# Jack and some new friends?



## Skimboarder_07 (Mar 3, 2005)

I have a releatively small jack dempsey in 29 gallon planted tank with a 3 inch common pleco, they have both been together for about 2 years now and the jack hasn't grown much in the past few months. I don't know if the dempsey is a male or female, I would assume female because of size but I remember hearing that there was somethign to do with the speckles on the gill plates (I'll post pics later). My question is: is there any fish that I could possibly add to the tank or is it just too small for the dempsey to play nicely with any friends?


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## ME_AND_GREENTERROR (Jan 21, 2008)

lol i believe it is too small for the Jack to even play are u planning to upgrade ?


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

Sounds like your Dempsey is stunted, and the pleco as well.At two years old they should both be way too big for a 29g.55g is a minimum for a Dempsey, and common plecos can reach over 20 inches. I believe that female Dempseys have a greater amount of speckeling on the gill plates , but pics will help. 
Dempseys will play nice with alot of different species, but a 29g is way too small for that. I would upgrade ASAP . Thanks to Wally world you can upgrade to a 55g for around $150 or so . If you have it to spare I would consider it.


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## cage623 (Feb 2, 2008)

I have to say that I agree. This tank is way to small for these fish. I am guessing that both fish are stunted because they have been in this tank for the last two years.


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## Skimboarder_07 (Mar 3, 2005)

alright so anything but feederfish are def out of the question now, as for the stunting of the fish don't fish start to show health problems from stunting and i thought jacks were slow growign could it just be that it is finished its initial growth spurt and its maturing from now on and therefore getting slowly


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

> as for the stunting of the fish don't fish start to show health problems from stunting and i thought jacks were slow growign could it just be that it is finished its initial growth spurt and its maturing from now on and therefore getting slowly


 Stunting is a health problem, while it's not fatal in and of itself it's a indicator of overall poor conditions. Dempseys do grow slow but after two years it should still be much larger than a 29g can accomodate.


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## ME_AND_GREENTERROR (Jan 21, 2008)

true that... they dont reach there full capacity of beautifulness  their colors are not the same or not AS beautiful.. So let me ask you a question can you post some pictures of the Jack and the tank ?


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## cage623 (Feb 2, 2008)

I agree with Jf, this is not because the JD is slow growing. They do have a slower growth rate compared to other cichlids but after two years should have out grown a 29 gallon. Plus the original post says that the pleco was also in there and it is only 3 in. The common pleco should also be much larger after two years. IMO these fish need to be moved to a larger tank. I also have to add that a larger tank doesn't mean more fish. These two will most likely not ever reach normal size and will be less healthy and possibly have shorter life spans. The JD also, because it is stunted, will not do as well as it normally would with other cichlids, IMO.


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