jack dempsey getting enough to eat?

[acpike]

I have a Jack Dempsey and Oscar.both are about 2 inches long and get along fairly well but the Oscar eats all the food! I'm worried he will outgrow the j.d. and I'll have issues. Any ideas? Oh 55 gal tank. Thanks

 

[Sidman24]

You will need a bigger tank in the future or else you definitely will have issues. Have you tried feeding in two separate sides of the tank so they can each eat on their own side?

 

[acpike]

Yes. The Oscar is just a voracious eater and the Jack is a little timid. He likes to stay toward the bottom.

 

[josh7]

You need to get a 125 soon for the both of them or rehome one of them because you are going to have a lot of issues soon!

 

[acpike]

Yea I know I'll need a bigger tank. They are only 2 inches long right now so I've got a few months before they get too big. Thanks.

 

[fishyd]

I'm having a similar issue with feeding some of my cichlids. What I've found that works best is I put some floating pellets on one side of the tank. As soon as my big eater goes for those, I drop sinking pellets on the opposite side. The timid fish has learned this and will wait in the corner for the sinkers to get to him.

 

[acpike]

Thanks! I noticed he was eating the ones that the piggy oscar was spitting out. I was overfeeding a bit to try to get him some. I'll buy some sinking pellets today.

 

[fishyd]

you're welcome if you have any questions, ask away. Many helpful people around here

 

[TheOscar]

The sinking/floating feeding is the only way my fire mouths can eat with my two fatty oscars.. Works like a charm..

 

[TheOscar]

Josh7 it's weird not seeing your oscar on your avatar .. Hope it's fixed soon

 

[acpike]

The sinking pellets are working great. Little Jd still doesn't eat as much as piggy oscar but at least he's not stuck with leftovers lol. And I don't have to overfeed.

 

[acpike]

George and JD

 

[TheOscar]

Nice looking fish!

 

[acpike]

Thanks! They are characters. So much fun to watch.

 

[josh7]

Those 2 fish are by far my faves they look great I have one tiger and one JD both are awesome!

 

[acpike]

I had two tiger Oscars many years ago. Had them for about 2 years till I went on vacation and the person taking care of them didn't. I was heartbroken and gave away the tank and everything. I'm excited to try again though and learning a lot.

 

[josh7]

I'm glad you jumped back into the great Oscar world it's always disheartening when something like that happens.

 

[acpike]

I'm happy too. I'm contemplating building them a tank. Been researching it online. Cause they are gonna need more space soon.

 

[josh7]

What are they in now? I suggest if you build one for at least a 125 they would look great in that size!

 

[acpike]

They are in a 55. Just something not too expensive to hold them while I learn how to build one. I love building stuff and it doesn't seem too complicated.