Hello, i am new here and i have a question or two.... i have a couple of small jack dempsey's and they have lately been swimming sideways and allowing themselves to float near the top of the tank for a while then when approahced by another fish, they'll liven back up but wil repeat again after a while....also, my oscars have become quite aggressive towards the other cichlids i have, but werent that way before.... any ideas? thanks for your time and suggestions!

Sounds like the jacks are trying to hide from the Oscar. How big is the tank and how many fish? How big are the the fish? And are the JD's new?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2012 04:24AM by Robthechef.

I have 4 Tiger Oscars, two bumble bee cichlids, as well as three Jack dempsey's.The JD's and the bumble bee's are the same size yet the oscars only mess with the JD's. The tank is a 60 gallon.There are numerous caves as well as rock formations for the JD's to hide but the oscars just dont seem to let the little guys rest...should i move them to another tank? Whats odd is they just began acting this way....Thanks again.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2012 08:52AM by Deceev.

the oscars will EAT the JD if they can.. U need to remove them from the main tank..

Oscars wil eat any kind of slinder fish, even a JD. The best fish companions for Oscars are compressed cichlids/tropicals, like silver dollars, and angels..

It is more than a container with fish!!
I HAD 12 tanks running!! but moved so only 4 going strong!!



R.I.P Daddy Midas 2002 to 2012

My site: Great information for your fish keeping:

[aquatichobby.proboards.com]

Thanks Barb Okla, I left the oscars in the 60 gallon tank and purchased a 75 gallon to house the bumble bee's and JD's as well as four peacock cichlids....the oscars are about 3" long right now, about 1" bigger than all the rest of my cichlids.So far everything seems to be working better,any advice on what i could put into the tanks that would help me cut down on having to clean out the gravel so much?

Barb, what is a Compressed cichlid?

A compressed cichlid is a fish that is flat on both sides and taller not fatter, like a silver dollar or Discus OR an angel fish.. that is called compressed..

An oscar wil eat any slinder fish he can get into his mouth!! they are eating machines deluxe and they dont' care what U paid for it either!

I learned years ago to NOT have more than 1 to 2" of gravel in my tanks.. this helps to keep it more cleaner and not so time consumming to clean.. NO bottom fish eat poop. so U are just stuck vacuuming the gravel weekly.. Some ppl do not use gravel but sand, but as U have yours going right now, U can change it out later if u want to try it..

Some use nothing as substrate to keep the waste/food collected by the filter better, But that looks bare in a tank, 1 to 2" of gravel is fine and easier to vac.. With oscars they dont' like to much deco in a tank as they get bigger, so less is best and this will help also on debri getting stuck around the rocks/other deco.. Make sure your filter intakes are as low as U can get them to help move the waste/food to them easier.. Keep plants/rocks away from them too helps..

Now on the Oscars eating, that U can do is get any other larger American cichlid their size or just some what bigger, say a Midas if U can find one.. Mine loved to eat under the Oscars as they were just messy eaters!!

Some nice sized silver dollars (tropical but work) wil do the same and they are neat to watch play tag with each other.. They need to be as big as the oscars are right now thou. and that is hard to find..

DO NOT get a Red Devil, they are not nice and wil kill your oscars later on...

It is more than a container with fish!!
I HAD 12 tanks running!! but moved so only 4 going strong!!



R.I.P Daddy Midas 2002 to 2012

My site: Great information for your fish keeping:

[aquatichobby.proboards.com]