# Jack Dempsey's and Green terror Tankmate's or not



## cgcomeaux (Jul 16, 2007)

Hi I have a 75 gallon (4foot) Tank. I have 2 5" male Jack Dempsey's in in it now. The tank has been setup for a few years I have setteld on thes 2 Jack Dempsey's and they have been in there for almost a year now.
My question is this: I came across this green terror that is really a beautiful specimen. He is about 4" . Problem was he was in a public tank that was being very neglicted. After asking permission I rescued him.I came home last night and did a thourough cleaning of my tank, took the fish out and rearranged everything, then introduced the 2 jacks and the green terror back in at the same time. I want to know if I should expect agression mixing these species or if it could work. The GT is also a male. I would like to try and find a female terror to add to tank, and see if they would pair up. Although I think that is pushing my luck and probably wont ever do it. I have been watching them constantly and there has been no aggression so far. They all seem to hide from each other constantly. Before the addition of the GT the JD's would swim the tank pretty freely, now they hide alot too just like the GT so it leads me to think things are not good. I will try and post some pics soon. And I will update on how the mood in tank changes from time to time. Please give some feed back as to what I can expect or what I can try to avoid possible aggression. Such as adding dithers maybe? Is that a possibility that might help and what would be the best type to go with?


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## ktluvsfish (Jan 13, 2008)

I would not recommend adding a GT in with JD's. They look very similar, and you are likely to have aggression problems between the two species. I would not advise having a breeding pair of GT's with your JD's either. A 75 is big enough for a pair of GT's and that's it. If I were you, I would add a smaller cichlid with your JD's such as a salvini (which will definitely be able to hold its own).

I have had good luck using large rainbowfish as dithers in CA and SA tanks. The cichlids seem to leave them alone and they are very pretty. My favorites are the boesmani and red rainbows.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

I am assuming you bought these 2 Dempseys when they were 1.5~2"... If so, a little less than a year later I would expect healthy males to be a bit bigger than 5"...

Which makes me wonder if they are really males... and makes me curious about water quality... letting nitrates build up (not doing water changes) will stunt the growth of fish...

Plus two sexually mature male Dempseys in a 4' tank getting along peacefully is not common. It's not unheard of, but it's not 'common'. If the nitrates are to high they may be a bit lethargic and thus less aggressive.

As full grown healthy adults, it is highly unlikely that 2 male Dempseys and a male GT will get along nicely... If you do add a female GT to the mix I predict your Dempseys getting torn up.

But I see you also have a 125 gal with two Oscars and nothing else in it. If things go south, at least you have that tank to move someone into...


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## cgcomeaux (Jul 16, 2007)

Well I bought my Jd's in Feb 2009 so there about 8 1/2 months old. both are equal in size just about 5". As for water quality, I have had this tank setup now for a liitle over 3 years and water quality is very good. I do a 30% water change mid week and 50% water change every sunday. I actually Have a log book from day one describing the water conditions and fish behavior evertime I do something to the tank I log it and when my fish behavior changes I refer back and cn see what may be different, really helps alot. I'm on my 4 th notebook. For this tak alone. I also have books for everytank I have. I am a bit obsessive about my tank care, but the colors of fish reflect that. Here are tank desc: and parameters: 
2 emperor 400 overhang filters, 2 vis-therm. 150 watt heaters.

Water para. 0 Ammonia
5 to 10 ppm Nitrates

I will try to post pics of tank and fish, but I am horrible at takig pics with my nikon cant figure it out.

Anyways. I have decided I will definitely not add female to this tank. I also dont want to add anythng to my oscar tank they have been together for 3yrs and are just perfect the way they are. Sounds like I need another tank huh..! lol I'm gonna start shopping for a 55 gal. for my terror and then add him a female. Till then I will just keep a close eye on him for any aggresion. Either way where he is now is way better then where is was. I can tell he's happier cause he was a very dull color and now he is burstig with color. Even in the tank with the JD's


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## cgcomeaux (Jul 16, 2007)

Ok this is the best pics I could get of tank and my fish still elarning how to take pics. Hope im posting these right. Its the ony way I could get it to work. Couldnt get img to work.Any help would be appreciated.
http://picasaweb.google.com/comeaux.chris/20091026JackDempseyGTTankOct2009#5397149772439144946

If you click the arrow above pic it will scroll through them.


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## cgcomeaux (Jul 16, 2007)

This is a pic of the same JD as above back i July of this year.
http://picasaweb.google.com/comeaux.chris/20091026JackDempseyGTTankOct2009#5397154923764814530


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