Tanis

hey guys, i was recantly over at my LFS when i found this one particular fish that i just cant keep my eyes off. the lady who was there at the time only knew the name of the fish, which isnt what its called on this forum (lucky me). the fish is called a jack dempsey, and it currently resides in a over populated returned fish tank.

im wondering if its possible for me to be able to rescue this fish as it seems to be hating on life as it floats in the same spot and lets a molly clean it. ive been reading up on it and i know that whilst it is prefered to have this fish in a 55+ gal tank surely my 40 gal when cycled would be fine for him all things considered.

if im out of the ballpark here thats fine, i just feel bad for this fish.

thank you for your time.

Mikoten

Yeah I'm sure he would be fine, they can be aggressive though so watch out with other fish. I have 2 rainbows is my 38gal, they should usually be in 50gal tanks but they do just fine.

Lucy

I'm not so sure you'd be doing this fish a favor by putting it in the wrong size tank.
What do you mean the lady at the fish store called it something different?

Tanis

hmmm well she called it a siklet (had to get her to spell it for me), but i had a dam had look at thoes pics of the jack dempsey and its spot on, a larger fish with a similar colours and somewhat similar behaviour, that said the fish doesnt like to do too much other than sit around in the same spot all day, the tank is as i said overcrowded and smaller then my tank.

gmen4life

cichlid? yes

Tanis

i have a feeling thats what she was going at, but i didnt quite put that together untill i saw the pic of the jack dempsey in the cichlid section of freshwater fish profiles.

MissMTS

What are the dimensions of your 40 gallon tank? IMO, a Jack Dempsey would be fine as a solitary fish in a 40 gallon.

Tanis

380mm wide (1ft 15inch) 460mm tall (1ft 17.5inches) 910mm long (just under 3ft)

Angela_96

A 40g would be pushing it for a JD, to have more than one fish you would have to have a 90g tank. The profile says 55g min for one.
http://www.fishlore.com/profile-jackdempsey.htm

Tanis

so ur saying just the JD with take up all the 40 and to even have one fish of any other kind i would need a 90g? hmm, thats brutal

Chrisson

If you can't put it in your tank then why not tell the petstore that it's a JD and needs different requirements then a freshwater community tank.

Angela_96

Yep, they get pretty big and they need lots of swimming room, they get "grouchy" in a cramped up space.

Tanis

telling a petstore how it should run its buisness isnt a good way to go for me, specially if they take it wrong as they are the only store within 3hrs driving distance and have been very nice to me so far.

and u raise some very critical points there steveangela1, a 90g is a bit of a far streach for me so i think this will just have to be the one that got away.

kimb

Good for you Tanis, in this hobby we can't always get what we want, and I'm glad you did your research. When you go back to the shop, maybe just say "I would love to have him, but since he gets so big full grown, my tank just isn't big enough". They may get the hint, and move him. Meanwhile, there are still lots of choices for you in the tank you have. Good luck with your tank!

Lucy

Great idea Kim!