Why is my Dempsey so mild?

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svtcontour

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I currently have a 100 gallon with the following stuff:

1x 7" Dempsey
1x 14" Common pleco
2x 5" Chinese algae eaters
4x 4" Clown Loach
1x 4" Angelfish (marble)
1x 3" Firemouth - new addition
12x 1.5-2" black skirt tetra (used to have 15 6 months ago)

Anyway the Dempsey never bothers anyone, pushes anyone around or attacks anyone. Is this because he's got space and knows he rules the tank?

Will most cichlids behave well if they have a lot of room? I always heard Dempseys are very pushy but this one and one I had ages ago in the same tank (different occupants) was the same.
 
some dempseys vary from others, you could have one thats not agressive at all..then you can have one that would eat you alive if it could
 
all my dempseys have been mild too. im sure theres some meanies out there but ive never had one.
ive also had mild mannered texas cichlids and everywhere i read that they are terrible....maybe they are just over rated sometimes
 
I'm starting to think that most fish have no reason to be as bad as they are played out to be unless they are cramped for space or threatened. Although somehow I cant imagine a Red Devil, or a Buttikoferi playing nice with blackskirts, angelfish or a firemouth no matter how much space they have :)
 
my uncle's jd is so non-agressive, that its amusing to watch her.
imagine a 5" jd in a 72 gallon tank, with 6(i want to say tetras but dont know for sure which) and 4 cory's, all under 1".
The jd only comes out of the cave for feeding and seeing my uncle, and no other fish bothers her (presumably because of her size). When she does come out for feeding all the other fish get scared of her so they move aside, but when the fish get close up for feeding, the jd gets startled and rushes back to her cave for protection.

dont get me wrong.. the jd is very happy and always comes out of the cave when my uncle passes by and always stares at him when hes in the room.

this has been going on for a long time, possibly since he got the jd.
 
re

I have one good for nothing demspey that only swimms when he wants to eat.
I dont think the TX are overrated I had a pair that tryed to kill eachother when they got near full grown. I split them up the one I kept then tryed to kill my Oscar. I moved him in with a red devil and those to whent ate it and I cant remember who was winning when I got rid of the TX cichlid. They all have their own personalitys you never know what your getting.
 
While individual fish do vary i think the size of the tank, and lack of competition do tend to mean a fish isn't riled up.

Even mild mannered people if pushed long enough will lay down the law and get aggresive. So I don't think your fish lacks the actual mean streak, just that you have provided an environment that isn't challenging the particular fish for space.

My angelfish started out so mild mannered that any fish moveing towards him in a confident manner sent him running. To put it bluntly he was a wimp. He almost starved to death befor I bought him cause he wasn't argueing for his food.
I got him home and got him to eat and he adored me. Now after I let him down by going away for a week's vacation he gets mad and aggressive towards me. He still hasn't let the matter drop and lets me know what he thinks about my neglect. He connected duckweed covering the tank with not getting food while we were gone, so any duck weed in the tank beyond a few peices is reason to do the fishy equivalent of shakeing his fist at me.

Be happy your fish is calm, because dispite your best intentions something might happen to change that. Once that happens suddenly you have a fish that demands more space than befor. Depending on you set up that might not be a good thing.
 
re

thats a good point. I like agressive fish but have a hard time finding a tank that gets balence. I want them all to be happy.
 
I have a Flower Horn that was timid. I asked the dealer that sold me the fish what might be the reason, and he said that my tank was sitting to close to the ground. He told me that fish in general get timid if all they see is peoples feet walking around. I got a new tank stand, placed him/her higher and now my Flower Horn comes up to feed eagerly and comes up to the glass just like the other Flower Horns that i've seen at the pet store. I've found fish keeping to be a very interesting and rewarding hobbie.
 
808_fairladyz said:
I have a Flower Horn that was timid. I asked the dealer that sold me the fish what might be the reason, and he said that my tank was sitting to close to the ground. He told me that fish in general get timid if all they see is peoples feet walking around. I got a new tank stand, placed him/her higher and now my Flower Horn comes up to feed eagerly and comes up to the glass just like the other Flower Horns that i've seen at the pet store. I've found fish keeping to be a very interesting and rewarding hobbie.
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I found that to be true as well. fish in low tanks are more timid, but I think it has to do with their instincts with predators coming from above.

snakeice brings up some good points. I have a 2 year old, 8.5"-9" male dempsey which is very shy. He's much more timid than the female that's in there with him. He's tolerated smaller cihlids and catfish in his tank before, no problem. Once I added two large blackbelts in his tank, he must have seen them as a threat because he completely shredded both of them overnight ($50 mistake). The only other problem i've had with him was when I added 9 tiger barbs as dither fish to help make him feel more secure and swim about more. midnight snack.
 
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