3 New Female Jack Dempseys

[Verminator89]

So i lost my female EBJD about a month or so ago. After making sure water parameters are a-ok i've decided to invest in 3 new females so he can pick "the one" he particularly shines too. After buying 1 male and 1 female last time (rookie error) i learnt the hard way that it doesnt always work so simply. Unfortunately due to my budget restraint (need more wages ) i would never be able to afford (nor warrant) spending £25 on each of these fish individually. I love JD's in general so i settled for three female regular strain JD's. Being £2.95 each its far more reasonable. Besides their just as beautifull and i don't require a pair for breeding purposes. I just want a pair

I was just posting to see if theres many other Jack Dempsey owners to chat too

 

[Cichlid_Crazy]

£25 is a good price for EBJD's mate..my local Maidenhead has them at £60 for less than 1" specimens.

 

[Verminator89]

Ouch, thats pretty expensive! I couldnt warrant spending that much at all. I'd need a better job first

Since adding the 3 new females, ALL my fish are hiding away at the back of the tank. Even my 4" male, my clown loach and my BNP. No idea if this is normal as its something i've never come across. Hoping its just because they're new to the tank and the other fish are following suit.

Anyone got any ideas?

 

[Cichlid_Crazy]

Problem is Normal JD's tend to be ALOT more aggressive than EBJD's which are sort of the stephen Hawkins of the JD family

Buttttttttt the only way to make more EBJD's is by breeding them with Normal JDs...then breedign the fry with EBJDs...royal PITA.

Awesome looking fish...if a little deformed and weak

 

[Verminator89]

Truely magnificent fish. Ever since i started in the hobby 5 years ago i had them in my sights as my own "one day" sorta fish. That day is now. I don't plan on breeding them currently. Budget won't allow for it currently. In a few years when i'm older and have a place of my own i will more than likely try my hand at it - hopefully.

What do you mean a little deformed and weak? How so?

 

[~T~]

Truely magnificent fish. Ever since i started in the hobby 5 years ago i had them in my sights as my own "one day" sorta fish. That day is now. I don't plan on breeding them currently. Budget won't allow for it currently. In a few years when i'm older and have a place of my own i will more than likely try my hand at it - hopefully.

What do you mean a little deformed and weak? How so?

They have all sorts of health problems. Both of mine had eye problems and one didnt really grow past 3". Great looking fish but I would never invest time and money in them again. Btw you can get "gene" juvies from trimar aquatics.

 

[Verminator89]

My first two that i bought over a year ago had an eye problem. The male which i still have today is truely awesome and absolutely stunning. But the first female had both her eyes go bad and they went white. Almost like they misted over and she never ate properly. She survived a good year like this but never got over 1.5" whereas the male hit 4" in that year. She soon passed away a little over a month ago, and so i now have my 3 female normal JD's.

I'll always persevere with them. I simply love them

I don't know where Trimar aquatics is. Never heard of them...

 

[holidayinn]

I think in terms of aggression, you've got the right set-up as in a male ebjd and female jd (fem JD maybe less aggressive, good match).

Google Trimar, they did have BGJD young, at good prices. Well worth a look.

 

[Verminator89]

Since adding 3 new females, ALL 4 of my J.D's now hide alot of the time. If i turn around now and look at my tank i can see my large 4" male hiding behind the rocks under the lower part of the my large echinodorus plants. The females are scattered around the tank in similar fashion too. Even my clown loach are reluctant to come out since introducing these 3 new fish. I'm so baffled. The only other thing i've done is i removed a large male opaline gourami and gave to a fellow forum member on here.

Little confused as to why they're hiding. I understand its a new environment so they may be a little shy, but i didnt count on it taking this long. They feed ok and come out for food, but then retreat to the back of the tank again afterwards.

 

[~T~]

Since adding 3 new females, ALL 4 of my J.D's now hide alot of the time. If i turn around now and look at my tank i can see my large 4" male hiding behind the rocks under the lower part of the my large echinodorus plants. The females are scattered around the tank in similar fashion too. Even my clown loach are reluctant to come out since introducing these 3 new fish. I'm so baffled. The only other thing i've done is i removed a large male opaline gourami and gave to a fellow forum member on here.

Little confused as to why they're hiding. I understand its a new environment so they may be a little shy, but i didnt count on it taking this long. They feed ok and come out for food, but then retreat to the back of the tank again afterwards.

That is kind of odd. I've always found some JD's to be super skittish and never lose that or dont give a hoot and spend all their time at the front begging. It could be that the gouramie was acting as a dither fish. Could you maybe add a small shoal of dithers? Maybe larger tetras like congos or columbians, or even some rainbows.

 

[Verminator89]

I'm thinking of popping to a LFS today to get either some Danios or maybe small mountain minnows. Just fancy something different. I can always remove them if my Dempseys don't like them and add them to my 2ft tank downstairs.

My male used to be one of those that didnt give ahoot as you said, spending all day bombing around the front following me about the room and going especially mad when i held his big yellow food pot

 

[Verminator89]

Went to Shirley Aquatics (near B'ham) and came back with 5 gorgeous Boesemani Rainbow's. Figured Danio's might be too much of a temptation to eat so went for something bigger and more robust. The effect was imediate, all 4 dempseys are out swimming freely and chomping on food. Male still likes to skulk away at the back from time to time but otherwise he's fantastic.

I'm now looking forward to seeing my rainbows grow up and show maturation colouring just like my dempseys Its going to be a fun year ahead