1 jack dempsey cichlid wont let the other eat, what should i do?

Question

when feeding times come the slightly bigger dempsey would chase the other to a corner while he goes about stuffing his face

Answer 1

I would say the one is very dominate. you should probably separate them or the smaller one will starve. depending on what size tank you have they do sell mesh dividers for tanks I believe up to 55 gal. so that would be a way to go or just put him in another tank if you have that. I stopped raising jacks just for that reason. they get along when they are young but get very territorial when they get bigger. this is also the reason they are named after a fighter. good luck with your jacks,

Answer 2

survival of the fittest

Answer 3

Sounds like you have 2 males and the tank just isn't big enough for the both of them.

Even though your tank may technically be big enough to support the two fish, that doesn't take into account how terrtorial they may be. The smaller one is allways in the bigger ones 'personal space' and the tank isn't big enough for him to swim away. So he gets chased into a corner and beaten up. So a combination of fish that may work in a 6ft tank may not in a 3ft tank.

Best fix, you need to seperate them.

Ian