alral1988

when i purchase my first two dempseys the guy told me theyre best kept in pairs. due to my nasty little breeding convicts those two did make it very long. ive since gotten rid of my convicts and purchased tow more dempseys. one of them died suddenly a couple weeks later while the other one is doing just fine. hes full of color, has all his fins, seems very healthy. i added one more just because of what this guy told me but ever since that the new guy, actually lady im guessing, has been tormented by the other. shes got almost no color, just looks frightened all the time, and i want to relocate her but my only other tank is a 30g african tank so im not sure how shed fair in there. so after my long story here my question is simple, should jack dempseys really be kept in pairs, or will they do just fine by themselves?

alral1988

i should also mention that i have 2 oscars and a rainbow shark in the tank as well but besides the seldom chase given by the rainbow they dont seem to pay any attention to her

Shawnie

Hi alral1988...how long has the 55 gal been running? what are the water parimeters on that tank? for dempseys to die that fast, it is either a bad batch of dempseys or the ammonia/nitrites are too high....if the cons killed them, (which is very possible for a breeding pair of cons) then when you added the 2nd pair, one wouldnt have died so fast as you removed the cons...so im thinking its a water issue...that size tank is great for 2 dempseys and the rbs...although as the dempseys grow, they probably will eat the rbs....2 oscars mixed into that setup , will most definately put you way over the edge...1 oscar needs 55 gals alone because of their size, and the amount of waste they put out...no dempseys do NOT NEED to be in pairs..they can survive with just one...

alral1988

oh believe me i already know im a little overstocked but right now my oscars are only 4-5" and the dempseys are maybe 2". i plan on getting a bigger tank in the near future ive already started saving the money for it ive just got to wait. the tank has been up and running for 10 months or so now

Shawnie

its not the size of the fish that matters, allot of people assume because they are juvies, they are ok...but, with that being said, its their waste that matters most...a 4-5 inch oscars poo's the amount of twice that size of a fish...dempseys dont put out as much waste, but are not far behind...even if the tanks been running years, there could be a mini cycle going on because of the bioload of those fish....if you arent doing at least 3 parial water changes a week, its very easy to have a mini cycle sneak up on you when you least expect it...do you have a reading for your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates? that will help us help even more ..

alral1988

ai used a test trip for the pond that gives readings for nitrates and nitrites and those were 0 but it doesnt give me a reading for ammonia. my next purchase is a master test kit off of my next paycheck so i should be able to get that this week. im not so worried about the parameters doing this just because all of my other fish have been so healthy. i think that this one dempsey just doesnt want another in the tank and is bullying them and stressing them out to the point that they die. like i said my survivor has full coloration, all his fins, he swims around just great with no signs of stress but whenever another is put in the tank they seem to die within a couple weeks while he flourishes.

Shawnie

awesome on the new test kit..that will do wonders for you ...when adding new fish, yes the dempsey could be bullying but also, the current dempsey could be use to the ammonia and the new ones you add are not...slowly, the current dempsey has adjusted to the tanks parimeters and until you can totally rule out ammonia, id do small partial changes to be sure good luck!