I have a 55 gallon tank with a 5 in. JD and 4 in. BP I want to get one more fish. Something colorful and can hold its own against these two. Some possibilities i have thought of so far are: electric blue jd, green terror, rainbow cichlid, if not something colorful a type of catfish. Any other ideas???
Jack Dempsey and Blood Parrot
- Thread starter jwilksg35
- Start date
EBJD might be too timid in comparison to your regular JD. A Green Terror might just become that a terror. A Severum might work but it might clash with the BP.
JD's aren't usually to tempermental but like all cichlids, when they have a bad day, they will let you know. The BP can't do a lot of damage with its mouth, but all of them I've kept have been super aggressive, and will at the very least harrass and stress out other fish to the point where it is weak and afraid enough to be hurt by other tankmates.
When I had a JD and a BP in the same tank, they would literally team up and attack newcomers together, though quite the bonding experience for them, new fish never worked.
I always recommend Synodontis Catfish, they're kinda cute and they are usually pretty good at holding their own against cichlids.
When I had a JD and a BP in the same tank, they would literally team up and attack newcomers together, though quite the bonding experience for them, new fish never worked.
I always recommend Synodontis Catfish, they're kinda cute and they are usually pretty good at holding their own against cichlids.
I just got a new parrot fish the other day. So i had a JD and 2 BPs. The newer bigger BP would attack the smaller BP. The JD, when the bigger BP was getting ready to go after the smaller one would go after the bigger BP, defending the smaller one. I gave the smaller one away and now they get along fine. What size of fish should i be looking at? Does it just depend on how aggressive the new fish is?
EBJD are timid and nowhere as hardy as a regular JD. And im pretty sure a rainbow cichlid would get destroyed. Im pretty new to cichlids but this is what i have heard. Someone please correct me if im wrong.
Should i get a couple of smaller cichlids or just one thats about the same size as the other two fish?
Its hard to say since a 55 will be pretty full with a full grown BP and full grow JD. So unless your planning on a bigger tank i would stick with what you have. You could mabe try a jewel cichlid. They are African but mix well with american cichlids. I have heard of a bunch of people doing this including a few of my friends. Jewels stay small like around 5 inches but they are tough. See what the other members say about this before doing it tho. There may be something about jewels idk.
I had a pair of convicts that whipped a full grown pair of JDs, a Midas, and two Firemouths. The only one that held his ground was the adult Tex. Convicts may work for you. The Cons get nice color when fed properly. A pair may be too much for that size tank though. They will breed regulary and beat up on your other cichlids. Maybe a single male?
So i went to my local pet store today. I ended up getting 2 red terror cichlids. Brought them home and rearranged everything while they were still in the bag. The RTs are small so thats why i ended up getting two. The JD doesn't even bother them. Its the stupid parrot fish that keeps going after them, but he cant really do anything besides hit them. Do I need to be worried about this? I'm probably going to call the pet store saturday and see if i can bring the bp and exchange him for something else.