South American Cichlids • New Dempsey in 75 gallon HELP

[reddevil55]

Hello everyone im new here.... I have a 75 gallon tank with a 18 inch common pleco, a 5 inch red devil and a 4.5 inch jack dempsey... i adopted the jack dempsey today and acclimated him to the tank... the red devil left him alone for about an hour.... then she started chasing him around... when exactly should i start getting worried about the dempsey's safety? any help would be appreciated

[reddevil55]

they have been lip locking this morning.... the dempseys dorsal is just a little rough.... but he seems to be winning the battle

[jd lover]

theyre proving their toughness to each other as long as one isnt forced in a corner for a long period of time then i wouldnt worry. just watch for uneccessary roughness

[reddevil55]

After they got done with the lip battle the dempsey actualy won.... this surprised me because the devil is larger than him... but now that its over the pecking order has been set... dempsey 1 red devil 0

[Buzz_]

JD's are very agressive. They get their name from the famous boxer who never gave up until he was at the top.
JD's will win everytime unless majorly undersized. My EBJD takes on my tiger oscars who are a big bigger than him. He doesnt always win, but certainly gives it a go until the oscar gives up!

Is the devil normally agressive torwards your other fish?

[neutrino]

That's a combination you'll need to keep an eye on. While it's possible they've settled things for now, with just the two of them in that size tank it could also just be round one (pleco doesn't count as one of the combatants). You may be able to scape the tank in such a way that each has their end and they pay less attention to each other.

I've seen the oscar vs. dempsey thing go both ways in people's tanks over the years; sometimes the dempsey ended up dead.

[montellp]

plecos can attack fish to my male gt got into it with my pleco I've never seen tht happen befor

[NeptunesNeighborhood]

plecos can attack fish to my male gt got into it with my pleco I've never seen tht happen befor

plecos can be crazy viscous with those "horns" they have. I had a small one tear up a spawning kribensis male once.

[oldcatfish]

JD's are very agressive. They get their name from the famous boxer who never gave up until he was at the top.
JD's will win everytime unless majorly undersized.

Maybe very aggressive compared to South American cichlids, but not compared to other Central American cichlids. Most equal sized CA cichlids are more aggressive than JD's. I'm surprised that a larger Red Devil would lose to a JD...you must have a really mellow RD and a more aggressive JD. Is your RD a female and the JD a male?

[reddevil55]

My RD is a Female... The JD is Also a female... But now i have a male JD also... And the male and female are pairing up... Since i put the male in the tank the RD is staying away... I seperated the tank with a piece of driftwood and put there hiding holes on opposite sides of the tank... it seems to be working out