My Big Fish

FW - Silver Dollar



FW - Tinfoil Red Tail Barb



FW - Jack Dempsey



These are the fish I have in my 55 gallon tank. The Jack Dempsey is the one in

charge. I have a male and female. Sometimes I'll see the male chasing the other

fish. He is about 6 inches now and still growing. He should get to 12 inches.

The female is smaller and spends time hiding in a cave.


I have 3 silver dollar fish. They are flat and disk like and will only get to 6

inches. They will school with the 3 tinfoil barbs that I have which can reach 14

inches. The barbs I have now are only 5 inches and very active. These fish I

use as dither fish meaning they can be kept with aggressive fish. Both the Barbs

and Silver Dollars need to be quick to stay away from the Jack Dempseys. Jack

Dempseys are very aggressive. I've seen my Silver Dollar actually face off with

the Jack Dempsey, and the Dempsey backed down. But usually my silver fish just

swim away.


I also have 2 catfish in this tank called plecos. They like to have private

areas to hide. The Jack Dempsey used to try to attack them. However, the plecos

have body armor and sharp spines. So soon the Jack Dempsey stopped bothering

them.

I feed them all Cichlid flakes and occationally shrimp pellets. The pellets are

mainly for the plecos, if they can get them. Once a week I'll find a giant

cricket in my garage or some kind of grub in the yard. The Dempsey loves them.