well i am kinda new to having fish we have a 5 or 6 inch jack Dempsey that we have had for maybe a year we just put him in a 30 gallon tank and i just bought a 2 inch long white Oscar this evening and put it in with the jack. ( that's our Dempsey name) and he has been chasing and nipping at him since he has been in there i read that in a 30 gallon tank a dempsey will take a third of the tank for himself but he has been going over the other side of the tank and still messing with my new oscar. now i have caves in there for the oscar to hide in but either he isnt that smart or he doesn't know he can get in there. but how can i stop jack from nipping at the oscar? jack has already killed my cat fish and i really don't wanna lose a 9 dollar fish to jack again. any ideas would be a lot of help thanks.
new here have a question
- Thread starter sandj
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Hello and welcome (again)...
The tank is too small for for either of those fish. And both are both very aggressive, but of course, the JD is the bigger of the two (for now anyway).
And of course, your Central American JD most likely can't "understand" your South American Oscar. In a tank that small, they really can't avoid each other.
If you look at your tank in square feet versus gallons, you have about 4 square feet. That's 2 square feet per fish. If you think of the tiles you see in the department store, each one is about 1 square feet. In other words, each fish's territory is equal to about two tiles. Your JD is 25% the size of his whole world!
Hopefully that all made sense. But, it boils down to...you have 2 aggressive, incompatible fish in a world that's way too small.
(by the way, I do have JD's and Oscars together at the moment, but they are in a 150 g and all went in when they were juvies. They will be seperated once they get to about 4")
Hope this helped. Good luck!
The tank is too small for for either of those fish. And both are both very aggressive, but of course, the JD is the bigger of the two (for now anyway).
And of course, your Central American JD most likely can't "understand" your South American Oscar. In a tank that small, they really can't avoid each other.
If you look at your tank in square feet versus gallons, you have about 4 square feet. That's 2 square feet per fish. If you think of the tiles you see in the department store, each one is about 1 square feet. In other words, each fish's territory is equal to about two tiles. Your JD is 25% the size of his whole world!
Hopefully that all made sense. But, it boils down to...you have 2 aggressive, incompatible fish in a world that's way too small.
(by the way, I do have JD's and Oscars together at the moment, but they are in a 150 g and all went in when they were juvies. They will be seperated once they get to about 4")
Hope this helped. Good luck!
trust me if the wife would let me i would the only reason why we got this tank is because it was free. i have 5 or 6 55 gallon tanks and a couple 100 gallon tanks that my dad had when he use to breed oscars but the wife says they are to big for our house so this 30 gallon is what i have to work with for now.
gotta get out of your chains there man, you've got the tanks just gotta get her somethin nice so she'll get over it haha
A 55 at least would be better than what they are in now. That tank just isnt large enough for either fish.
how big is the dempsey?
depending on sex, if its a male it will need a 75 not a 55.
if its a female it will be fine in a 55, a 30 gallon is WAY to small for a dempsey and oscar alone, an oscar needs a min of 75 gallons ( a 55 is way to small along with the 30 ) so either return the jack and oscar or get the 100 up and running then you can have both or get rid of one of the cichlids and get the 55 if the jack is a female or 100 if its a male or if your keeping the oscar alone... if your wife really likes the jack she will understand why you need to get a bigger tank.
depending on sex, if its a male it will need a 75 not a 55.
if its a female it will be fine in a 55, a 30 gallon is WAY to small for a dempsey and oscar alone, an oscar needs a min of 75 gallons ( a 55 is way to small along with the 30 ) so either return the jack and oscar or get the 100 up and running then you can have both or get rid of one of the cichlids and get the 55 if the jack is a female or 100 if its a male or if your keeping the oscar alone... if your wife really likes the jack she will understand why you need to get a bigger tank.
perfect strategy get her out of the house for a few hours and set up the 100. once its up she cant move it by herself problem solved