# Oscars and Jack Dempseys together?



## aqua8810 (Sep 9, 2010)

Hi Everyone,

I am new to the forums and was exploring and stumbled across the fish profiles section. I went into Central American Cichlids area and read about my favourite Cichlid ever Jack Dempsey. I have a 9 inch male which is pictured here:










So within that section it said that Oscars and Jack Dempseys make great friends in a large enough set up. I am intrigued by this as I have often been told within stores or by friends who keep Oscars that they can be to aggressive to house with other cichlids and due to their rapid growth rate will be capable of dominating the tank. Therefore they should be regarded as species only. So can anyone share some stories with me as to how this has worked with keepers, mixing both JD's and Oscars together? It would certainly be something I would like to try some time in the near future. 

Thanks for your time


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## petlovingfreak (May 8, 2009)

What size tank and how many fish total?


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## aqua8810 (Sep 9, 2010)

Hello - Tank is 75 gallons - Roughly 350 Litres - One male Jack seen in the photo above - I was temporarily housing a big Venustus in there with him for 4 weeks for my friend who was moving house but he is gone now. So he is the only occupant at the moment. I was thinking of upgrading at some point but how would a medium sized Oscar be with him i.e around 6 inch? I wouldnt say he wasnt the most aggressive cichlid as he rarely bothered the Venustus ...


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

75 is about right for 1 oscar and no company. I would expect a dempsey to beat on an oscar as the can be wimpy with fish they can't eat. But the S. Americans will work out a "pecking order" and imaginary boundary lines. But I think the right setup is about twice or 3 times the size you have.


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## petlovingfreak (May 8, 2009)

yah, my jack dempsey and red devil meet in the middle of the tank and fight all the time, nothin bad though, just a lot of showing off.


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## aqua8810 (Sep 9, 2010)

Thanks for your tips. My plans to to do this will have to wait then, because I know how fast and huge Oscars grow and certainly don't want a huge oscar in a tiny tank, if it grows that big it has to stay in there. I would prefer to have a couple of Dempseys and a couple of Oscars in a larger aquarium. 

Pet loving freak your housing a Red Devil with a Jack D? I have never seen or heard of that before, how is that going? A perfect stale-mate? Do you have any photos to show? You would expect a Red Devil to make short work out of a Jack Dempsey. They are crazy.

Jack Dempseys look so powerful but all the ones I have seen including mine seem so passive, like the tough good guys. Though I am sure if it flipped out it would cause some major damage. I have never really bothered to keep tank mates with mine, I just wanted him to grow as big as possible with limited distraction from other cichlids.


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## petlovingfreak (May 8, 2009)

Never had any issues with them together. Just them acting tough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmcJJmd9Gwk
At the end you can see them start to act tough, that's there territory line down the center of the tank, jack dempsey owns left side, red devil owns the right side.


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## aqua8810 (Sep 9, 2010)

Great video never seen that combo before. It is proof that it works ! Are they both males? I take it you put them in from Juvies?


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## petlovingfreak (May 8, 2009)

actually, the jack used to be 4x the size of the red devil, but the red devil grew so fast it was crazy!


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## Peeps (May 24, 2010)

I agree, your tank is not big enough for a JD and oscar. Oscars are kind of wimpy and I can see that oscar getting beat up by that big JD.


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## Hoyo12 (May 18, 2009)

Alright, my turn to jump in, lol.
I just recently kept an Oscar and two JDs in a 55-Gallon, minimal aggression. (Which is expected) The aggression was shown by the Oscar, just showing her dominance in the tank. No problems at all for about four months. (Now they are all in a 2,614 pond, with more Oscars, etc.)
Can it be done? Yes, your tank can support the two. Could there be issues? Yes, as always. 
Oscars at a good size can get fairly aggressive. My 13" Oscar rescue harassed my newest 20"+ Pacu rescue. The aggression level they show is normally based on how they were grown. It is said that if an Oscar is fed live feeders, they will become more aggressive as they grow. Pacu do the same as well. 
It all depends on the fish itself.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Cichlids especially seem to have individual personalities. I would expect the JD to trash any new fish added to "his" tank. I mean, you finally get the roommate to move out and your enjoying your space, and in moves another jerk? You've try to drive him out or just off him. Moved to a new tank, with another new fish, you'd have a better chance of peace.


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## Hoyo12 (May 18, 2009)

^But they can also get used to one-another over time. 
I have observed this process as well, and it is something that I like to call "Initiation". Some chasing, and biting will occur for a few days or so, but after that the main fish tends to just give in, and accept the new comer. Although, dominance will still be shown. 
I've added a new JD to a tank with a JD currently in it, and I've added JDs to an Oscar tank, as well as vise-versa. Same result every time.


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## petlovingfreak (May 8, 2009)

I agree, I've seen it many times as well.


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## aqua8810 (Sep 9, 2010)

Thanks for the advice everyone. 

The only evidence I have to my Jack Dempseys aggression is that he didn't react at all to the big Malawi cichlid that I was storing for my friend. He seems quite passive so I may give it a try...With one Oscar so that I can watch whats going on and be on hand to divide or remove.


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