mangrove jacks in a tank

[jeffo]

guys and girls- looking at setting up a tank to house a mangrove jack :) i know there is/was a few people on ausfish that have experience in this area.
any tips that i might need to know when choosing the right gear for the job?? also has any one successfully kept a jack with ANY OTHER fish what so ever>? or do they all get munched?
im a newbie to aquaria so any help is good help :) ive had a good chat to people at the aquarium shops but they seam to just be trying to push products instead of helping me make a well informed decision.

[devocean]

I have kept mangrove jack in both saltwater and fresh and they are quite pretty when they are young. You name it Ive had it in a tank before. They tend to hide a fair bit and they like structure. As for tank size it all depends on the size of the fish. I would reccomend a four foot tank to start (as long as the fish is not over 20cm). As for fish to house with it. Well as long as they are about the same size it shouldnt matter.

The first jack I kept lived happily with other fish relativelky the same size. The other was very aggressive. If you put the jack into a tank all by itself for to long it will get very territorial and will harm most fish you put into it. So it might be an idea to add some fish with it and see how it goes.

Jacks are not the best aqauirium fish but the good news is your water quality doesnthave to be spot on as they are quite hardy. I reckon you should forget about the jack and get a barra cod much better.

Hope I can be helpful

Devocean

[lucifer]

Hi Jeffo, I have got a Jack in a freshwater tank and he/she would be one of the easiest fish I have ever had. Jack (that is his name) is 6 years old and touchwood, has never had a problem. I had him in with a Barra but he used to flog the sh#t out of it. I found that the jack grew a lot quicker and soon he became the boss. I bought him for $80 and he was about one inch long. Now he is 15 inches long and is quite an awesome sight. He is in a 5 foot tank and he seems to be quite happy. As far as feeding goes he will eat anything. live gold fish, live yabbies, frozen worms, frozen peas!, just about anything that goes in the tank, fingers included! They are a very intelligent fish, as soon as some one walks into the lounge room he is watching them. If you walk up to the tank he will come up to you and will follow you up and down as you go past. I personally think they are a great fish to have, easy to care for and very entertaining. Oh I nearly forgot, one hell of an ATTITUDE! If youwould like to know any more pm me and I will give you my phone#.

[bobby777888]

hey mate.....
at the moment i have a 25 cm jack in a 8ft tank with a 30 cm jungle perch, the jp swims at a different level and keeps out of the jacks road, and they live alrite together ( proably because they are so well fed). they co exisist but have the occasional fight, nothing too serious. i got them at the same size and they are extremely well fed, this is the secret to having tank mates with your jack.......

bobby

p.s. if you wanna no more just give me a pm

[macdwp01]

In total how much would it cost to get a tank and all the extras to run a operation like this. Cheers :)

[bobby777888]

depends, your standard 4ft tanks costs around 300, however the fancy aqua one tanks with built in hood, lighting and filters cost around $450. my 8 ft setup was purchased throught the trading post and with filter included i think it was somewhere around $1000....... small jacks start from around $ 50.00( clevland pet and aquarium) and a 30cm fish will set u back around $225........not the chepaest of hobbies.......

bobby.............

[jeffo]

cheers for the help lads. i have been looking around and thought about getting a 48x18x18 tank..best price i can get for that is 179 bucks. to go a deeper tank (48x18x24 i think) will cost me about an extra 150 bucks, but i do get thicker glass in that tank also. its good to hear that jacks are hardy in a tank, that might give me a bit of room for error as i am a beginner with all this stuff.

for those who have had their jacks from a tiny size how fast do you think they will out grow a 4 foot tank?
lucifer- i chose a jack because of the attitude problem they have ;D i wanted something thats gunna eat just about everything that swims past. lol

[Gutsy]

If your interested, look into Archer fish. They swim on the top level of water so keep out of the way of other fish. Eat moths, crickets, flys etc as well as worms and pellets. Are cool fish, when you can get them eating from your hand or spitting water. I had 2 in a 6ft tank with 4 catfish and a yellowbelly.

[Dodgy_Back]

I had a Jack in a 5ft fresh tank , the angry little bugger would kill any thing in site no matter how big. I HAD A BARRA in the same tank and was bigger than the jack , he just kept biting the barra until he was dead.
but all in all they are a great fish to have but are expensive
Mick

[Scott15]

the cheapest ive seen them is for $50. thats in Brisbane.

Scott

[lucifer]

Jeffo, The fish will only grow as big as the tank it is in. I guess my jack took about 12months to grow to about 4in long. He was originally in a 3 foot tank I think and he grew to about 10 inches in that tank. When we put him in the large tank he just kept growing,and eating! I dont know how big he will grow to, but my girlfriend wants to build in our next house an inwall tank about 10 foot long. I have been offered by an aquarium $800 if they could buy him, but there is no way I would ever sell him. I dont know how big he will end up but I will tell you that I have caught a jack 6.2kg in Gladstone and if he grows that big I will have to buy an olympic swimming pool.

[bobby777888]

. I dont know how big he will end up but I will tell you that I have caught a jack 6.2kg in Gladstone and if he grows that big I will have to buy an olympic swimming pool.[/quote]

our jacks getting a bit big - were thinking of putting him in the swimming pool with the bass so wqe can go swimming with him

[Billo]

Jeffo ....top fish to put in a tank mate [smiley=2thumbsup.gif] heaps of attitude , but will stay hidden a bit ..like most natives will .

As far as co existing with other species , a Jack will do alright as long is it is not ' HIS ' territory as previously stated ..if it is in the tank for a while solo then it will fight anything that goes into it ...unless the new fish is bigger then it ...by more then a bit ;D

We've had Jack / Cod / Barra and a Sooty Grunter living together in a 48 x 24 x 18 tank untill they were above about 15cm long ...then they started they started fighting ....we should have upgraded the tank but slowly got rid of a few untill we had just the Cod and the Jack . then they blewed untill they knocked a rock into the glass and smashed the tank ...a whole lot of blewin for 2 small fish ;D

The saratoga do alright with them as the Toga like the top of the water coloumn ...they don't 'bump' heads as much .

I just have a Murray Cod in a tank now - 24 x 12 x 18 , and he's doing well and they can be kept in anything ...still attitude but hides a bit more then a jack .

Feed the natives HARD and they will grow ! a few goldfish here and there ...a couple of yabbies , earthworms ....good food ! It is also good to throw in a table spoon of Rock salt every now and then , ...they will puff it up quite readily and helps kill of parasites in the gills when kept in fresher watered tanks .

[jeffo]

thanks for the great help guys. by the sounds of it a 48x18x24 inch tank should be good to start with.
any hints on buying heaters and fillters and what not?
have all your jacks been fresh water? (apart from you timbo :))
how did you find the salt water tank as far as maintenance went?

[bazzaman]

Jeff, ive kept both fresh and salt(now) I had barra in fresh and theyre an awesome fish to keep also. But i switched to a salt water setup and have had no probs whatso ever. I believe a salt water by far is less maintenance than a fresh water tank. I keep clowns and angels and looks by far more impressive than a dark and dull fresh water tank. Costs are a little more especially for live rock, corals ,lighting etc but the results by far out weigh a fresh water tank. Perhaps stick with fresh then start a salt when you get a little more experience with the hobby! I know what you mean by shops tryn to sell you all great gadgets that you dont really ned. I had a quote from an aquarium place for $7000 for me to setup my marine tank! I did research on the net and eventually switched over for $700 go figure that one out! Hope that helps ya a little.

Cheers
Shane

[Fishinmishin]

Thow an Oscar in there to grow up with it. Two aggressive fish should make things interesting.[smiley=rifle.gif] [smiley=rifle.gif]

[jeffo]

shane-what needs to be done to a salt water tank to keep it in working order?

[bazzaman]

Mainly good lighting if your going to keep corals aswell......If not, fluros will do. I have whats called a plenum setup. Do a search in yahoo and im sure youll find how the setup works.I mainly have a protein skimmer and a power head (should have two) and thats it! Pretty simple stuff. Do your homework and then decide. But i highly reccommend salt water even if you just keep fish for the short term.

Shane

[devocean]

Bazzaman I totally agree with you about the saltwater. I have hasd marine tanks for about 15 years know and there is no way I would go back to fresh. I have kept just about everything and anything you can put in a tank and Im still going. Have only two tanks at the moment thinking of going a red emperor again soon.

[tangles21]

Mate if you are after cheap aquarium products see ben at the age of aquariums website is aquariumproducts.com.au.You wont buy any cheaper.As far as a tank goes aquariums r us are pretty cheap.
I havent kept a jack but i know people who do and they seem to thrive in brackish conditions.you will need a min of 6x2x2 ft if you want to grow him to a big size.But a 4ft would be a good sizeto start with.Hope this helps

cheers leigh [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

[agnes_jack]

Good advice from all above!!
They are easy to keep Jeffo. The only thing I would say my jack differed on is that mine would not eat anything at all if it was dead. I tried most of the foods mentioned above as well as quite a few other dead foods, but even after days of no food he still wouldn't eat anything unless it swam or wriggled.
Drop in a dozen or so minnows and they would dissapear in about 1-2mins.
I ended up putting him in the dam because it was just too much trouble to have to keep catching live fish every night when I got home from work.
Maybe I spoiled him or something ??? ???

Regards, Tony