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I know a guy who is giving away an 8 inch Jaguar cichlid, and he had asked me if he wanted to keep it, but All I have is a 20 gallon and 75g.. Would I be able to house it in the 20 gallon until I get a 46 gallon next month? Or would the 46 be to small?

It depends.....if he's alone in the 46, he should be ok...but if there are other fish there will be problems, of overcrowding and the jag will probably kill all the other fish, and i say that 46 gallons is ok, but it would be better to have at least 60. Just my opinon.

Put it in the 75g. That would be a good home for life. By now its already to big for a 46g. These are awesome fish. But dont put any others in with it.

Last edited by greenmonkey51 at 26-Nov-2005 12:40

as greenmonkey said, a 46 is definitely too small. if the jag is a female then it should be fine in the 75 if you can manage to devote that tank to just the jag. however, if the jag is a male he may wind up looking a little cramped in there but he'd still be ok in a 75 for a few years.


if you can't give the jag your 75 gallon or get another 75 instead of a 46 then I'd recommend that you pass on the jag and hopefully your friend can find someone else with a large tank that will take his jag.

If that was me, i wouldn't put that Jaguar Cichlid in anything less than 150 gallons. Male Jags in particular grow big - 16 inches. You also have to remember that Jags are guapotes - big, predatory Cichlids that make a LOT of territorial demands on space. A big Jag not only demands space, incidentally, but has a heroic appetite and an equally heroic capacity to foul the water at the other end. So chances are it would overwhelm anything other than a high capacity power filter once it started to pile on some real body mass.

However, if you have an aquarium big enough for a full sized Jaguar Cichlid, you'll never be bored with it. Jags are devilishly intelligent fish that will leave you doubled up laughing on the floor at some of their antics. Just don't let any pet cats near the water surface of an aquarium containing big Jags, as they're apt to regard the kitty as an intruder to be seen off


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002