[Tendeta]

I just got a 90 Gallon tank that I want to turn into a large cichlid tank. Ideally I'd want to put a Electric Blue Jack Dempsey in with a Oscar, then have some sort of large pleco at the bottom. Would this work or would one fish kill off the other?

I wanted these two cause the electric blue is one of my favorites and the Oscar is one of my GF's favorites. I was only planning two because I dont want to overstock the tank though I think I could go to 3 or 4 of these size cichlids with appropriate decorations.

I'm aware of the temperaments of each of these fish and as this is my first time with this sort of tank I want to get lots of opinions on if this will work or not. If it wont I'll fall back onto just getting 2-4 electric blues or 2-3 regular jack dempseys.

The tank will definitely be able to handle the bioload as I'm setting it up on a custom fluidized bed filter (~5lb's K1 Kaldnes) capable of handling a fully stocked 200+ gallon tank with a maximum flow of about 700 gph though I'll definitely turn that down a bit.

 

[pennyls9332]

well they are both south american so water wise yes it will work, but it all depends on the fish themselves. i would suggest getting them both as young as possible and as small as possible and hope for the best

 

[Tendeta]

Thats good about the water conditions, I'm really worried that the electric blue wont get big enough or have the temperament to defend itself if the Oscar gets hungry.

I was also toying with the possibility of a green terror. But anyways, has anyone had success with any combination of the fish mentioned (Electric Blue JD, regular JD, Oscar, or GT and some kind of pleco)?

I also realized I made a typo, its 2 gallons of k1 not 5 lb.

 

[henningc]

I've worked with both but never together. I would suggest that the Jack be a little larger than the Oscar as the Oscar will grow faster. A large pleco would work, but stick with something that only gets 12" of so long. I'd get the pleco as big as you can find as they grow more slowely than either cichlid.

 

[Tazman]

The JD will have no problem with the Oscar provided as mentioned it is larger to begin with, although not too large as to harass the Oscar.

A GT would work as well, although I would say even a 90 is too small to house all three together comfortably.

Electric Blue JD max out at about 10" whereas depending on the species of Oscar (Tiger being one of most popular), they max out at about 12" (1ft).

What are your water parameters out of the tap/faucet? These will play a big part in whether or not you have to chemically alter the water to be able to house these fish. Altering the water is not easy to maintain and can get expensive.

 

[Tendeta]

My water quality was the following when my gf tested it for her beta's:

PH 7.6
GH ~11
KH ~15+

I've read that EBJD's like slightly softer water than JD so I was going to run the entire system with a bit of driftwood. For the KH, my LFS sold me some alkaline buffer but I don't know about my GH.

If you need other readings let me know and I can get them, gf went and bought a complete testing set for her beta operation.

After reading all the horror stories of people that buy these 40+ dollar fish and then have them die, I'm really tempted to just go simpler for this tank and eliminate EBJD from the option list. I read about some poor guy that bought 11 of these EBJD and only had one live for over a year.

I agree on only getting two, was toying with the idea of 3 but I should wait to see just how overpowered the filtration system I'm building is. Would 2 of GT, JD, or Oscar in addition to a large pleco be overstocked? So 3 fish total at about 1 ft each.

 

[Marbellohsdad]

I think it would be cramped for space I used to keep oscar's, first 3 in a 5 and then this ended up with one 16+ inch monster in my dads basement 125 gallon;-)

It later died from hole in the head. I would try chacolate cichlids or maybe serveriums. both do not reach the massive size oscar's can get and are a lot less work. A royal pleco is your best bet size wise, Common plecos get huge and are not that attractive imho. Royals can get to 16 but often tops out at less then half that and grows slowly.

The big problem I hear with these guys is when you get them they are basicaly starving from import so you have to fatten them up. They have ben bred believe it or not in captiveity I read this in Amazona but most are wild caught.

 

[Tendeta]

I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean, why do you think a 90 gallon would be cramped for a couple fish the size of an oscar?

Do you mean the electric blues need fattening up?

I checked out the Chocolate cichlids and the severums, the severums look like they have the color I want but the pictures of the chocolate cichlids that I found show that they're gorgeous fish but not on the same level as a JD in my opinion.

 

[Tazman]

Two Oscars will kill each other in a 90g tank, if you wanted two look more at 180g tanks and even then there is no guarantee they wont go after each other.

Look at Blue Acara - Andinoacara pulcher as well as possible tank mates, they can stand up to an Oscar.

Firemouths - also capable of standing up to an Oscar.

Silver Dollars work also, but need to be in a group of at least 3.

 

[Tendeta]

Well i'm in the downtime now while the tank gets cycled, thanks for all the suggestions guys!

I'll be sure to post updates when something new develops.

 

[Marbellohsdad]

Hope all goes well. ;-) I think you need to pick fewer fish for that size tank though esspicaly if you plan on oscars. I speak from experence on that one,

 

[rsskylight04]

Please add lots of cover ang hiding places if you want both cichlids to live! Also consider a regular jd instead of electric blue, they are a lot tougher, but they can also bealot moreagressive. Not always more aggressive , depends on the individual fish. You have a large tank so you might make it work. I tried to keep a jd and an oscar in a 40 gallon and had nithing but trouble.