Questions about my 55G CA/SA Tank

[Drew_H2o]

1. My wife would like a little more action. She loves the Tiger Barbs I have in the tank. Is there anything else similar that I can also add?

2. I love the look of Jack Dempseys. Would it be suicide to introduce one into my tank? Are they that much more aggressive than my Con and FM? I thought maybe if I let my 2 get established and then add a small JD that I'd be all right. My original plan was for a nic.

Sorry, so many questions. I've never dealt with CA/SA fish before. But I'm loving every minute!

 

[Octofasciata Aficionado]

Sounds like a reasonable plan, My jack is around 6" and I've been able to add fish to his tank, key word "his", it took a couple tries, I'd advise having anther tank setup for backup "incase he's too aggressive". But if you go small I doubt you have a problem.

 

[bigriver]

you need a catfish..pictus or slightly larger four line pim.maybe some silverdollars.this will add movement and activity to your tank.I think you should stay with 6in and under jd get big I took one out of my 125 to heal him and he made the 55 hospital tank look small at10 1/2 inches.

 

[RedH2O]

Jacks temperment differs greatly in my IMO. When i first bought them I picked up 5 and waited to tell the sex of the fish. I had a really large male that was the best looking luckily it got along with the the rest except for one that was just plain vicious. I removed the mean one and another male and kept the large male with 2 females which soon paired up.

Ever cichlid you get is a gamble. Can't really say that they are to aggressive or not theres so many different additudes cichlids can have. Main reason i like them tho, much more personable fish.

 

[Jmart159]

I don't think it would be a problem as long as you keep a close eye on the tank. Might be a little over stocked. Actually depending on whether your convict is a male or not it might pick on a small Dempsey. I know when I had mine together my convict ruled the tank. Then again, my convict was about 5 inches and the JD was about 4. I don't know much about the FM. I've never kept one. Anyway, good luck what ever you choose to do.

 

[Griller]

You could add 5 red-tailed black sharks. They will chase each other until the cows come home and they look good too.

I have recommended this to many of my mates who keep barbs and they are never disappointed.

Image from http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_bicolorm.php

 

[Drew_H2o]

My Con is a female and most likely won't exceed 5 inches. I doubt she'll be the aggressor in the tank because the FM seems to be putting her in her place as of right now.

I think the sharks or silvers will be too big for my 55G. Unless you guys think it could work. I'll be adding a powerhead to the mix soon. My XP2 isn't enough movement for my liking.

Oh and another thing, will the JD be too much for the Tiger barbs?

Anyway, so this is my final plan as of right now:

 

[Sarah88]

nothing is too much for tiger barbs unless it out right eats them, tiger barbs are vicious you def dont have to worry about them, iv kept them with oscars, all kinds of african cichlids and for a little while with my new CA/SA set up and then had to get rid of them because they were driving me crazy because every day i would see another tiger barb mouth shaped chunk from another of my cichlids tails and they never had any marks on themselves (i did only have 3 though because some of their brothers/sisters had died when i moved so if school was bigger they would have been fine i just didnt have room to grow out the tiny barbs that the pet store had)

oh and watch out when you are doing a wc in your tank, mine were little kujos and would bite at the small brown mole spots on my arms when i had them in the tank (it doesnt hurt that bad because of their size but you def feel a good little pinch from them )

 

[Drew_H2o]

Thanks Sarah! I'll definitely pick up 4 more then. Just wanted to make sure. I don't know much about anything besides mbuna because that's all I've kept until now.

Also, thanks for the props on my Con!

 

[Griller]

nothing is too much for tiger barbs unless it out right eats them, tiger barbs are vicious you def dont have to worry about them, iv kept them with oscars, all kinds of african cichlids

Really? I've never heard of that before. Were they fully grown Oscars? How big were the barbs?
Do you think they could live with a Jag?