go4astrike asked:
I have a 180 gallon aquarium with African Cichlids right now. I have a friend looking to find another home for some of his Jack Dempseys. I would like to take them, but I wasn’t sure if they’d be okay with Africans since they are South American. All the fish are relatively the same size. Any adivce?
I have a 180 gallon aquarium with African Cichlids right now. I have a friend looking to find another home for some of his Jack Dempseys. I would like to take them, but I wasn’t sure if they’d be okay with Africans since they are South American. All the fish are relatively the same size. Any adivce?
April 29th, 2009 at 3:12 am
The aggression isn’t the issue. Jack Dempseys are very aggressive, so in that regard, they would be fine. The problem is that JDs require very different water chemistry than that of the African Cichlids. Africans require very hard, alkaline water and South Americans require very soft, acidic water. The JDs would be miserable in your African tank. Just say no.
Nosoop4u
April 30th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
i personally don’t like jack Dempsey cichilids because they can’t defend themselves since they dont have teeth in their jaws they only have the in their throats i figured this out when my Red devil cichild killed the dempsey overnight
April 30th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Like Soup said, you have different water chemistry requirements for the two of them, but you could find a happy medium if you really wanted to do this. I’d say you shouldn’t however. Africans, in general doesn’t tell me much. There are some fairly peaceful Africans that will usually just have some fighting among its own species but with other tank mates, it doesn’t factor in. There are some pretty outright aggressive ones as well, such as the Mbuna’s. The Dempsey is a type of cichild that likes to be a tank ruler. 180 gallons is alot of space. With the right mix in populations, the aggression might be held in check, or it might not. I think your best bet if you want a dempsey is get it it’s own 55 or 75 gallon tank set up instead of putting him in the mix of africans.
JV
May 3rd, 2009 at 8:05 pm
I think you would have aggression issues. Mixing American and African cichlids is never a good idea. Also, NoSoop4u is right that you couldn’t possibly make the tank ideal for both groups of fish because they’re so different.