Need some advice on Jack Dempsey Aggression!!!

[zerojquan85]

OK.. I need a bit of help on my Jack Dempsey.. their not killing each other.. although it kinda sucks for the fish because they dont get along very well..

I have a 60 gallon tank that is currently House 7 fish...

1 10" Silver arowana that is peaceful, but will move to a 180g tank soon.. (once i find one)

3 JD 2 female 4" and 1 male 3"
2 African Peacock at 3"
1 Vieja X Red Dragon FH at 1.5"

As u can see.. i dont try to add anymore fish because that is plenty fish for a 60 gallon...

Now the Fish in question is a Female Jack Dempsey, she's the biggest and the most colorful and freaking aggressive.. at 4" she's the meaniest in the tank

She picks on the other female that is less colorful and the smaller Male...

Thus resulting every single fish being aggressive towards each other....

I need some help in solving this.. I know that at the moment i can't do anything unless i get another tank to remove the Arowana.. but.. i have my doubts.. Since Jack Dempsey aggression is well known

Any ideas on what i should do? say remove the Africans?
I also have been reading a lot on Allthingsdempsey site.. they recommend getting small tiger bars to deviate the aggression of the Female Jack dempsey.. but i think that's too overcrowded..

I've also thought about putting a Midas Cichlid in there or maybe a smaller Red Parrot.. but i think thats just makes things worst...

Any suggestion?

 

[Dmaan.]

i'd keep 1 JD and remove the africans and maybe add the parrot.
midas would out grow that tank within a year no problem.
midas would likely be very aggressive to all the other fish!

good luck.

 

[zerojquan85]

I am thinking about removing the African's......

I didn't plan on getting them.. my dad thought it was a good color to look at..
but i never wanted to get them.. so i'm thinking of putting them in a smaller 40 gallon..

As for the JD.. i'm thinking of just having two in the 60gallon.. the other female and the male do work out peacefully together..

as for the FH.. he's only there for the mean time.. he's gonna be giving away soon.. its not much of a FH.. a vieja and Red Dragon mix..

But yes.. i do agree the African' shouldn't be there..

 

[Lizardking]

I would do what you´re suggesting and restock the tank. Keep the JD pair and get some dithers or other smaller cichlids like cons, multispinosas or firemouths.

 

[Toby_H]

You have two girls and one boy... each girl wants the boy and the tougher is eager to fight for her man... regardless of tankmates this is going to continue...

 

[Convict559]

just keep the 1 MALE and 1 FEMALE Jack Dempseys....for aggression i would lower the water temp to about 74-78 degrees....they say the lower the water temp the less aggressive..

 

[ohhsweetness]

i agree or just get another male jd ...

 

[Toby_H]

I disagree with the theory of lowering temperature to reduce aggression... although it works. Proper housing is the right way to curb aggression

Adding another male won't necessarily work, but might as a short term solution. But then you have two pairs in a tank that's not really big enough for two pairs... or you have one female that bullies the other female and one male that bullies the other male... either way it's not the best answer...

In my opinion you know which female he is going to pair off with, the tougher one. That's how Cichlids work. So rehome the lil female.

 

[Guapote]

I disagree with the theory of lowering temperature to reduce aggression... although it works. Proper housing is the right way to curb aggression

Well said. Dropping the temp will curb some aggression but also raises the risk of sickness.

Don't add more fish, just remove one of the females.