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i recently bought two jack dempseys for my tank i have a few questions one of my questions is will they bother my two cory catfish and is there any thing i can feed them that is not like bought for fish like lettuce for example if anyone has jack dempseys and successfully owned them please give me some helpful information thanks

First things first. Jack Dempsey's are a Central American cichlid whose scientific name is Nandopsis Octofasciatus. Their common name is that of a former boxer named "Jack Dempsey". He was known for his aggression and was a heavy hitter. The fish are named after him because they to are pretty ill tempered and aggressive fish. As far as keeping cories in the same tank I would say as soon as the J.D.'s can fit them into their mouths the cories are gonners. If that doesn't happen first the Dempsey's could potentially kill them just by attacking them. J.D.'s can get in the range of 10" when fully grown and a pair will need a tank size of at least 55g. Preferably larger. J.D. are carnivorous meaning they will not eat fruits or vegetables. For food I would suggest frozen or freeze dried krill, Mysis Shrimp, bloodworms, Hikari Gold pellets as their staple, and you can try to find a pellet with spirulina in it as it is known to bring out the colors of the fish. I've kept J.D.'s and have found them to be great fish just as long as they are not in a tank of smaller less aggressive fish. If you have a large enough tank I would suggest other Central American cichlids for tankmates.

What size tank do you have these fish in, and with what other fish?

I agree with the above, Jack Dempseys are pugnacious and aggressive fish. Your cories (which should definitely be kept in groups of six or more) will be toast once the JDs get larger.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

i think you might find JD s are now in the archocentrus genus i think you will find and they are not that aggressive either id say there mildly aggressive. it is the wild specimens that are super aggressive as they are like male lions, loners constantly lip locking and fighting for territory i got a wild one from a friend that went to america i added him to my 90g with my other JD and synspilum and i found that the wild one was at least 3 times more aggressive and he was only around 4 inches long. JD's are also very very slow growers and it takes a very long time for them to reach full size i has taken myn around 2 years to reach 6 inches

Jimmy as far as the classification goes I follow Kullander's classifications and if you'll look you'll probably see he still has them classified as Cichlasoma. I tend to follow Kullander.

I've always found The Cichlid Room Companion to be the most accurate, up to date site for cichlid classifications. They have recently (within the past 3 months I believe) moved the Jack dempsey to the Archocentrus genus as you can see in the link. Cichlasoma is not even really a valid genus for any Central American cichlid. the Cichlasoma genus was restricted in 1983 by Sven Kullander to some South American species closely related to the type species Cichlasoma bimaculatum. Any Central American cichlids still under debate (as the Jack Dempsey was until recently) are classified as exCichlasoma until a permanent genus is found for these fish.


There are many articles on the 'net that refer to Kullander's restriction of the Cichlasoma genus. Here is one such article on 'Cichlasoma' istlanum. Kullander's 1983 taxonomic modifications are mentioned in the second paragraph under the Taxonomy heading.

Last edited by jason_r_s at 22-Nov-2004 00:19