yeah i went by that rule in my old tank. I just figured it was different with jacks since they are a bit more territorial. I think im gonna stock it with 4 regular females and 4 Electric Blues. Ill move the ones that dont pair up.

Dempseys I believe get to be about 10 inches adult size...they are aggressive fish

so to have 8 of these fish, you'd need a good 80 gallon tank

the Blues go for about $70 a piece...the regular Dempseys for about $7 a piece

if I were you, I'd go for only 6 of whichever kind you like, that way, you give them plenty room to swim in

also, the rock formation needs more caves plus very hardy live plants

hope this helps

I have one full grown JD and he is king in my tank. He constantly stops fights over food or territory. He owns every territory if he wants. But if noone bothers him or he doesn't disagree with the present quarrel going on he minds his own business. Got him free on a trade cuz he was mean to a large catfish and gar lol. Go figure. Yasher's right though he's 10" full grown. He's my favorite fish in the whole tank! He's the only reason I decided to go all ciclids! I've seen petland have EBJD's for 20 at the 2-3" size.

hey sorry for not being online in a while. ill have the pics in a few days. Tank is emmbarisingly cloudy right now and a pic wouldnt do it justice. Ended up with 3 EB's and just a regular female for now. Definatley has more caves now. Any suggestion on how to keep my water clear? I powerfeed my fish and it seems like its almost useless to try to keep the water crystal clear, even with a weekly 30% water change. Thanks for the comments guys!