Jack dempsey and Angelfish?

[Fishnerd360]

It seems I always get the weird fish. My most aggressive fish was a swordtail(female). It bullied all my fish to the bottom right corner of my tank, and killed my old favorite fish(honeymoon gourami.)
And one of my algae eater got some kind of growth thing, where he didn't grow at all/barley any for months, while all his friends were getting twice the size of him. Now he grown a bit, but still the smallest one.

 

[neutrino]

It seems I always get the weird fish. My most aggressive fish was a swordtail(female). It bullied all my fish to the bottom right corner of my tank, and killed my old favorite fish(honeymoon gourami.)
And one of my algae eater got some kind of growth thing, where he didn't grow at all/barley any for months, while all his friends were getting twice the size of him. Now he grown a bit, but still the smallest one.

Lol. Yeah, it happens. Had a Burundi frontosa once, 7 inch female. Would not tolerate any frontosa of any size, not large or small, nor of either gender, would not tolerate identifiable males of any species, would not tolerate fish of any species over 4 inches. But you could put little half inch Malawi fry with her and she'd leave them alone, typically a light snack for a frontosa. I ended up keeping her in a fry growout tank.

 

[Fishnerd360]

Lol. Yeah, it happens. Had a Burundi frontosa once, 7 inch female. Would not tolerate any frontosa of any size, not large or small, nor of either gender, would not tolerate identifiable males of any species, would not tolerate fish of any species over 4 inches. But you could put little half inch Malawi fry with her and she'd leave them alone, typically a light snack for a frontosa. I ended up keeping her in a fry growout tank.

Wow, I wish I could do that with some of my fish so I could have less fish.

 

[TacoLoco7]

Probably wise to plan on separating them.

Probably out there somewhere is a tank with some odd tankmates including an angel or two and an adult JD. Weird stuff works sometimes, you can't always explain it. But people can also be fooled by behavior of their fish when small. At 4 inches a JD is basically a toddler whose main motivation in the wild is keep a low profile and don't get eaten by the big fish. Other fish around that won't eat them might be a sort of security blanket. As an adult (if male) that all changes and becomes: stake out a territory, run off or kill most intruders, and wait for females to pass its genes on to, after which the female better move on also.

Doesn't always work that way. I had some wild A. rivulatus that from 2" on relentlessly wanted to fight everything else. Couldn't put them with larger fish, couldn't keep them together, had to isolate each one-- had 4, I think, bigger group and maybe I could have kept them together a while. Then again, I once saw a lfs tank with a 2-3" inch festae red terror and some 2-3" suriname type geos. They looked like they got along, no doubt for the reason I mentioned above, or possibly too new in the tank for the festae to settle down to business. But you know that wasn't going to last into adulthood.

So you are saying that female jack dempseys tend to be more peaceful than males?

 

[TacoLoco7]

I know this thread is a little old, but could someone give me a possible answer for my question. So last night, my 2 angelfish (half dollar size body, excluding fins) finished their quarantine. One is a black and the other is a golden angel. I was going to add them to my 55 gallon that contains a 3 inch female jack dempsey, 4 1/2 inch senison barn, 3 inch boesmani rainbow, and 3 × 1 1/2 inch black skirt tetras, and 2 inch rubberlip pleco. When I added both at night, the jack kept attacking the golden angel, but when it saw the black angel at night, it would also attack it. It got to the point where the jack left the golden angel in the top corner of the tank with lightly ripped fins. I immediately took it out of the tank and put it in the tank. But when I kept observing, the jack wasn't able to see the black angel and would leave it alone. I slept with my fingers crossed that the jack wouldnt kill that black one while I was asleep. The next morning, I turn on the the lights to see what happened and the jack just passed the black angel as if nothing happened. So my overall question is: Why did the jack attack and try to kill the golden angel, but ended being cool with the black angel?

 

[duanes]

Most cichlids (JDs) included that are established in a tank, will attacking any new cichlids added (angelfish included), because they are territorial, and any new cichlid is considered a threat to their territory (most non-cichlids are not considered threats).
And this especially in a tank as small as 55 gallons, that is already on the verge of being overstocked (which IMO yours already is).
In nature I have watched a territorial male JD defend a territory equivalent to @ 250 gallons square.

 

[tlindsey]

I know this thread is a little old, but could someone give me a possible answer for my question. So last night, my 2 angelfish (half dollar size body, excluding fins) finished their quarantine. One is a black and the other is a golden angel. I was going to add them to my 55 gallon that contains a 3 inch female jack dempsey, 4 1/2 inch senison barn, 3 inch boesmani rainbow, and 3 × 1 1/2 inch black skirt tetras, and 2 inch rubberlip pleco. When I added both at night, the jack kept attacking the golden angel, but when it saw the black angel at night, it would also attack it. It got to the point where the jack left the golden angel in the top corner of the tank with lightly ripped fins. I immediately took it out of the tank and put it in the tank. But when I kept observing, the jack wasn't able to see the black angel and would leave it alone. I slept with my fingers crossed that the jack wouldnt kill that black one while I was asleep. The next morning, I turn on the the lights to see what happened and the jack just passed the black angel as if nothing happened. So my overall question is: Why did the jack attack and try to kill the golden angel, but ended being cool with the black angel?

The Jack Dempsey more than likely attacked the Gold Angel because the Gold Angel invaded her territory so she felt the Gold Angelfish was a threat. Also fish will attack other fish because of color. I would keep my eye on the Jack Dempsey because she may still attack the Black Angelfish.

 

[TacoLoco7]

So would it be ok to attempt to add the golden angel once again to the tank or will the same thing happen?

 

[tlindsey]

So would it be ok to attempt to add the golden angel once again to the tank or will the same thing happen?

The same thing will likely happen. You can try rearranging the objects in the aquarium before putting the Gold Angelfish back in but it still may not work. Also there still will be a hierarchy among the 3 Cichlids so one of them will be constantly harrassed. Like Duane stated with facts the Jack Dempsey will in fact claim her territory..

 

[Chief Tom]

As someone who's netted angel parts scattered throughout the tank, I wouldn't. That being said, the more I learn about fish keeping, the more convinced I am that it's largely hit or miss. There's a tiger barb with my flowerhorn and they actually seem to be buddies...until...