# Jack Dempsey



## wpk22 (Jan 17, 2010)

As some of you have seen I have just revently finished cycling a 55 gall tank and was looking for ideas on what to stock it with. After some research I have decided to go with a jack dempsey. I think I would like to go with a male. I have heard they have great personalities and they seem like the ideal fish for me since I dont want to get an oscar until I get atleast a 75 gallon tank. So my question is will a JD be happy in a 4 foot cookie cutter 55 gallon tank. Also could I add another fish to the tank like a BN pleco or even maybe something after that? I would like to make this tank ideal for a JD so it can live a long and happy life. Any info would be greatly appreciated


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

Mine is very happy in a 55 gallon tank. I post my thread in the wrong place. It's in south american cichlid. You can go there and take a look.


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

*** kept a mated pair in a 55g for years and they had tons of babies.i currently have 4 in a 110 long,very friendly personable fish .


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## wpk22 (Jan 17, 2010)

would you just add a bn pleco to the tank if i were to get a pair? Also I just bought my one jack dempsey, he/she is about 2-2.25 inches and is decently colorful. I have no idea if it is male or female, does anyone know any tips how to tell?


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

a bn would be fine but it may eat the eggs...males have long pointing dorsal fins and anal fins and thicker deeper bodies,females are shorter and not so pointy.
male








female








post yours if you can :thumb:


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## wpk22 (Jan 17, 2010)

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3 ... 1414890790


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## wpk22 (Jan 17, 2010)

sorry if they dont come up for you. the only thing i could think of was to put them on face book. if they dont work and you think you might be able to sex the jd then you can send me your email and i can send the pics to you.


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

you could use photobucket.com its free and easy.use the img tag to cut n paste it here.i'll send you a pm too.


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## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

most of my males have looked like this...









but now I'm wondering if this one is actually a male...
















was thinking it was a female when I first got it...

















Time to do a vent check.


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## Briguy (Aug 10, 2009)

It looks like a male to me.


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## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

yeah, now, I'm thinking so too. Will wait and see...can't be bothered to chase it and vent.









good thing there are 2 females in the tank as well.


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

i would say male but venting is the only true way outside of watching them pair off.


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## wpk22 (Jan 17, 2010)

Okay so I was at my lfs and this is one that I did not buy my jd at just to look around and I took a look at their jds. they were so ugly, not colored at all, they were a brownish color, and barely any coloration at all. The one I got looked so much better than this. Why is it that this store has some ugly jds where the other store has great looking ones. Is this common for when they are young? Will they grow out of this if I were to purchase one?


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## Briguy (Aug 10, 2009)

The pale JD's at the fish store are young and stressed. There colours will come in darker when they are more relaxed and grow some more.


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## wpk22 (Jan 17, 2010)

Ok so my tank set up is around 4 18 inch plants, 3 12 inch plants, rocks, storebought caves.

I have a jd, bn. Could I add a convict around the same size as the jd and have it work out for a long time? or instead of that try and get a female jd, or should I stick with just what I have?


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

how big is the tank?
a similar sized con might work depending on temperment of each fish.


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## wpk22 (Jan 17, 2010)

My tank if 4ft long 55 gallon tank. The standard cookie cutter.

So I have a male Jack is what someone said earlier. So should I get a male convict to hold its own. I also heard at younger ages the cons dominate the jacks


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

it really depends on the individual fish???*** kept lots of jacks and a few cons and had it go both ways.try it and see how it works i guess.


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## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

My cons don't dominate my JDs, but they hold their own....Cons at about 1/4 the size or less of the biggest JD


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## wpk22 (Jan 17, 2010)

I am still up in the air if I should add something else in the tank. Could I potentially add another JD, keep in mind I have a male JD. Also if I went with this route, is there a godo way to try and get a female? Also I assume if I get a mated pair do most lfs want JD fry for free, I wouldnt charge anything?


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## wpk22 (Jan 17, 2010)

Ok so I did some research and the cookie cutter here says that i can house a jd pair with a bn pleco. So I bought two other JDs to try and see if they will pair up.

I also have saved up enough money with my roommate to buy a 120 gallon tank and I will be buying this within the month and will begin cycling it and hopefully I will move my JD pair to the 120 gallon and will start an African tank in the 55 gallon. Hopefully I will be able to add something else to 120 gallon when the time comes. Does anyone have any suggestions (i will not be buying these extra fish until the tank is cycled).


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

id keep the jds in the 55 and put the africans in the 120,way more choices of fish this way.


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## wpk22 (Jan 17, 2010)

I would rather do an aggressive CA tank for a 120 gallon tank. I think it looks better and it would be a waste of tank space just adding all those small fish. I would rather have a tank with some big whoppers and a smaller tank for the smaller fish


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

true,big fish o have more of a wow factor.you could add some severums for a big fish with a small mouth that would minimize the damage they can do to other tank mates.or the jd's with some green terrors or firemouths,lots of possibilities.just provide lots of hiding spots and sight breaks to help keep the aggression low.


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## dacjr (Feb 12, 2010)

I have 2 Dempsies & 2 Convicts in my 55, and they seem to get along okay. I got them all together, and are pretty much all the same size (about 2"), the other Dempsy being about 3.5. I have noticed that my Dempsies aren't very colorful. When I picked them out at the store, the bigger one was very dark and beautiful....I only get that now when the lights are off in the tank. I've had them now for about three weeks, and they spend most of the time hiding in the fake plants in the tank. The Convicts are very active and not shy at all. Any suggestions?


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## lmhollist (Aug 7, 2009)

*dacjr*
I think that's going to really push it for your tank. My understanding is that a single pair of JDs is the max for a 55, and really, IMO, I think a pair of JDs is too much for a 55 too unless they are both really mellow fish with a strong bond. Your fish are just little guys now but they will get much much bigger. As for the shyness, your jacks may still be settling in. It took forever for our male jack to warm up to people and actually come out of hiding. Once he felt more comfortable his colors truly came out. Could be you have a couple of females, which tend to not be all that colorful (although some have a ton of blue on their faces, which I think really makes them look nice).

I've read some success stories (they kept the fish together for at least a year) of doing a breeding pair of Jack Dempsey and a breeding pair of Convicts (if you have both sexes anyway, you didn't say in your post) in a 75. I'm trying it myself and it seems to be working for the moment but it hasn't been more than a couple of months since I added the convicts in so I can't truly say that it's successful.

Honestly, every fish is different. My female Jack is incredibly aggressive and that's the only reason I even considered adding the cons to the tank. She constantly has an attitude of "I WANT BABIES NOW!" while the male is more like "...but I have a headache dear." and the cons seem to keep her from harassing the male constantly.

Just my .02


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## dacjr (Feb 12, 2010)

Thanks for the response, I was thinking that maybe the JDs were just still too new to the tank. But your answer actually leads me to another question. I am planning on getting a bigger tank, perhaps 120 or bigger, and I want it to be stocked with lots of fish. Are Africans the better way to go in that case? It seems that with the New Worlds there are fewer options to mix. I'd like to keep my tank strictly cichlids or, at the very least, a natural mix. I've been looking into the Malawis and there are alot of beautiful fish, but is there the same problem with mixing them? It seems that everyone has there own opinion, and every site says something different.


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## lmhollist (Aug 7, 2009)

It seems like the biggest issue as far as mixing lakes/continents/whatever goes is water parameters. Rift Lake cichlids tend to require a higher (sometimes significantly higher) pH and hardness level than some Central or South Americans. So really, you just need to do your research on your fish before you mix them. And also take into consideration behavior and aggressiveness to determine the compatibility of the species you want to mix.

A 55 is excellent for some of the dwarf mbunas, like demasoni or saulosi. Plus they are very active and colorful. Then you could save your 120+ for larger Centrals if you wanted...

Personally, I'm not fond of the idea of a mixed tank, it just seems too weird ... But other people do try it, it's really just a matter of what you are going to be happy looking at and maintaining and what will work based on compatability and water parameters.

....Huh, I guess it would be right to say everyone has their own opinion on the subject, there certainly doesn't seem to be a definitive answer.

*Edit:*

On a side note looks like my male JD decided he didn't have a headache anymore today.  Before the lights went out in the tank he was doing his flashy, look-at-me dance to his mate. Hopefully I will get another spawn out of them soon.


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