Now that my 54 gallon is finally completing its cycle, i can start thinking of stocking it.

It has:

- two large pieces of drift wood, with lots of hiding spaces, holes, cavities
- high fast growing plants on the sides/back ground. Low (anubias) in foreground.
- 9 tiger barbs
- 2 pleco's

I want to stock it with Jack Dempsey(S). My LFS told me that i can introduce 2 juvenile JD's to the aquarium and that everyone will be fine, with the argument "tigers are fast enough, there are plenty of places to hide and the tank is large enough"


Does anyone want to " " on this one for me?

thanks!

I kept one Dempsy in a 30 gallon with a pictus cat so yeah you have enough room but as for the tiger barbs staying out of his way, maybe for awhile. Mine was pretty vicious. He enjoyed breaking heaters too. The light would come on and he would hit it. Pretty fish though and he didnt bother the pictus.

Yea my jack ripped my tiger barbs up in less than a day, was fine for a week then i guess he decided he was sick of em. And when they get older they will beat the hell out of each other. I love my jd thou.awesome fish to watch

They'll rip up your plants too.

JD's may not always look too fast, but when theyre hungry and there's prey they can get, theyll have no problem going for it. and as far as size goes, thats lots of room!

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20 Gallon Planted (Community)
29 Gallon Planted (Juvie Gold Severum, Gold Gourami, Juvie Tinfoil Barb)
90 Gallon (Jaguar Cichlid Breeding Pair)
90 Gallon (lake Malawi)
130 Gallon (Various Large New World Cichlids)
160 Gallon (Peacock Bass, Show Quality Red Devil)

*comming soon 75 Gallon Predator, 3 Undecided 55 Gallons Any Suggestions?

I have 2 JD's. one in a 55 with 6 or so guppies 2 or 3 algae eaters and a couple of young silver catfish. He doesn't bother anybody, except an occasional baby Guppy. He is 7 or 8 inches long. The other one however is 6 or 7 inches long,and had to be moved to a 36 gal. quarter round tank by himself. When the two where in the same tank the smaller one would start fights and the bigger one would finish it. It got so bad I did not think the smaller one would survive. It did but nothing I put in his tank does for very long.

I have a question I think I may already know the answer to but would like some confirmation or input about. would my 2 JACK DEMPSEY and 1 TIGER OSCAR get along in a 40 Gallon?

Oscars have very different individual personalities. Ive seen some that should never be together live just fine and of course others that should and dont. My buddy had an agreement with the owner of the LFS that he would let him take the fish home for a week and see if he could find some that will live together.

Those fish get pretty big, 40 gallons is too small for them. Try finding a 100 gallon tank on craigslist.

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I agree

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I have been keeping fish for 10 year's

That's kinda what I figured. Been looking for something bigger than 100g.

i have two jack dempseys, one is about 2.5 inches and the other is only about 1.5''. The bigger one does not allow the smaller one to do anything! The smaller one is at the point now where all he does and sit at the bottom and hide. I feel so bad for this guy. They are in a 40g right now but soon to be a 75g. Hoping the larger tank will help. I almost want to take the small one out and let him/her beef up in a separte tank and then put it back with the bullly. Does anyone one have any other ideas or suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Critter - this was inevitable. You didn't want to hear this when you asked, so you went ahead anyway. Now, the results are becoming clear - sooner than I would have predicted, but as people tried to tell you would happen before you bought these fish.
Those two fish will not live together. You can take the small one out, beef it up and then watch your pets in a cage fight. I don't know why, but. The dominant individual will kill the dominated - that is a territorial aggressive fish.