J.d and jewel ...fighting

[bsdryder7]

i was just testing my water and saw that my jewel was attacking my j.d and my j.d is a lil bigger .....do they get along otherwise?????

and how many times a day do u feed cics....ive only been feeding 1 time a day

i have two acea
2 butter
1 j.d
1 jewel

any help would be great

 

[loveconvicts]

Africans and SA cichlids together? Not a good idea! The jewels are usually thought and treated as SA but they are in fact africans. I have never heard of jd and jewels getting along. Not sure why!

 

[DragonFish71]

I have 2 JDs and 2 jewels in my 120, have had them together for almost 4 years now. They get along just fine. A lot of it depends on the fishes attitudes and how much room you give them. Both are very territorial and require space. Jewels are the milder african species (usually)


How big is the tank and what kind of hiding spaces do you have?

 

[bsdryder7]

I have 2 JDs and 2 jewels in my 120, have had them together for almost 4 years now. They get along just fine. A lot of it depends on the fishes attitudes and how much room you give them. Both are very territorial and require space. Jewels are the milder african species (usually)


How big is the tank and what kind of hiding spaces do you have?

i have a 55 g with plants and rocks to hide .....ive had them for three weeks now and at first tje jack D was the bigger bully but they still were pretty good together........i just read that you should feed 2-3 times a day but i always though u feed 1 time a day,,,

ive been feeding 2 frozen squares of bloodworms ....1 pinch of flakes....1 pinch of dried shrimp.....

but i was going to but new life spec +A this weekend...

 

[DragonFish71]

With the rocks, did you make caves? You can also use terra cotta flower pots for caves. Make sure you wash them good with hot water first, no soap.


Also, how big are they? I'm not quite sure what a butter or acea is? Do you mean acei?
Species Profiles -- Cichlid-Forum

If that is the case, you really should get the JD out of there and most likely the jewel too. Aceis are one of the mildly aggressive species of africans (way more aggressive than JDs and jewels.)

As a general rule, loveconvicts is right, don't mix africans and SA/NW cichlids. Some africans require very low protein diets, where as SA/NW require high protein. Aceis are mbuna (malawi) cichlids, they require very low protein or they will suffer from malawi bloat. JDs need lots of protein.

Africans prefer higher pH than the SA/NW but can adjust to any pH.


The biggest issue is the temperament. Like I said, I have JDs and jewels living just fine together, but I also have a large tank with lots of hiding places they can claim as territory. You need to take into consideration the adult size of these fish. JDs can get 8-12 inches, aceis (if that is what you have) 6 inches, jewels 4-6. Not to mention whatever the butter is. Cichlids are also large bio-load producers (LOTS of poo) and can be very messy eaters.

 

[bsdryder7]

yes i meant acies and the Buttikoferi wich i know will get way to big but my lfs guy didnt tell me that........so the acies are good with the buttikoferi wich are african cics and the j.d and jewel are n.w ......

so why are the n.w jack and jewel fighting....

could it be from not enough food??

 

[spoonman]

I feed my cichlids 3 times a week. I think yours are fighting cuz they just dont get along, Like some people. I have had fish of the same species that I couldnt keep in a tank together.

 

[DragonFish71]

yes i meant acies and the Buttikoferi wich i know will get way to big but my lfs guy didnt tell me that........so the acies are good with the buttikoferi wich are african cics and the j.d and jewel are n.w ......

so why are the n.w jack and jewel fighting....

could it be from not enough food??

Ah ok, that's what you meant by a butter. Gottcha.

Jewels are africans, but a milder african. They aren't as aggressive as most other africans which is why most people have no trouble keeping them with SA/NW.


As for the food, do you know how many pellets each one gets? Ours only eat once every other day.

 

[bsdryder7]

no i was just going to buy them tomorrow and make sure they finish everything in 2 mins or whatever........

as for feeding more than 1 time a day.....i read that it could make them less agressive ...if thats true or not im not sure??

my jack has a chunk missing from the bottom half of his tail fin..he is swimming fine and everything.....

do u think he will be ok??

 

[mfdrookie516]

Really? Everything I've seen and heard from guys I've talked to have said that the african river cichlids are some of the meanest of them all. I've read several stories online where people say they demolished mbuna like they were guppies.

 

[DragonFish71]

Really? Everything I've seen and heard from guys I've talked to have said that the african river cichlids are some of the meanest of them all. I've read several stories online where people say they demolished mbuna like they were guppies.

Wow, not our pair. Of course, I think ours might be confused. We sometimes see the male jewel rubbing against the female JD and vise verse.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I know what you mean there.. when I first started keeping fish, i got a free pair of JD's off craigslist. They had about 30 fry. Turns out, it was a convict and jd pair lol. I had convict dempsey fry until a loach ate them all.

 

[bsdryder7]

no i was just going to buy them tomorrow and make sure they finish everything in 2 mins or whatever........

as for feeding more than 1 time a day.....i read that it could make them less agressive ...if thats true or not im not sure??

my jack has a chunk missing from the bottom half of his tail fin..he is swimming fine and everything.....

do u think he will be ok??

 

[DragonFish71]

Make sure you keep your water clean. Clean water is the best thing you can do to heal wounds. If you see it start to fester in anyway, you can use Melafix and Pimafix. Both are natural meds and are tolerated easier by most fish. Even though cichlids are tough, I still try to use meds that are easier on fish.

 

[bsdryder7]

ok so if i took back my jack D i would have only africans in there.....could i get any kind of african and put them in with the jewel acei and butterfiki???