Red Texas and Jack Dempsey tank setup

[Jacob6556]

Well this is my new 60 gallon tank, and I just got fish for it yesterday! I decided to go ahead and buy a jack Dempsey, a red Texas and a rainbow shark! These are the first fish so far in this tank. However I have some questions about my tank I’m hoping you guys have the answer too.

First, what else do you think I should and can add?

Should I just go for a predator tank, or should I stick to these and just add a school of dither fish?

If I should just go with dither fish, what do you recommend?

I understand that not all red Texas get red, but if mine I going to turn red how long should it take?

How fast do these typically grow, is it more of a grow until they die, or grow really fast for the first few months, or grow for a few years and then reaching max size?

And finally do I need to use my powerhead in this tank?

So if you know the answer to any of those question, please answer and if you have and tips go ahead and share them!
Thanks!

 

[Ryan029]

Never had a red texas, but I've got quite a lot of experience with dempsey's. It looks like you're using a cannister filter so I'm not sure what you're running in there, but my dempseys generally hated active carbon and acted as though it bothered their gills. Nothing fatal, but I could tell it bugged them and then when I removed the active carbon it went right away so I'd recommend not using it with Jack Dempseys/ With a 60 gallon personally I'd stay away from adding too many more aggresive tank mates. Full grown, it's my opinion that the dempsey and red texas will need all of the space you've provided. I'd look at getting something to fill in things without adding to the aggression. Catfish perhaps? I've got 4 cichlid tanks currently ranging from 56 to 85 gallons. I don't run a powerhead on any of them. Maybe someone else will have a different opinion, but I've never had a reason to run one on any cichlid tank I've owned. Unless you're running an undergravel filtration system or have poor circulation with just your filter, I don't think you'll need it.

 

[Jacob6556]

Never had a red texas, but I've got quite a lot of experience with dempsey's. It looks like you're using a cannister filter so I'm not sure what you're running in there, but my dempseys generally hated active carbon and acted as though it bothered their gills. Nothing fatal, but I could tell it bugged them and then when I removed the active carbon it went right away so I'd recommend not using it with Jack Dempseys/ With a 60 gallon personally I'd stay away from adding too many more aggresive tank mates. Full grown, it's my opinion that the dempsey and red texas will need all of the space you've provided. I'd look at getting something to fill in things without adding to the aggression. Catfish perhaps? I've got 4 cichlid tanks currently ranging from 56 to 85 gallons. I don't run a powerhead on any of them. Maybe someone else will have a different opinion, but I've never had a reason to run one on any cichlid tank I've owned. Unless you're running an undergravel filtration system or have poor circulation with just your filter, I don't think you'll need it.

I have a fluval 306 I believe, and there is some really old active carbon, im not sure if over time maybe it like runs down and doesn’t affect the water as much, I’m not really sure about that. But he seems to be acting normal, but if I start to notice that he’s acting strange I’ll take it out ASAP. And I agree the red Texas chases around the jack but from what I can tell it’s just little spurts. It’s almost like the jacks just scared and runs and the Texas just watches, but I never seen him make any contact with the jack. I was just wondering about maybe adding more cichlids because some YouTube videos say the more cichlids the better, which I think would work if I had smaller ones. So what kind of other fish would you recommend? Do you think some type of dither fish is best? Or just maybe a few medium size fish filler fish? I do think having a few catfish would be cool, or some type of 4 inchish fish. Do you think it maybe would be best to maybe just add a tiger barbs, maybe like 10 or so? And I had the idea of buying a crayfish, do you think that could work in this tank?

 

[ad88]

I think you should only keep one cichlid in that tank and keep your shark if you want add some dithers. If you get too many big fish when they grow you will be doing a ton of work to keep the peace and keep them healthy. Just my humble opinion. Good luck!

 

[Jacob6556]

I think you should only keep one cichlid in that tank and keep your shark if you want add some dithers. If you get too many big fish when they grow you will be doing a ton of work to keep the peace and keep them healthy. Just my humble opinion. Good luck!

Yeah, I know I’m already pushing the limit for aggression, I don’t think I want to add any more fish that these fish would bother fighting with. I do find the tank to be very empty right now but I know once they are so big that it will probably seem full. I’m kinda thinking about filler fish, just so it give people something else to look at or for! I think after doing a little more research I’ve got these two ideas in mind, either a school of tiger barbs, or maybe just a few odd balls, like a crawfish, a catfish of some sort, and maybe a loach of some kind! What idea do you think will would look and do better? I’m pretty sure the two cichlids in the tank will be fine together, as there is enough room for them to
each keep territory’s and still be out of each other’s ways. Plus both breeds are very tough and can take loads of chasing and be fine.

 

[ad88]

Yeah, I know I’m already pushing the limit for aggression, I don’t think I want to add any more fish that these fish would bother fighting with. I do find the tank to be very empty right now but I know once they are so big that it will probably seem full. I’m kinda thinking about filler fish, just so it give people something else to look at or for! I think after doing a little more research I’ve got these two ideas in mind, either a school of tiger barbs, or maybe just a few odd balls, like a crawfish, a catfish of some sort, and maybe a loach of some kind! What idea do you think will would look and do better? I’m pretty sure the two cichlids in the tank will be fine together, as there is enough room for them to
each keep territory’s and still be out of each other’s ways. Plus both breeds are very tough and can take loads of chasing and be fine.

Jack Dempsey will eat the barbs eventually and a crawfish if you decide to get them. I have never kept a red Texas. Only silver dollars could possibly get to big to be eaten.

 

[koltsixx]

Well this is my new 60 gallon tank, and I just got fish for it yesterday! I decided to go ahead and buy a jack Dempsey, a red Texas and a rainbow shark! These are the first fish so far in this tank. However I have some questions about my tank I’m hoping you guys have the answer too.

First, what else do you think I should and can add?

Should I just go for a predator tank, or should I stick to these and just add a school of dither fish?

If I should just go with dither fish, what do you recommend?

I understand that not all red Texas get red, but if mine I going to turn red how long should it take?

How fast do these typically grow, is it more of a grow until they die, or grow really fast for the first few months, or grow for a few years and then reaching max size?

And finally do I need to use my powerhead in this tank?

So if you know the answer to any of those question, please answer and if you have and tips go ahead and share them!
Thanks!

I don't want to be negative but you are asking for advice and I'm only giving you advice in the interest of hopefully helping.

IMO/IME you're going to have problems if not from the start then in the very near future. Both fish can hit 12 inches which is just under your tanks width front to back(60 gallon aquarium has a width of 12 7/8"). As you cichlids grow their need for a larger territory will grow with each one seeking to make the entire tank their territory. With no where to retreat the dominant one will either out right pick apart the sub to death or stress them out till they slowly die from a combination of stress and possible starvation. The constant state of stress will also invite disease. So even the dominant fish could be in danger. Then there's the issue of water quality. Both those fish will have a large bioload for a 60 gallon tank.

Also your return hose output for your filter is low. Usually the instructions state for the output to be close to top of the water. This is to create surface agitation which promotes gas exchange. Gas exchange increases the rate at which oxygen dissolves in water, which is important but especially so if the fish are large in a small tank. It also prevents the build up of film on the surface of the water caused most times by a protein build up. Your powerhead though will make up for the low return hose output because it causes plenty of surface agitation.

Fish growth can vary widely. Genetics play a factor. As many fish are mass produced you often get ones that may have stunted growth rates due to poor breeding practices. Other then that growth rate is dependent on how well a hobbyist maintains their fish. To optimize growth a good varied diet, good water quality and water changes wiill help a lot. But don't overfeed as it can be detrimental to your fishes health. Also being kept in small tanks stunts growth because of hormone build up. Under ideal conditions usually fish will grow faster at first and slow as they get closer to their maximum size.

As for the crayfish adding one will almost invarably become food or a chew toy for your cichlids.

And your texas color change is also highly variable. Some color up right away and some don't do so till they're much older.

If nothing else I suggest you get some eggcrate from a Home Depot or another source. You can make it into a divider if aggression gets too high. Then you have time to rehome a fish when things go bad, so you can prevent a loss of one of your fish. And monitor your water quality closely as in a small tank things can go bad very quickly.

Again I'm not trying to be negative but in my experience this is what will happen when putting 2 fairly large cichlids in a 4 foot tank.

 

[Magnus_Bane]

I don't want to be negative but you are asking for advice and I'm only giving you advice in the interest of hopefully helping.

IMO/IME you're going to have problems if not from the start then in the very near future. Both fish can hit 12 inches which is just under your tanks width front to back(60 gallon aquarium has a width of 12 7/8"). As you cichlids grow their need for a larger territory will grow with each one seeking to make the entire tank their territory. With no where to retreat the dominant one will either out right pick apart the sub to death or stress them out till they slowly die from a combination of stress and possible starvation. The constant state of stress will also invite disease. So even the dominant fish could be in danger. Then there's the issue of water quality. Both those fish will have a large bioload for a 60 gallon tank.

Also your return hose output for your filter is low. Usually the instructions state for the output to be close to top of the water. This is to create surface agitation which promotes gas exchange. Gas exchange increases the rate at which oxygen dissolves in water, which is important but especially so if the fish are large in a small tank. It also prevents the build up of film on the surface of the water caused most times by a protein build up. Your powerhead though will make up for the low return hose output because it causes plenty of surface agitation.

Fish growth can vary widely. Genetics play a factor. As many fish are mass produced you often get ones that may have stunted growth rates due to poor breeding practices. Other then that growth rate is dependent on how well a hobbyist maintains their fish. To optimize growth a good varied diet, good water quality and water changes wiill help a lot. But don't overfeed as it can be detrimental to your fishes health. Also being kept in small tanks stunts growth because of hormone build up. Under ideal conditions usually fish will grow faster at first and slow as they get closer to their maximum size.

As for the crayfish adding one will almost invarably become food or a chew toy for your cichlids.

And your texas color change is also highly variable. Some color up right away and some don't do so till they're much older.

If nothing else I suggest you get some eggcrate from a Home Depot or another source. You can make it into a divider if aggression gets too high. Then you have time to rehome a fish when things go bad, so you can prevent a loss of one of your fish. And monitor your water quality closely as in a small tank things can go bad very quickly.

Again I'm not trying to be negative but in my experience this is what will happen when putting 2 fairly large cichlids in a 4 foot tank.

I'd have to agree. These fish will likely not get along with eachother. JD's tend to be very slow growers when it comes to cichlids, GT on the other hand can grow from a ⅓in fry to 7in within the first year. GT also tend to be highly aggressive very early on while JD's tend to be very shy at the start and get more aggressive as they mature. From what I've heard is the RT tend to be absolutely mental fish compaired to the regular GT. If this was a full scale pond this would easily work out but in a glass box with no escape from one another they will eventually try to kill eachother or one will bully the other to the point of death. If I had to bet on who would win I would bet on the RT as they will try to actually kill another fish while a JD tends to only act as a tank boss rather then a cold blooded murder like the RT.

The cray fish would also be a no go as it will eventually be killed. Even if they can't kill it while it's armoured it still has to molt that shell at some point and that's when it's the most vulnerable.

As for possible dither fish you could possibly get away with using mascara Barb's or giant danio's provided they have enough numbers. Silver dollars could work too but they are a far slower target.

 

[Backfromthedead]

There will most likely be aggression issues down the road. Tank is on the small side for just one of either of those cichlids.

If youre lucky, they might get along for a year or so if theyre small, then consider rehoming one when they start fighting constantly.

 

[duanes]

Agree with the others, that the tank is quite small for just those 3 fish alone, as adults, because each one is very territorial (especially if you end up with males), this however is a couple years down the road, things could be fine for a year or two, and then all hell could break loose, and they may need to be separated, and probably each cichlid, to larger tanks.

None of them are strictly predatory, all are omnivores that get about 50% of their diet in nature from algae and other plant matter.
The two American cichlids share territory in nature with live bearers like mollies and gambusia, but your tank is not big enough to allow enough escape room to "not" be eaten.
Below a video of JDs in nature, at the 1 minute mark you can see a mature JD (8-10") defending its territory from any other cichlid (except its mate), in a swath of real estate the volume of about 250 gallons. It breaks off chase at about 4 feet. So unless your tank has ample room beyond 4 ft, whatever a JD chases and catches will be toast.
Cristalino
in another video note how much more torn up the 10" JDs are, when crammed in a smaller area (a few thousand gallons) with other species of cichlids
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And here is a shot of a half grown young Herichthys (same genus and size "red texas" cichlids attain). In my experience, they require at minimum 6 ft tanks 100 gallons + if a community tank (with any other fish) is the goal.