jack dempsey bitting my tiger oscar

Question
Hi Ron, I have a tiger oscar and a firemouth cichlid that get along great and a few weeks ago I decided to add a few more fish to my 29gal tank, i got a green terror,a convict, a jack dempsey, and electric blue cichlid, but now after a few weeks the 2" jack dempsey seems to be fighting and bitting my 4" oscar(he is eating him), i have plenty of places for the small ones to hide but my oscar can't fit in any of them. What can I do? Do I have too many fish? Is this normal?

Answer
Hi Irene,
 You have far too many fish in a 29 gallon tank. An adult oscar is 12 to 16 inches long and he can reach that size in a little over a year.  An adult green terror is about 8 to 9 inchea and the same with a Jack Dempsey.  

 Unfortunately, if you put all those fish in a 29 gallon tank, they are going to fight until they kill each other and only 1 or 2 are left.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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