Need help keeping the peace - Aquarium Advice

Hutch · 05-31-2004, 11:04 PM

I have a Pictus Cat and a Jack Dempsey in a 25 gal tank. I got the JD a couple days ago and everything was working fine until tonight... the JD keeps chasing the pictus around and bumping into him...

Should I be worried for the pictus?
If this is a serious problem what can I do?

flipz · 05-31-2004, 11:06 PM

If it keeps up the only thing you can do is return one of them, or get a tank divider. It is something you want to worry about because the pictus will become stressed. Also I don't know anything about JD's but it's possible that he could nip the pictus' fins, which of course is bad.

-brent

Devilishturtles · 05-31-2004, 11:09 PM

Yeah, I would keep an eye out. Make sure the pictus has plenty of places to hide and get away. This could just be the Jack Dempsey sort of telling the pictus like "hey, this is my land" type of thing, and it will stop. I'm not all that positive on the behavior of chiclids, so this is just my guess....hope this helps.

Menagerie · 05-31-2004, 11:12 PM

JD is looking at that pictus as a food source. Separate them immediately!!
BTW~
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Welcome to AA, Hutch!!

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poppab02 · 05-31-2004, 11:21 PM

I don't have a Jack Dempsey but I do have lots of other cichlids (african) and they can and will kill pictus catfish. How many other fish do you have in the tank? If these 2 are your only fish in the tank then you probably should consider putting more fish in (maybe more american cichlids), it will usually cut down on aggression, but there is no guarantee they won't all nip at the pictus. How big are each? Without knowing this I can't tell you for sure what to do, if the pictus is about the same size or smaller then the Dempsey will probably kill it and fairly soon.
Pictus catfish generally are not a very suitable tankmate for cichlids. It can work but usually only if the pictus is significantly larger and/or the cichlid(s) are generally tolerant of tankmates. It has been my experience that if cichlids are kept in a vastly understocked tank they will become extremely aggressive, especially if they are the only cichlid. Hope this helps.

Menagerie · 05-31-2004, 11:23 PM

Quote:

it will usually cut down on aggression

This was brought up in the other thread. Is this true for South Americans??

Hutch · 05-31-2004, 11:29 PM

I dunno what to do... they are about the same size... my other tank has a fire eel asian leaf and hyundi gar pike... I doubt very much if the JD would make it in there

I have a blue acara coming on wednesday

Menagerie · 05-31-2004, 11:42 PM

This is not a good mix of fish for the tank. JD is not going to mellow out with time, it will get more aggressive.

poppab02 · 06-01-2004, 12:06 AM

Personally I've never raised South American cichlids but have talked to various people and who attest that they are more agressive in understocked tanks. I can attest that it's been true with African Cichlids.
As far as the problem with the JD and the pictus, Pictus catfish can only make it when they are much larger and the Cichlid(s) have a very mellow personality. It sounds like neither of these are true for you so either you're going to have to separate them or the pictus is going to die. Pretty much it's that simple. I can't think of anything other than separating them that is ultimately going to fix the problem. The JD is going to just get more and more aggressive and is probably going to grow faster than the pictus. Adding fish may cut down on this (generally cichlids prefer to pick on each other) but my guess is the pictus will be dead long before you can qt the new fish, and even if that doesn't happen there's no guarantee that more fish will fix the aggression, it's just a possibility.
Cichlids only mix well with a very small group of fish, anything outside of the small group usually becomes a snack.

Endgame319 · 06-01-2004, 12:42 AM

Your tank is too small for a dempsey. 55g Is the minimum, which I think is even too small for my 8" brute.