kuba1992

can a medium jack dempsey go with african or some kind of cichlids in a 70 gallon tank?

Amanda

I wouldn't put anyting with africans besides other africans.
JD's can be kept with all other South/Central American cichlids though.

kuba1992

welll im not sure what kind they are... im gettting the tank cuz my uncle doesnt want it and he had the fish for 7 years so he doesnt know what kind they are eithger.. ahha some are blue and yellew and alot are orange about 5 6 inches maybe 7

capekate

sounds like African Cichlids to me by the colors...
They should be easy enough to ID by doing a search online. If you type in African Cichlids you will come up with a lot of different sites that have photo ID of the different species of A. Cichlids. Or you can look here in Fishlore under African Cichlids and check out members photos for IDing purposes.
If your cichlids are in fact African, I would not put any JD's in with them tho.

erikcoley

yea big difference between water parameters for the africans and south americans,though that doesnt mean that they cant co-exist,i rescued a jd and put it with my africans ,and ill tell you he was so much happier he went from crappy water cond,and being super bullied by 2 big oscars to after a couple of weeks he was the boss of the african tank(being he was 5 inches and all the africans were smaller)and a better boss i dont think anyone has, he keeps all fights broken up,he hardley ever even allows them to much chasing time,and he stays non aggresive to all even newcomers,just the perfect boss he knows rules keeps them in check.but i would say that i am an extreme lucky one 9 out of 10 times it wouldnt work

Markm0723

While I normally suggest keeping CAs with CAs, SAs with SAs, and Africans with Africans, it can be done, as long as the Africans are of a similar size. The water parameters, are actually more similar between Central America (Jack Dempsey) and the African Rift Lakes, than they are between Central and South America. The natural environment that the Jack Dempsey comes from tends to have a medium high pH, and is relatively hard.

I currently have seven young adult (5" to 8") JDs in a 100 gal with six Africans. They are kept on an aragonite sand substrate to keep the pH and hardness high. The JDs are doing fine, in fact I had a pair spawn two weeks ago, and got about 500 fry out of it.

Here's a pic of two of the JDs with the Africans.


They have been together since July 2008, and as you can see, everyone has all their fins and scales.

Good Luck,
Mark

kuba1992

thanks