I just got a jack dempsey today

he's about 3/4 the size of my Oscar.

What a difference a tank mate has made.

My O appears to be a lot more playful than he was before.

Without ever attacking him, he kinda tried to bully the JD at 1st, but after a couple of hours, they're both swimming around without a care in the world.

The JD seemed scared at 1st, and would avoid the O, but now when they pass near each other, it doesn't seem to bother either of them.



I'm now totally addicted to fish keeping, and hope to demolish my living room in the near future to put a massive tank somewhere.
Might have to make my kids sleep in the garage to make room.

LMAO! I was going to sell my kids on Ebay to make more room. LOL

Post a pic of your JD! And Congrats!

i have a JD and a O together and they get along great as well. You should be happy with your purchase, JD are great fish

can't seem to get a good pic, but I'll keep trying.

Holy sh!t he's entertaining.
and ballsy!

i fed the oscer half a cube of beefheart like I do every so often.
this lil guy tried like hell to take it from the noticeably bigger O.

the O didn't really put up a fight, and still ate most of it, but JD definitely got him a share.

Jack Dempsey's are great fish. If you have enough tank space an Oscar would be a great tank mate.

my jack and o are getting along pretty well.

jd attacks the surface when I drop in the pellets.
guess he got tired of watching the o get all the food.

he finally builds up this courage after I run out of worms.
gonna have to get some more just so can get a taste or two.

amazing how much his colors/markings change.
sometimes he's almost pink with slight speckles.

other times, he's much darker, and his vertical stripes really stand out.
great looking fish.

I LOVE my Jack as well, really great fish to have! Can be crazy when they get older, as they are very strong fighters. I will tell you one thing about my Jack, he is as greedy as an Oscar. When I feed my fish, my Jack is up there with the Os grabbing food and quickly as he can...

greedy lil sucker...

mylutino wrote:


Thats a good sign that you JD is eating a lot and greedy like that. I have had some JDs in the past that were more passive when it comes to food; and those ones didn't grow very fast at all. But that's how mine was from a Juvie and now he is aproaching the 11 inch range. I havent seen a JD as big as mine before actually. But he never stops eating either.

lol, I know, he may be smaller than the Os right now, and they may chace him around sometimes and make him stressed, but when its food time, he does NOT PLAY!!! He will run up there like he is stealing or something and take off..LOL, yea, he is greedy as my Oscars..And he as already surpassed my GT who was actually a little bigger when I first got her, but she started laying eggs already and I heard that stunts the growth a little bit..

what I wanna know is how long will it take for her to get full sized? She hasnt grown any from what I can see...

mylutino wrote:


Are talking about your GT or JD here?

As far as the GT, I had a breeding pair years ago. The female never got much bigger than about 3.5-4". The male continued to grow to up around 6" before I traded them.

As far as the JD, I have read that they only grow about 2" per year on average. And I have actually seen close to this growth rate with my JDs in the past. The large JD I have started out at 2" and got to about 8" in 2 years and now is apraching 11" at 3 years. Depends on genetics, water quality, and stress/experience.

my GT, she is stuck at 3-4 inches....but she doesnt have a male GT to breed with, but I get the feeling she may have paired off with the Jack, I only figure this since she used to fight him like crazy, and then eventually one day, she became a lil puddy tat to him...now he runs her...lol, and she was one EVIL BIOTCH...

she hasnt laid eggs since, so Im thinking maybe they arent going to mate? Oh well, not trying to breed hybrids, although it would be pretty I suppose...

My jack has probably gotten already an inch or 2, and have only had him since...February or March of this year...hes feisty!

wow ur gay