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yeah it is getting crowdedand beleave me my girlfreind lets me no about it everydayand 2 top it all off we have to move in another 13 days,so at the moment fishtanks are not the best subject,and wait untill i tell her a have to get the same size tank as i just sold at the start of the year (another 125gal),well i picked up the 2 female jds,ive got them both in the tank with my malebut from what i can see he likes the bigger girlbut he does not like the smaller onehes not really picking on her but he dont like her,as for the bigger girl its looking goodthey are doing the lockjaw display you told me about in the above post,if he dont stop giving the small girl a hard timeill put her into my 200gal.i thought that hes colours were bright the other day you should see him todayit must be hes new girlfriendwell i cant think of anything else that i can do to help them along,top filtration,nice and clean regularly changed water,plenty of pellets and live foods,a clean flat rock,and a cave type house to hide inhave i missed anything

So far you seem to have covered all the bases. Oh, and yes, Dempseys in courtship and breeding attire are spectacular to behold.

Incidentally, if you're moving house soon, the logistics of relocating those large aquaria are going to be challenging to put it mildly ... for one thing a 200 gallon isn't going to fit in a car unless your car is an extra large Volvo estate, so I suspect you'll be hiring a van for the purpose.

If the moving distance is going to involve more than, say, 30 minutes' driving, then now is the time to gather together some means of delivering power to a collection of air pumps etc. For smaller aquaria I recommend obtaining a air pump that is nominally battery driven, but which has a socket for a mains adapter, then using an adapter of the kind used for charging mobile phones from the car's cigarette lighter output to provide power to the pumps. With a 200 gallon aquarium in the back of a 3.5 ton van, this might prove to be an interesting exercise! An alternative is to use a Transit van, transport one aquarium at a time, then perform a 'basic' setup at the destination for each aquarium that arrives, before worrying about resurrecting them to their former glory. The reason I make this suggestion is to try and keep filter bacteria alive and kicking so that you don't have to cycle the aquaria all over again from scratch if it's at all possible. Also, with big, intelligent fishes such as Cichlids, darkening the aquaria in transit so that they're not tempted to dig or beat each other up during the move might be a useful stratagem to adopt.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

yeah the guy i got my 200gals from,hes got a small truck decked out with padding in the back and these mad lock type strap things to hold them nice and tightbut still i got those huge tanks ive got delevered to the door,so this will be the first time moving so many big tanksim not looking forward to it but when we get to the new place all my fish get a tank up grade as ive been allowed to have one room for my fishes,as for the transport of the fish themself.i use a few diferent things,for my small fish i just use this old bucket with a sealed lid,as for my big chiclids i got this live fish transporter off ebay its pretty cool,its a colapsable round soft water tight thing,and it has a battery powered air pump on the side,and once the fish are in it you just zip it shut. so does this means of transport sound ok,as soon as we get the keys to the new place i wanted to get one of my tanks up there rite away so i can get that one ready to put fish in while the other tanks get cycling again,and i also have these 60liter plastic drums that i use to catch rainwater in,do you think it would be better to keep some of my water thats in my tanks now in these drums, and when i set my tanks back up i could use that water to speed up cycling time,i have 8 fish tanks to move and cycle again,its guna be crazyim dredding liftimg those tanks into the truck VERY HEAVYoh and 1 more thing,i think the jacks have hooked up,i put the smaller one into my 200 gal and the female with my male have cleaned the site and have been lockjawing,so i think its close,anyway thanx for the brillant info so far you have been spot on well doneoh and the moving times is only about 10 mins tops its only to the next suburb

Oh, VERY DEFINITELY try and keep as much of the existing aquarium water as you can ... the fewer sources of stress that the fishes are subjected to, the better during the move.

Oh, don't forget some means of cushioning the undersides of the aquaria during the move too - lots of polystyrene ceiling tiles are the order of the day.

If all the aquaria are going to be sited together in the same room after the move, that will make maintenance a bit easier - only one clear path needed between them and the water source.

The trick with this operation is to pace yourself. If you rush things, that's when accidents will happen. Take each step at a measured pace, and before the move itself takes place, plan where the various items are going to be moved, map out the pathways in advance, then make sure that those pathways are as free of obstructions as possible. Once you've got clear runs, and a scheme in place for shifting the water, you're on the way to success.

If you've got a custom built fish transporter, then even better - wish I had one of those!

Oh, something I'd consider is ensuring that the fishes have had their LAST feed before the move 36 to 48 hours before zero hour. Give them time to void some waste. If they're travelling on empty stomachs during the move, they'll be less likely to foul the water too much during the move. Then, once they've moved and are in place at their new home, a light feeding to bolster them up and a gradual return to more normal feedings will help with any mini-cycling issues - keep them hungry for a few days to minimise the chances of food going to waste.

One aspect that's going to complicate matters is if your prospective parent Dempseys drop a load of fry in your lap. Don't even think of trying to save the lot during the move - just save enough to keep the parents happy. 100 fry should do the trick. The rest would have to be culled anyway unless you had access to a huge aquarium for rearing them - sounds cruel, but, they'll solve your feeding problems vis-a-vis live food for the other Cichlids for a couple of days.

I'd move the parents and any fry last if possible. That way, you have other aquaria up and running if anything goes seriously pear shaped. Watch also for the parents reacting to the stress of the move by engaging in a violent divorce. Time for the divider again if that happens.

It simply remains for me to wish you the best of luck with the move and the forthcoming patter of tiny fins.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

great thanx AGAINi managed to get 2 more plastic drums aswellso i should be able to save a fair bit of my water,and still no eggs from the dempseysbut its deffently close cause the both of them bit me this morningand it wasnt just a peck my male latched on to my hand and man it hurt the only other fish that has hurt me like that is my flowerhornbut hes twice the size as my dempsy,as for the planing of situating my tanks,its donei got out my trusty tape and made sure they will fit in the room(i tryed for the mainroom but as the missus is in charge i had to settle for the middle sized room),ive used foam for sitting my tanks on b4,but those ceiling tiles are a great ideaill get some of them 4 sure,and the fish transporter,they are always on ebay for around 30 bucksif you get 1,you will wonder how you done without it,and thanks for the tip about moving them on a empty tummy,i never even thought of that,and once again thanx for more great info

Haha ya there tough when they have a territory to defend, check my www. site, pick of my dempseys making my red devil back down , althought once the devil grew larger i was forced to move him into a 75 gallon solo tank..

I think 125gal is pushing it a bit, depends on how many you want i guess and if you are planning on breeding them which sometimes happens even if you dont want it to.

Overall great fish i had a blast with mine. I first had 5 then once i figured out that one of them was over aggressive and small then the other fairly docile male i removed him and sold him in the local fish auction that was held. Soon after the 3.5" larger male took over but never over did the aggression and territorial nature that the smaller male displayed. If you have a large enough tank go for it, the pairing game only works if you have a backup plan to sell some.

yeah they have turned out to be a GREAT fish,and the personaliy that comes with em is just cool,im 99% sure that my 2 came so close to spawningbut as im moving ive had to pull all my tanks down,they were shaking and cleaning off this rock like crazy and the colour on my male was just dazellingand when i put my hand in man did they latch on,.but i think when i get there tank back up and running i think once they settle back in,they will spawn,the guy from my lfs said that i was really lucky to have a larger male and a smaller female pair up so fast ,is this true,and one more thing the circle type dance/jawlock thing they do is beautifull,does this have a name?

ps,your red devil looks pretty mean,and of course your jds are beautifull well done

I have a female dempsy in a 75gl tank with 2 tin foil barb (13" ea) and a fe other clean up fish. She has done fine, but needs her cave to have her own space. She is about 8" long now.

Barb