possible tankmates with jack dempseys

[BlokX]

okay...i have a 30L, all live with 1 jack dempsey (and 1 red oscar...but she'll be gone soon. too big for the tank).

anyways...i want something to go in the tank with the JD. i don't want a tinfoil barb or another cichlid derived fish. i was thinking something along the lines of a fresh water eel. anyone have any experience with freshwater eels or know if i can keep one with a JD?

thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

A 30 liter tank? That's roughly 8 gallons. Did you mean 30 gallons? A Jack Dempsey attains a maximum length of around 11" or so (although I've seen bigger ones) and although they don't grow as fast as an oscar, they grow plenty fast in their own right. The minimum tank size for even a single specimen of this species would be 55 gallons or so. 30 liters is too small IN THE EXTREME, even for a few months.

Jim

 

[danmhippo]

FW eels grows quite large as well, I had eels that grows to about 12", chubby fella. They were in a 55Gal tank with cichlids, and I think at that length it's still too big for the 55Gal. Eels has habit of digging into subtrate. If you have plants/decors, they would not hesitate to rearrange your tank decors.

BTW, eels grows FAST!

 

[Anonymous]

Either get a bigger tank, or go with smaller cichlids.

 

[BlokX]

by 30L i meant 30 gallon Long.

This JD isn't growing so fast that it's going to outgrow the tank any time soon and the oscar won't be in much longer. I know there are some types of freshwater eels that don't get so large. I was just wondering if they would get along with the JD is all.

And if i need to i will upgrade to a larger tank or downgrade to smaller fish. There are plenty of dealers in town who do trading.

 

[Anonymous]

A peacock eel/three spot eel gets about 14" and there is another smaller FW eel im aware of at about 7"..In about a year, that JD will easily outgrow that tank...A couple firemouths would be ok since they only get about 5" in length and there are even smaller African cichlids that you can throw in there instead..

 

[Anonymous]

there's a reason why they were named after the boxer jack dempsey

dempseys get big, and can never really be trusted w/any tankmates

given the size of potential 'tankmates', you would be starting out w/a 125 gallon tank minimum, just to meet the absolute minimum load carrying capacity of the fishes involved.

your approach to the size of the fish vs the size of the tank is abit mistaken, as well, imho. :wink:

This JD isn't growing so fast that it's going to outgrow the tank any time soon and the oscar won't be in much longer

.

a dempsey should double in size every month or two, when growing to adulthood, and should hit full size from fry in abouyt 1-1.5 yrs

you might want to investigate why the fish is growing at a sub-par rate-it does indicate something isn't kosher (like mebbe a polluted tank due to overcrowding from the fish load already exceeding the system's/your maintenance schedule's pollution dilution rate :wink:

 

[Bucktronix]

a good tank mate for a JD is a clay flowerpot.

 

[Anonymous]

Ive had a couple Dempseys with tank mates without a problem, However, that doesnt mean that they're tank mate compatible..Perhaps Ive been lucky...

 

[Anonymous]

Keeping Dempseys with other cichlids or other larger fish is not an issue. Contrary to what you may read in many older references, they are no more trouble than any other larger Central American cichlid. The aquarist just needs to give all fish in question an appropriate amount of space.


Jim

 

[Anonymous]

Keeping Dempseys with other cichlids or other larger fish is not an issue. Contrary to what you may read in many older references, they are no more trouble than any other larger Central American cichlid. The aquarist just needs to give all fish in question an appropriate amount of space.


Jim

hehe

the problem is that most don't realize how much space a full grown large south/central american cichlid can need, and demand.

:wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Indeed - I've seen adult Dempseys approach 11".