Jack Dempsey (Archocentrus octofasciatum)

Brian041

I've had one of these before. They're awesome fish to have and watch, but they're mean as all get out. Definitely not a community fish or suited for planted tanks from my experience.

Indychus

My parents had a male back in the 80's, and I've had an affinity for them ever since. He would quickly kill anything we put in the tank. He had a hollow log that he claimed, and anything that came near the entrance was aggressively punished. He ended up as the tank's only denizen other than a 12" pleco and some snails. When he was younger we also had a female, which we unfortunately lost. Any attempts at introducing a new female ended poorly. The maximum size listed here of 25cm (9.8") may be normal, but when ours finally died (supposedly at 14 years old) he was almost 13 inches. We kept him in a 90 gallon tank with sandy bottom. It was sparsely planted initially, but he quickly demolished the plants. Stem plants along the back glass seemed to be left alone. Diet was flakes, bloodworms, and live minnows. A school of 50 minnows would typically last a month or two.