I have a 5*2*2 feet tank approx 125 UK gallons. I had a bristlenose plec and clown loached from a smaller tanks and moved them to the 5 footer. I then added 5 silver dollars and let the group acclimatise, a month or so later i added a convict (think its male) a jack dempsey (think she'e female) and a severum (not sure) - all juveniles about 1.5"-2"....these have all been in the tank for about 2 weeks now and the final step would be to add a juvenile oscar

my question is about the JD, it seems to chase the convict whenever it see it, i even saw it once hit the convict above the mouth...is this likely to get worse as they get older? It hasnt got to the stage where the convict is always hiding, but its not something that i want to get worse..at the same time i dont want to take the jd out and then for the convict to vent its frustrations on everyone else just cos there is no threat to him

also with a situation like this when would be the best time to introduce the oscar? i have been biding my time because i know that the oscar will grow much quicker then the others so i wanted to give em a headstar but am thinking now that if i add the oscar the same size as the jd, hopefully the jd will realise that it has to share, or will it mean the jd is more of an aggressor to the con and oscar?

sorry for the jumbled info...my other idea is to take the jd back to the lfs and get a blue acara or a chocolate cichlid or something, which would eb more peaceful then the oscar would be the most aggressive fish in the tank..

any opinions are appreciated, thx

welcome to OFL

You will get lots of conflicting information regarding mixing fish, especially cichlids. I've seen posts before web people keep Jack Dempsey's with oscars with no problems at all. And then you'll get someone else who has nothing but problems. I have got two blue acara I'm one of them is a right little bully. He is still only around 3 inches animal often chase after the Jurupari and sometimes the other acara. So don't think for one minute that blue acara don't have an aggressive side. I've not seen them actually cause harm to any of the fish, but they still are very small, however, who knows what could happen when they are a lot bigger. I will certainly be keeping an eye on them.

You do have to be very careful when mixing cichlids, I certainly wouldn't do it unless I had a fairly big tank. Out of the two, I would try the blue acara, or the chocolate Cichlid, rather than the Jack Dempsey. convicts can be little bullies sometimes as well so keep an eye on him.mind you, my convict used to pick on my clown loach before I got rid of it.

Sometimes, it's just trial and error. You won'tnecessarily have the same problems as someone else will

Thanks OFL, I was hoping you would reply.

Yes, after loads of research onthe web i was thinking of going with the oscar/jd/con arrangement...i know that this will never be a completely peaceful combination, and even if it were now doesnt mean it will be in 2 years time

my whole family loves the Jd esp cos it changes from a black to a grey depending on mood and self-security, but when it picks on the con, they hate it lol...

so i'm in two minds...think ill keep observing them and make a decision for the LT

i have 4 clown loaches and they're about 4-5 inches it doesnt seem like any of the fish are or will pick on them...thats what i got the Sds for, was hoping theyd take the aggression from the aggressive fish

im trying to complicate the tank layout, so that the jd and convict dont bump into each other so much..but its taking time

i've heard that the blue acara isnt as aggressive as a typical cichlid, that a con is not as aggressive by itself and that an oscar isnt really aggressive more hungry all the time...the sev i have no worries about, its completely peacful and prob my fave of the three fish i have in this respect

my issue is, i dont mind returning the jd and/or the sev, its just what to put in instead of them...i think its a big enough tank to hold an oscar and a couple of other cichlids (enough territory)....altho i may introdce a couple of gourami instead to fill the upper layers

from my own personal experience i can say that it really isnt that easy to introduce a jack into a cichlid tank. i have read that it can be done but in my effort to do this i have had nothing but bad luck. my male jack is a total pain and constantly harasess one of my o's non stop. the only good thing about it all is i got to get a 75 gallon tank for him so hopefully this weekend he and his mate will have a new home all to themselves

You can ask 100 different people and you will find 98 different responses.

Mine ... I put a baby male JD in a 75G (US) tank with a 5" RT shark, 6" Gold Spot pleco, a couple of 4" clown loaches and a few other semi-large fish that I can not remember at the moment.

Within a week he (JD) terrorized them all (as a juvenile) to the point that I removed the shark, loaches and pleco to another tank. Sorry that the others did not make it (I know I'm a beast because of it).

My JD was alone in the 75 when I introduced my baby RED O (half the size at the time 1 maybe 1-1/2"); now my JD is maybe 1/2" smaller of my O now (length), and from the time of introduction, has been my O's best friend and his shadow. Not one bit of aggression from either one, ever.

Now granted my O is about 1 or 2 months away from being a "Mature" size (currently 6 - 6-1/2")and things might change because of it, and also maybe because I have 2 SD's in there. But in my current 75G (will be changing all to a 125 this weekend) none have shown aggression to any tankmates.

As I said 100 polled 98 different answers.
And this is just my experiance ... to date.