# how do you properly add fish to an aquarium



## 37tall (Jun 22, 2011)

i ust purchased a jack dempsey to put in with my oscar and the oscar was really being a bully so i put the jack dempsey into a smaller tank inside of my larger tank and i was hoping they would see the dempsey and get used to eachother. how should i properly add this fish into my tank so that my oscar doesnt try to kill my dempsey.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

That may help, but generally you can't change the temperament of a fish. Good luck.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

That's an Oscar for ya. I really don't know what to tell you but I like what you've done to see if that will help. I would say if possible, to leave the JD in the smaller tank for a few days. As you mentioned...in hopes that they will recognize him and then just start to ignore him.


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## NeonShark666 (Dec 13, 2010)

Both the Jack Demsey and Oscar are very combative and territorial fishes and will always defend their property against an intruder. Your Oscar owns the tank so the Jack Demsey is an intruder and will alway be one. If you want to add a companion fish to your Oscar's tank, don't add another Cichlid. Better fishes are Large Catfishes, Large Tetras or Large Gouramiis.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

How big is the tank? It would need to be a really big tank to have the chance of working.


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## 37tall (Jun 22, 2011)

i did a tank cleaning and rearrangment of the decorations and put the dempsey in first then the oscar, now everything is going good


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Good deal.Keep an eye on them though just to be sure.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Let us know how it goes.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

37tall said:


> i did a tank cleaning and rearrangment of the decorations and put the dempsey in first then the oscar, now everything is going good


You remove your fish for a cleaning and rescape? Just how much cleaning are you doing? Or, was this because of what is going on? I don't like removing my fish for anything, unless it is dead. If you're cleaning makes you feel it necessary to do this, you are definitely over-cleaning.


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## joevw007 (Jul 6, 2011)

jrman83 said:


> You remove your fish for a cleaning and rescape? Just how much cleaning are you doing? Or, was this because of what is going on? I don't like removing my fish for anything, unless it is dead. If you're cleaning makes you feel it necessary to do this, you are definitely over-cleaning.


I think he just removed him because of the hostility problem. I have a male gourami that was super territorial in my tank and he was trying to rip the fins off my other fish. I removed him and put him in a 1 gal tank with the water from my larger tank in it and left him in the tank for a day. I rearranged the ornaments and put him right next to the big tank. After a day of isolation I put him back in (by pouring him in so I didn't mess with his slime coat with a net) and he stopped picking on my fish. He's still super healthy. Seems the more territorial a fish is the more resilient they are when it comes to being moved. If it happens again you can always get a fry net that goes inside your tank and put him in that while you change the ornaments. Goodluck!


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