compatibility and identity of a disease?

Question
i just aquired a 3-4" jack dempsey will it work in my tank i have sverums 2 gold 2 greens wich are the coolest fish ever , blood parrots , a jewel cichlid, clown loaches a suranemensis earth eater, 2 bala sharks  and  1 silver dollar i have a 90 gallon and do a 25- 30 gallon water change weekly to bi weekly i feed a variety of fresh ,frozen and pellets /flakes ,no feeders!!!for filtration i have 2 emperor 400's . Also one of mygold severums gets these little white growths on its pectoral fins one on each side can u identify this ? ive treated for several things and it does'nt go away thank you for your time  , tim

Answer
Hi Tim,
With cichlids, mixing them together is always a trial and error situation. You never know if it will work out or not. Cichlids all have their individual personalities as you know and while one fish may get along with another species of cichlid somebody else may have a totally different experience with either fish being really aggressive. Logically, these fish should be able to get along but you'll have to keep a close eye on them for any trouble. Since your tank is large and hopefully you have plenty of hiding places you shouldn't have too much trouble. I agree severums are the coolest fish! :-) I've had both entirely peaceful severums who could live in community tanks with angels and larger tetras, and then I've had others who would not allow any fish to coexist peacefully in the same tank -- not even a simple catfish.

So just try it out and see what happens. Hopefully everyone will get along but just be ready to interfere if needed.

As for the white growths on the pectoral fins on the gold severum. I've seen this before plenty of times. I do not think it indicates ick or any kind of fungal disease but more so an injury sight where the fin ray has become bent or damaged in some other way. Usually there is not harm to the fish and the white spots go away with time, sometimes it takes quite a while... as long as the fish always has clean water. But as always just keep a close eye on it.

Best wishes and I hope this helps!
Karen~