Need advice on my 55gallon which so far has J. Dempsey; Osca

Okay....Right now I have a 55 gallon tank that has 3 fish in it. 1.) Oscar 2.) Jack Dempsey & 3.) A African Rope Fish.

The Jack and the Oscar get along fairly good. The Jack has somewhere to hide so when the Oscar starts to chase him, he usually will go there.

My husband wants to get a needle nose gar. Could we possibly ad one of those? Would the Oscar or Jack pick on him if he is much smaller then them?

If they would get along. What in the world would I feed them all? It appears that the Gar eats live fish, but how would I keep the Oscar from gobbling them all up?

I'd appreciate the advice on my questions and anything else that I have failed to think about.

Colleen

 

Your tank is already WAY overstocked. A 55 is only large enough for a single full grown oscar (and they grow VERY quickly).

You will eventually need at least a 75 - 100 gallon tank to house the oscar & JD when they get bigger (how large are they now?). And if there's already aggresion, it's likely to get worse, not better. Your ropefish will be in danger when the oscar & JD get bigger. With his long, thin body, it will be very easy for the other fish to eat him.

So you really sould be getting more tank or getting rid of fish, not adding more to that tank.

-Chelle

 

uhh well when they are full gornw the oscar will need 70g the dempsey and rope fish will be okay in the 55g as long as the JD doesnt kill it.. :?

 

Re: Jack;Oscar & Ropefish

I can definately agree that the Oscar grows extremely fast. When we bought the two, they were the same size of about an inch. In the past eight months, the Oscar has grown to about six inches and the Dempsey only three.

So far the Jack & The Oscar don't really seem to bother each other. Every now and then the Oscar will head in his directions and the Jack will scoot away. A lot of times I will see the Jack following the Oscar as they slowly swim around.

I've never seen them look twice at the rope fish. The rope fish from time to time will quite confidently swim right up to either fish and swim in front of his face and then slowly swim around their body and they don't react in any fashion. He does have respect for them though. If I'm feeding blood worms and the rope fish is out amongst them trying to get his share, he will duck out of the way if the Oscar or Jack moves in his direction.

The rope fish is about eight to ten inches at the moment. I don't think he has grown much since we bought him.

What's the rule of thumb as far as how much fish per gallon? Someone had given us advice way back when and said that one oscar and one Jack was fine in a 55 but no more then that. (Which I've been trying to convey to my husband who must like to see more fish for the space.)

Thanks for responding so quickly.

In general though....do Gars & Oscars & Jacks get along??

What might be a better combo? Tank? etc. etc.

Colleen

 

The oscar can possibly be in a larger tank with another oscar about the same size. The gar will be tough to feed and will likely be killed by the oscar. The jack doesn't belong in the tank either. It sounds like your LFS is just telling you to buy any fishes that you want. I would look around for another shop that can give you better advice. I'm afraid that even IF they did get along, 55 gallons is just way too small. Your inch per gallon rules go out the window with territorial fishes like jacks, oscars and gars.

 

Re: Jack;Oscar & Ropefish

It's best to allot at least 50 gallons/large cichlids (ie 10"+ like the JD & Oscar). They're territorial and the more you have, the less likely it is that they won't get along so you need to give them plenty of space. You may be able to keep the oscar & JD in a 75, but you'd have much better luck in a 100.

-Chelle

 

What do you feed your ropefish?