Looking for advice for stock compatability, changing of my stock.

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pocky

Black Skirt Tetra
MFK Member
May 3, 2017
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Hi everyone,

I have a 90gal planted community that I'm getting tired of that I'm looking to keep bigger fish instead. I was reading around and I'm mainly interested in oscars and electric blue jack dempsey. I've read that they can be tank makes but at my local store the EBJD are only about an inch and the oscars are 1.5-2inches long already. I know the oscars grow faster, I really wouldn't want to come home to find the oscar ate the EBJD.

I think most of my current stock I'll need to re-home but is any of it compatible with the EBJD? I know the oscar will probably just eat anything that fits.

My tank currently has:
Neon tetras and other small fish (will be rehomed)
BN pleco
2 bolvian rams
5 pepper cories

Other than the tetras, are any of the fish compatable with the EBJD or will they just become snacks?

I'm most attached to the BN pleco. Would it be a bad idea to keep it with the EBJD and oscar, and just hope it doesn't get eaten? It's about the length of a ballpoint pen right now.

I also have a big piece of spiderwood/chinese azalea root driftwood with java fern attached to it. Any chance if I raise the fish as juvies they won't rip it to shreds?

Also I read oscars are clumsy swimmers and might hurt themselves on the wood?

Thanks,
 
I was in your shoes about a year ago. I got rid of all my spider wood and 90% of plants as my GT grow, he wasn't pulling them or eating them but his size was a concern. Not much open swimming space for him and he would bump plants and move substrate so things became messy.

I would only go with 1 big cichlid. I keep a group of young syno with mine and he ignores them. I think catfish are fine but 100% no other cichlids imo. You will want to open up the scape and I would suggest malaysian drift wood as an alternative with rock and sandy/ small gravel substrate. It can still look good but meet the needs and space requirement for your large cichlid.

Pleco should be fine too. but I could see him hiding a lot more if the scape is slowly being removed to make room for your new big fish. same thing goes for the catfish.
 
I think I've met you before... in real life. You have a little dog and lived in Pickering? I bought moss off you. My pleco ate the moss lol. Expensive snack.
 
Pleco should be fine. Most of those other fish would probably be okay with the ebjd, I have seen pretty large ebjd's in full planted setups even with tetras. Kepe in mind EBJDs are difficult fish to raise to a large size, genetically many are duds and pass on for no apparent reason. Also they are generally kind of shy and you may have an issue getting food to them in a 90 gallon. Might not be an issue, just something to keep in mind. An Oscar will probably be a lot more boisterous and grab a lot of the food from the top. The Oscar will grow much quicker than the EBJD as well. With that said, I think an EBJD and an O with a BN pleco in a 90 gallon is a fine stocking level. Would be better to get the EBJD bigger than the O, or grow the EBJD out a while before buying the O.
 
Gourami Swami said:
Pleco should be fine. Most of those other fish would probably be okay with the ebjd, I have seen pretty large ebjd's in full planted setups even with tetras. Kepe in mind EBJDs are difficult fish to raise to a large size, genetically many are duds and pass on for no apparent reason. Also they are generally kind of shy and you may have an issue getting food to them in a 90 gallon. Might not be an issue, just something to keep in mind. An Oscar will probably be a lot more boisterous and grab a lot of the food from the top. The Oscar will grow much quicker than the EBJD as well. With that said, I think an EBJD and an O with a BN pleco in a 90 gallon is a fine stocking level. Would be better to get the EBJD bigger than the O, or grow the EBJD out a while before buying the O.
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Would it be a better idea to buy a few small EBJD's and then keep my favorite survivor and bring the rest back to the LFS for a trade in? I saw a tank full of juvies at my LFS. I forget the price but I can't imagine the 1inch guys were that expensive. Or is it a better idea to buy a 2-3 inch EBJD for a better survival rate?

I honestly wouldn't mind if a few tetras got eaten but I've read stories of JD or Oscars trying to eat plecos or cories and them getting stuck? Would it be a bad idea just to chance it?

Yeah I guess I could get an O later but I really dislike the QT process. I get impatient waiting 6 weeks.

Hmm decisions.

I've also got a 10gal with a huge clump of java moss just growing in there. Maybe I can try to raise EBJD's until they're larger in there?
 
I would get a group and thin out to a single male once they reach 3-4 or aggression gets to be an issue. sometimes this can be sooner due to breeding.

I dd the same thing with my GT. Unfortunately as they were spawning my female slightly damaged my males lower jaw and tweaked it. He is fine but it is a bit off. Add some addition character i guess.
 
With EBJD's, most of them seem to die off around 4", and if they get larger than that, they are usually good. Your best bet is to find one 4.5"+, though that is pretty hard to find and will surely be expensive. Alternatively, you could go the route of getting a few small guys and growing them out. The 10 gallon would work to grow them out to 3" or so, but you would have to do frequent water changes to stop the small tank from slowing their growth. You won't have any trouble selling 3" EDJD's either, if they all live.

As far as the catfish, Cories have spiny fins and barbs, and can definitely be a choking hazard for large Oscars, etc. The pleco I would not worry about. The cories I would probably re-home. Also, I personally don't QT fish for more than 2 weeks, that's usually long enough for me to tell if a fish is sick.
 
Gourami Swami said:
With EBJD's, most of them seem to die off around 4", and if they get larger than that, they are usually good. Your best bet is to find one 4.5"+, though that is pretty hard to find and will surely be expensive. Alternatively, you could go the route of getting a few small guys and growing them out. The 10 gallon would work to grow them out to 3" or so, but you would have to do frequent water changes to stop the small tank from slowing their growth. You won't have any trouble selling 3" EDJD's either, if they all live.

As far as the catfish, Cories have spiny fins and barbs, and can definitely be a choking hazard for large Oscars, etc. The pleco I would not worry about. The cories I would probably re-home. Also, I personally don't QT fish for more than 2 weeks, that's usually long enough for me to tell if a fish is sick.
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Ah sounds like I should rethink EDJD's I called the LFS and they're $17 each. I think I'd get rather upset if I grew them to about 4" only to see it die.

What would be a good tankmate for an Oscar. A normal JD? I was hoping for something more colorful. Ideas?
 
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