# Jack dempsey getting punked by tetra



## swifty (Jan 12, 2013)

I've had a juvenile ~4" jack for about a week now in a 20g long growout. He was initially extremely shy, and didn't eat. The other day, I moved a festivum from my other tank to the jack's tank because it was destroying my plants. The jack finally came out and was moving around, and other than some random chasing has been ok with the 4" festivum.

Now there is a new problem, and that is that one of my black skirt tetras is constantly harrassing my dempsey anytime he leaves his "territory" (a java fern).

The tetra has nipped a very small bit of his top fin, but I don't want it to get worse. I initially added the 3 black skirts when I got the jack on day 1 because I figured they would act as dithers. They didn't work because he still hid, and as mentioned only came out when the festivum was added. He just seems way too passive for a dempsey of his size. I was under the impression these were extremely aggressive yet shy fish, but seeing a 1" tetra put this big fish in hiding was almost comical.

I'm aware they're best in groups of 8+, but because it's a growout and I don't want another tank full of tetras for the future 55, would I be better off just keeping the festivum/jack in there and removing the current 3 tetras? Or, will he eventually be fine with them as he gets used to the tank in a few more weeks?


----------



## NZSIC'S (Apr 30, 2013)

I have a similar problem with a new tank mate: Salvini harassing my EBJD... I am just going to monitor the situation, if the EBJD's health appears to noticeably decline due to stress of being picked etc... than I'll rehome the Salvini.

TBH my Oscar and Severum have been going at it for half a year now... the ripped fins heal.. and it feels like they have/will become more tolerant of each other. I'm hoping it will be the same for these two.

I'll take a clip when I have time.


----------



## dstuer (Mar 27, 2013)

Salvini are much too aggressive to be kept with an EBJD, the JD will be either stressed to death or outright killed.
A tetras instinct is that the JD will eventually try to eat the tetra, its getting its licks in while it can.


----------



## Cichlidman14 (Jul 17, 2013)

Beating p the jack for its bucketlist


----------



## NZSIC'S (Apr 30, 2013)

dstuer said:


> Salvini are much too aggressive to be kept with an EBJD, the JD will be either stressed to death or outright killed.
> A tetras instinct is that the JD will eventually try to eat the tetra, its getting its licks in while it can.


Cheers for feedback..

I'll probably return the Salvini to the LFS.


----------

