas, Odo, Trimac and other fish that are aggressive and grow to 14"+ and buy a tank that's at least 6' long.

When it comes to large, aggressive cichlids, you either keep them by themselves or use the "controlled chaos" theory and overcrowd the tank so territories don't get established which reduces aggression.
 
i thought that a gt wouldn't be that good of a tank mate also i know the green terrors sold at petsmart for $5 arn't true green terrors but are thay very aggresive
 
An Oscar would just be a big punching bag for the Jag. At least a GT can defend itself somewhat. GT's are aggressive but Jag's are just as aggressive and get bigger. Neither fish do well with tank mates unless in big aquariums.
 
i have a female jag with a tiger oscar and a wild oscar they all get along fine in a 6x2x2 i,m hoping to add a male jag soon as the female keeps laying eggs
 
ok sounds like keeping aggressive cichlid with other cichlid needs a big tank what about keeping them with fish that stay on the bottem like clown loaches or catfish
 
Most large aggressive cichlids can be kept with Pleco's in tanks that you couldnt keep other cichlids in. For example a 75g with a Jag and Pleco might work ok. The reasons for this are that Pleco's have "armor" so it's tougher to injury it and cichlids often view the Pleco as not being a competitor for food and space.

Outside of the Plecostomus I wouldnt recommend many other types of Catfish because the smaller ones like Pictus or Corey Catfish are soft and have a spine in their dorsal fin that can get stuck in a cichlids throat(know this one from experience) and larger ones like Red-Tailed Catfish get massive and would need a monster tank.

Thankfully there is a gazillion different types of Pleco's. Here's a good site that has them all listed- http://www.planetcatfish.com/core/. They very in size from a few inches to 3 feet.
 
ok what about medium catfish like a raphael or something like that
 
A Raphael would work with many cichlids. Just try to buy one that's already 4 or 5 inches if you start with juvinal cichlids. If you end up with just an Oscar you can also consider something like a Pictus Cat or a shoal of them.
 
ok i have a small raphael and a small jag the raphael is like 2-3'' and the jag is 3'' so im not sure what to do i think the jag will out grow it really fast but i don't have to put it in there so if i waited for it to get big and put it in the tank with the jag would that not work at all
 
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