What's up everyone. Just set up my first tank (75 Gallon), cylced finally and ready to go. I'm being careful and am only introducing 2 fish to the tank per week just to keep an eye on the amonia and nitrates (again new at this trying to be as cautious as possible so I don't lose fish). Yesterday I went to the fish store and I knew off the bat I wanted jack Dempsey's, BUT he only had one left and suggested I take an electric blue to go with it. I asked if it will be ok with one the JD being about 2.5 inches and the EB being about 1.5 inches, he said as long as it won't fit in his mouth (which it can't) all should be fine. So as I expected the big guy is chasing the eb around even taking it out of its hiding spots. I know it's normal, but is there anything else I should do? I'm going to build more caves, but was thinking of adding a convict to balance things off but have no idea if I would be making things better or worse between the two. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Jack Dempsey's and EBJD
- Thread starter TONE_40
- Start date
Welcome aboard
I would say do your own research in the future. Not saying that LFS are bad but they sometimes give bad advice. Some LFS's have sales associate's that are very inexperienced and main goal is to make sales. They also should have never allowed you to purchase a smaller Cichlid such as the EBJ which will probably be harrassed to death literally. You need more than 2 Cichlids to spread aggression. Adding the right species together will be important. Cichlids are territorial and demand space.
How long has the aquarium been setup?
I would definitely say avoid convicts. They tend to be mini terrors in almost any tank. Even in tanks with fully grown Oscars, red devil's, and Midas. If ya want a good dither fish I would personally recommend getting a school of 10 giant danio's or 6-7 Congo tetras. Also it wouldn't be a bad idea to get a few fake plants to make a visual barrier, basically cutting the tank in half. Many times as long as the fish doesn't have line of sight of the other, it will help to reduce stress and fighting.
Welcome to the forum.
I can't really advise you on stocking as my knowledge of cichlids is limited, though even a none cichlid person such as myself would have given you better advice than the guy at your lfs.
As Tom said, sometimes it's best to do your own research and take what the lfs tells you with a pinch of salt.
Tank looks great by the way. Any problems on your journey in the hobby don't be afraid to ask.
Good luck.
I can't really advise you on stocking as my knowledge of cichlids is limited, though even a none cichlid person such as myself would have given you better advice than the guy at your lfs.
As Tom said, sometimes it's best to do your own research and take what the lfs tells you with a pinch of salt.
Tank looks great by the way. Any problems on your journey in the hobby don't be afraid to ask.
Good luck.
I completely agree thank you for your input. I had the tank going for about a month and a half.. adding bacteria in it and finally had that amonia and nitrite spike.. once my numbers went down I added the fish. I went back today after doing some reading on fishmates I grabbed one more EB and a green terror.
Yeah I've sadly realized this the hard way. Thank you for your response and compliments! This forum seems to be a great spot, thank you again. Be well.
Thank you! You said the word terror and I just picked up a green terror after reading a few pages about tank mates for the JD and I also added a slightly larger EB today.. all seems well as of now.
Np, always happy to help. Just remember tho those Jack's and terror will eventually need to get an upgrade in tank size later in life. All of them will get upto 8+inches. The green terror is a gentle giant compared to a convict cichlid. Granted it's still name terror for a good reason. I'll tell you the same thing I tell almost everyone about convicts. They say a convict is named because of the colors they get, but I say they are named convicts because of the attitude they have.