# Oscar and jack dempsey?



## calleja_aquariums (Apr 22, 2009)

hey , Just wondering if a oscar and a jack dempsey would get along in a 100G? I would be buying them both as juvies and keeping them in a 40g for a month or two with my new silver arowana. I know arowana's and oscars get along. and i know that JD's and arowanas get along. But i dont know if oscars and jack dempseys will get along?

Thanks for the help :thumb:

chris :fish:


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## Blademan (Sep 20, 2008)

Just remember that a 3" Jack is at least twice the age of a 3" oscar. Jacks like to kill small oscars. I would recommend getting an oscar 3 times the size of the jack. How big is the arrowana? Hope you have an 8 foot tank in your future, because thats a minimum for an adult silver- 3-4 foot fish. It would be an awsome tank.


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## calleja_aquariums (Apr 22, 2009)

Yes i plan on getting a Nice big tank. Plus my lfs is good for that stuff.. if he starts getting too big they will take him and put him in a 300 gallon tank But hes about 5" right now. So maybe should i get the oscar first? let it grow for a little.. then get the JD?


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## calleja_aquariums (Apr 22, 2009)

oh btw Silver arows get 4ft in the wild. They are found to be more around 2ft in captivity. And it say to have a tank at least double there size or triple.. so a 6ft tank should be fine.. Trust my uncle has one in a 125g and it has lots of space and its 2 years old.


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## moto_master (Jun 23, 2006)

Oscars have different personalities, so it's hard to say that it'd be fine. But I think that raising them together will help them to get along. I raised my Oscars with African Cichlids, so they're actually pretty calm fish.


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

As stated by Blademan try to get an O that's bigger than the JD for best chance of success, but overall it's a good combo :thumb: :thumb:


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## calleja_aquariums (Apr 22, 2009)

Ok , thanks so should i get them both at the same time and same size? or oscar first? and some poeple may say what you did was impossible. But i know how you feel cause i proved so many people wrong having 3 ps elongatus MALES and 3 yellow labs in a 40g. IME all fish are different in their own way.


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## calleja_aquariums (Apr 22, 2009)

Ok since its hard to find an oscar thats bigger then a jd in my area cause they are all juvies.. ill get an oscar first grown for a few months and then get the jd.. But in your guys opinions whats the nicest oscar? red, tiger or albino?


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## moto_master (Jun 23, 2006)

I like the albino oscars, but my wife thinks they're ugly. my second choice is the tiger oscars.


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## Carmine (Nov 30, 2009)

*** got a Albino Red Oscar, i think they look stunning when they are full grown.

Mine is still 3"


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## calleja_aquariums (Apr 22, 2009)

Cute little one you got there. yeah i like albino's but my mom doesnt... She like the tigers and reds. But they both have the same personality right? and i was just wondering.. but is everything people say about oscars true? how the know when their care taker is there and know when they are being feed and come to see you when you enter the room? like are they smart and interesting?


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## twohuskies (Mar 1, 2008)

calleja_aquariums said:


> Cute little one you got there. yeah i like albino's but my mom doesnt... She like the tigers and reds. But they both have the same personality right? and i was just wondering.. but is everything people say about oscars true? how the know when their care taker is there and know when they are being feed and come to see you when you enter the room? like are they smart and interesting?


I have a common oscar, and he was a rescue from a tiny 10G tank.  He's about 7-8" now, and I'm enjoying him sooooooooo much. He has the personality you describe. He dances when I come in the room, and gets soooooo excited for food, he has come out of the water and created a BIG splash when he flops back down in the tank. Now, he hasn't jumped completely out yet :lol: , but he is a character. I've never had another fish like the O. Entertaining and very interactive with me.

I'm hopelessly hooked...


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## calleja_aquariums (Apr 22, 2009)

lmao thanks for sharing. That story just made me want one even more. :thumb: I want to try and find a red but if i dont then ill get a tiger oscar. Im just waiting for my arowana to grow a little because i dont want the O killing my arow cause they are expensive  Even though i doubt a 2" O will do anything.. just incase though :wink:

thanks :fish:


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## Oscarlover (Jan 22, 2010)

I have a 3 year old Tiger Oscar in with a Dempsey that is about 5 inches long, not sure of the age. They dont really like eachother but they have never done any real damage to eachother. I am trying to convince my boyfriend to seperate the dempsey seeing as he wanted it and i think he is rather ugly.


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## Oscarlover (Jan 22, 2010)

Hey twohuskies, my Oscar just recently jumped out of his tank so be very careful!!!! Hes fine but he does have a big scrape that im sure will heal just fine. Hes a tough guy so it didnt effect him at all.


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## calleja_aquariums (Apr 22, 2009)

JD ugly? maybe you arent feeding it the right food? feed it stuff to bring its true colours out, because when you do, they are beautiful fish.


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## twohuskies (Mar 1, 2008)

Oscarlover said:


> Hey twohuskies, my Oscar just recently jumped out of his tank so be very careful!!!! Hes fine but he does have a big scrape that im sure will heal just fine. Hes a tough guy so it didnt effect him at all.


Thanks for the warning! THere's a glass lid on the tank at all times. The only time I lift it is for feeding, and since he spashed me :lol: , I've been opening it verrrrrrrrrry slowly! He's usually OK once the food goes in...


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## Oscarlover (Jan 22, 2010)

The Dempsey I have is quite ugly lol. Once i get how to post some pictures i will have to put it up. My boyfriend seems to like fish that are truly ugly lol. It was in a pet store in the back and i think he felt bad for it so he wanted to take him home. I actually saw a picture of a dempsey on the net and he was gorgeous!! The brightest blue. This one is mostly black with black and blue speckles. Not the prettiest thing out there thats for sure


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## Oscarlover (Jan 22, 2010)

Ya it was probly my fault he jumped out. He is in a temporary tank at the moment and it didnt come with a top, we just borrowed it to make this move a lot easier on the fish so we could take our time. *** never had a problem tho, i knew he was a jumper but i didnt think he was ever capable. Must have gotten too excited about his food lol. Im just glad i was home or i would have lost him


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## calleja_aquariums (Apr 22, 2009)

lolo yeah i have to keep a good glass lid on mine cause of the arowana, they love to jump !


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## Oscarlover (Jan 22, 2010)

ya i have a glass lid for my actual tank and he still likes to jump, just didnt think he would actually jump so high!!! Cant wait until my tank is moved to its final home so i dont have to worry about him anymore


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## wpk22 (Jan 17, 2010)

calleja_aquariums said:


> JD ugly? maybe you arent feeding it the right food? feed it stuff to bring its true colours out, because when you do, they are beautiful fish.


I just bought a jd and do you think this will bring out the colors in it: freeze dried bloodworms, tropical fish flakes, brine shrimp flakes, cichlid pellets


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## Oscarlover (Jan 22, 2010)

Not sure if the cichlid pellets will. Thats wut i feed mine is floating cichlid pellets and they havent done much for him?? Just my experience tho, not sure if anyone else has had any luck with em. I noticed that lots of food say they bring the colors out in your fish, but is that actually true because there are so many factors to consider with coloring, such as male ratio to female, and wut others fish are in the tank and dominance???


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## calleja_aquariums (Apr 22, 2009)

Yes it also depends on what else is iun the tank and the tank setup. Sometimes *** noticed that bright substrate will bring colour out more brighter then a darker substrate, or vice versa. With my africans i have black gravel and they are bright as can be.. but i have a bright light in that tank and i feed them very high veggie matter and the food is actually like rainbow coloured so it brings their colours out. But also could be that he or she is at the bottom of the pecking order and is darker so he/she isnt seen as a threat to the "BOSS" of the tank. But try cichlid gold, or cichlid red as pellets IF you dont see your new JD's colour starting to shine throw.. but dont expect it soon.. colour comes with age. And with the food you are feeding it, it shall turn out to be a nice colouration and size. Just keep it happy and it will make you happy, cause JD's colours are amazing once they are all grown up!

( I know this because my uncle had 2 of them) 

chris


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

Oscarlover said:


> Not sure if the cichlid pellets will. Thats wut i feed mine is floating cichlid pellets and they havent done much for him?? Just my experience tho, not sure if anyone else has had any luck with em. I noticed that lots of food say they bring the colors out in your fish, but is that actually true because there are so many factors to consider with coloring, such as male ratio to female, and wut others fish are in the tank and dominance???


Cichlid pellets are fine but you need to give him a variety of food.
So, day one cichlid pellet, 
day two blood worm meal, 
day three flakes, day four cichlid pellet, 
day five flakes, day six cichlid pellet, 
day seven blood worm meal. Repeat. Get the idea? 

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=207418 Click there for my Jack Dempsey. Only one year old and he is huge. (well not too big comparing to your oscar) He also change color depends on his mood. When he isn't angry then he will be lighter pinkish color but when he see me he knows food is coming and he get all excited/angry chasing the GT away.


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## calleja_aquariums (Apr 22, 2009)

wow, see oscarlover look at LSBoost's jack dempsey.. beautiful colour... and its still young. What do you feed it? and nice GT btw.
i bet oscarlover you have a female.. they arent as nice to look at as the males.


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

They do look very beautiful and they look even better in person. I can't capture how shinny the gold spots on the JD's head are and I can't capture the stunning color of the GT's tail/top fins.

One down side to keeping a JD and GT together is that they will lip lock from time to time. It's quite entertaining sometimes but if you are new to this you may think they are killing each other (kissing each other?). The JD is in control of everything and he is the boss of the tank chasing the GT away from his territory time after time.

When I first bought my GT and JD I feed it TetraMin Tropical Flakes, and Hikari Cichlid Staple (mini pellet).

Why TetraMin Tropical Flakes? If you read my other thread you will know that I used to have angel fish and that is what I fed them. I also notice that my JD love these flakes. It act like its seeing live food and attack the flakes. Pretty cool.

The result was good. The fish love it and so I decided to add Hikari Cichlid Gold to what I already have. The only problem was I can only find the medium pellet size at the local store. At the time they had some difficulty taking in the bigger size pellet but they grew in no time and consume all of the food.

I decided to switch over to wardley cichlid floating pellets in place of the hikari product because it was a bit cheaper and the fish are happy eater. I also add in Tretra Blood worms freeze dried food for a treat. I still have TetraMin Tropical Flakes so that's still in their diet.

They've been on this diet for a few months now and I notice that it is okay but the hikari product is better. How do I know?

The fish act differently every time I hold up each different food container. They used to go crazy on the hikari cichlid gold and now they're just happy with the wardley stuff. xD

One thing that I haven't tried yet is live food.

Anyways, what I've learn is to mix a lot of things in their diet and they will be healthy. How would you like to eat only pizza for the rest of your life? Well I don't know if that's a good example because some of you might be jumping up and down going "I LOVE PIZZA!" you may like it but its not good for your health eating it everyday. Feeding JD and GT different things every day or every other day is a good idea even if some of the product is better than others. I will add the hikari product back into their diet that way there's a huge variety. If you guys have any questions let me know.


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## calleja_aquariums (Apr 22, 2009)

I totally agree with you.. i think having a variety helps their colours and brings out the best of them. Having veggie and meaty foods is the way to go for the JD and GT. I do the same thing with my arowana.. feed it different things everynight. I dont know if i will try live food. Because it changes the fish completely. The monster comes out and they want to eat everything that moves including tankmates. so it would be hard to add any fish in. Also live fish carry disease and are fatty and not very healthy. But insects on the other hand can be ok for them.

and omg i couldnt eat pizza for my whole life.. id get so sick of it and be so FAT omg.. dont ruin my Football diet !  gotta stay in shape, i dont think the girls at my school would be to impressed :lol:


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

lol exactly. I also agree with the live food thing. I've read elsewhere that the fish get more aggressive when they are fed with live food. Gold fish from the pet store is a no no because of they may carry disease and contain no nutritional value. So, I don't think I'll try that anytime soon.

This reminds me that last summer (7 months ago?) I did feed my fish some earth worm from the garden. They like them and go crazy for more. I think these are safer than the gold fish at the pet store because you never know where those gold fish have been.

I just did a search and it seems like earthworm is okay.
http://jackdempseycichlid.com/feeding/the-best-conditioning-food-jack-dempsey-cichlids/


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## calleja_aquariums (Apr 22, 2009)

Yes especially for JD.. they love them.. and it also makes them happy.. which makes their colour brighten up..


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