yesterday i was at the lfs and they had a 130Gallon tank with 6 2 inck Jack Dempsey, and 1 was allways getting picked on so i bought in and is currently alone in a 60 gallon. Could i have another fish with him seemings hes a baby right now.

What are you thinking as a Tank Mate???

You could easily keep another JD in with it...
I have an adult female, and she is 8 inches long.

well, it depends.

First off, I am glad you got a JD. I think they are one of the most beautiful freshwater fish there are.

I have a larger 11" Male JD that is very aggressive. When I have had him with tankmates, they have had to be smaller and quicker. He did pretty good with a couple of (Short Bodied) Convicts that I have for about a year. Now he is in a 55 gallon with a few african cichlids, the african cichlids are doing fine; the JD doesn't even bother them. But if I put him in with another larger fish like an RD or an Oscar, it has been trouble.

My JD was raised in a tank with another JD, a Lutino tiger Oscar that got very large and some other random cichlids that my brother had. I inherited my JD from my brother when he moved. So the JD did okay with the tankmates he had from a juvinile. but when I got him and put him in my tank, he didn't like any competing fish. So you may want to get any tankmates for him now to grow with.

Here is a pic my current JD.

there is alot of filtration in the tank, large canister and two large power heads. im notsure what i want, i dout this jd will be aggresive as i tried him with my other in the oscar tank, and that 1.5 inch jd just kept knipping at him so i quickly moved the new jd in the 60g by himself.

i dont want anything to aggresive. so its a hard choice. i would like to get something $30 or under.

very nice jd, my ones have no where near as much colour

albinotiger wrote:

I hear ya. Maybe a Severum or two would work well for ya. google it...


albinotiger wrote:

Thank you. It takes time for your JD to get colors like these. I am sure your JD will begin to develop nice colors very soon. The colors look better when they are the dominant fish with other fish in the tank also. JDs color very quite a bit by mood.

severum are cool looking fish but im not sure a 2 10inch+ fish could live happily in that size however it would be great.

i was thinking of mayby a saum, the ones that look like green terrors but are less agresive much much cheaper. i think they are called saums

gold saum

albinotiger wrote:


almost all of the green terrors you get at your lfs are saums..... a true green terror, Aequidens Rivulatus, is a fairly difficult find and as such has a much higher price tag than the saum does. a saum also grows to around the ten inch mark....

you might consider a mate for you jd. a pair of jacks can quite happily live in a 60 for life.....

i also love the look of featherfin catfish, i might ask lfs today how they would go together.

I have an adult feather fin in with my Oscars, and it has worked beautifully!

i will give one a try, is yours aggresive?