I really like the look of Jack Dempsey's and they have some at my LFS, from what i've read they can be a bit of a handfull?

Do many of you guys keep Jack Dempsey's with O's? if so what experiences have you had?

I have a few smaller tank mates for my O including Clown Loaches, Silver Dollars and a Bristlenose and i wouldnt want any of these to end up as dinner! My O is pretty good with the smaller guys, he hardly pays them any interest. Would a JD snap them up as soon as he got the chance? Also i dont want to give my O anymore grif, I added a Lutino a few months back, they never got on and the Lutino ended up beating up my Tiger so i has to rehome the Lutino, My tiger is relaxed and happy now.

Is it best to advoid the JD till i could set a a JD only tank?

My O is full size BTW

I have a JD with two O's and he is great, never has caused a problem... As far as I am concerned they are great tank mates!

i also have a couple of jacks in with my oscar and i wouldnt say things are totaly calm but they do tend to cohabitate as long as they stay on their own sides of the tank. ironically the jacks dont bother with the smaller fish in the tank only with the oscar.
having said that i did have to move my albino from the tank with the jacks cause he just wouldnt leave him alone. he terrorized the poor oscar until he lay horizontal on the top of the tank.
i guess what i am trying to say is that is difficult to tell how any 2 cichlids will interact with each other. the only thing you can do is try it and find out. but remember to have a backup plan ready in case take a turn for the worst.

Jack Dempseys are named after a boxer because they were aggressive fish. However from talking to various people over the last few years I have come to the conclusion that they dont deserve the reputation they have. Maybe it is because of inbreeding or the aggression has been deliberatly been bred out but either way they are not as aggressive as they used to be. Having said that all fish are different so you can still get a real aggressive one

Thanks for all the replies guys.....and yep i know all fish are different, guess thats what keeps it interesting but just wanted to see what experiences y'all have had with JD's. I just dont want to cause any trouble in the tank. I also have a black ghost knife, a really peacefull fish and woulnn't want to up set him either...

I'll keep thinking about it.......

Been thinking long and hard about it and watching video's on youtube and i reckon JD's rock!

However apart from the fact that my tank is coming up to fully stocked, I'm going to Mexico for over month over xmas and nye and will be leaving my tank in the hands of my flatemaets....(finger, toe's and dreadlocks all crossed)so i dont think it would be a wise move to leave them with a fish that could cause some trouble and not be here to sort it out. I might just leave it till i get back early next yr.

Ohh well it was a nice thought!

ok just one other question....at what age would they start to show aggression if any?

Hey dude

As long as they are reasonably equally sized, they should be no problem, i have one of each and apart from the odd 'size up' they get on great.

After a while the dempsey should start to copy the oscars behaviour at the front of the tank. My dempsey mimics my oscar at feeding time, gulping at me.

I never had a problem with my JD, he got to 6 or 7 inches before i rehomed him (because i was going away for 3 months)