Jack Dempsey: To Move or Not To Move?

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13784

13784

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Oct 23, 2007
91
1
36
California "City With A Mission"
I purchased a JD last weekend. He's about 2" and in my rushed excitement, put him in my 180 gallon with fish 2-3 times his size: GT, Sevrums, Tin Foil Barbs, Parrot Fish, 4" Firemouth and a Malawi Eyebiter. All fish are compatable with each other, but I notice the Eyebiter was following the JD closely. Presently, the JD is hiding in a tree trunk and doesn't come out. Should I leave the JD in the aquarium, or take him out and allow him to grow before returning him to the 180 gallon? Perhaps the JD is getting use to its new home and because of its defensive nature, it would be fine to leave him? The 4" Firemouth behaved the same when I brought him home and it took about a week before "coming out". He now swims with the others. Thanks.
 
its tough trying to decide if u should move a fish or not. but jd's are slow growing so it may b awile before u think he is big or tough enough to hold his own
 
my suggestion would be to just get rid of the african. Granted your tank is big enough to accommodate all of these fish, it still doesn't mean that you should. If you really want to keep eyebiter then yes, I'd move him until he puts on a inch or two which shouldn't be long as long as you feed him a lot and keep his water quality good / do lots of waterchanges. I had a jagXtexas hybrid who was about 2.5" and he would hide in a conch shell in my 55gallon all day long, one day he disappeared. I know it was a 4" jag that got him but I couldn't be mad knowing that there was a good possibility it was going to happen. If you don't mind losing the jack dempsey then don't worry about it. I personally wouldn't stress it since theres a unlimited supply of them around me. I can get jack dempseys @ 2" for $free-$2 at the most. Don't know how much you value your new fish though.
 
no offence, and not to sound too calouse, but if he does get taken.... how much are 2'' JD's? $5?


but I would move him...
 
Yeah, I would keep a close eye on him for the first week or so, and if he gets bothered too much and you are fearful that they might damage him, I would move him if, like I said gets too much for him.
 
A lot of JDs are skittish and spend a lot of time hiding, especially in a new home. I would wait and see how things go before moving him. If the JD gets attacked and harassed non stop, then I would move him.
 
I agree with everyone, just watch him for a bit. The only thing I can really say is that, I was worried about my 2 JD's for a while bc they were smaller than everyone aside from one of my firemouths, and it wasn't long before my JD's became the kings of the tank. One of them grew so fast and became so aggressive I had to move him out of that tank. He was picking on everyone.
 
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