Jack Dempsey

[Confish]

hey has anyone got a jd or kept one before ive been looking for one for ages just curious about what there like and how fast they grow ect. cheers

 

[Glenbo1981]

I had one for a little while, quite pretty but very shy.

 

[1411939]

pretty shy? they are hella aggressive and active, havent u ever seen a jack dempsey fight. they always win and if they lose they always come back and wont hide from other cichlids unless they are super aggressive like a bigger red terror, a fake green terror from petsmart(as only the wild ones are the real Gts) will be a childs play for a jack dempsey the gt must be bigger in order to win... they grow not as fast as an oscar but not slow either u wil see some growth in a few weeks, they are not picky and can survive in bad water conditions for some time(dont risk it though) dats basicly all they do, kill fish, and search the substrate for food
if you do want tank mates you will need bigger cichlids than the JD the JD should be the smallest, the cichlid that are compatible with a jd are every cichlid in the local stores except for: Severums(they will one day reach adult size and the jd can easily stress a sev) Oscars(even if they are 2-3" bigger oscars NEVER do well in an aggressive cichlid tank, the oscar should be at least 2-3x bigger, however in adult size an oscar reaches only 12-13" and a jd 9-10" so watch out when they are full grown the oscar MAY be the bullied instead...)
any other non aggressive cichlid should be avoided.

good luck with the jack dempsey, people say there are some shy ones however this is REALLY rare, dont ever rely on that, i would rely on that THE LEAST as jds are classified as super aggressive/territorial fish, hence the name jack dempsey, famous boxer

 

[Glenbo1981]

Yep, deffo shy, but then i had one with fish that it didnt have a chance against like Vieja Argentea and Texas Cichlids.

 

[forby3]

i have a few jacks in my tank well should i say did had to be removed due to getting the behinds tanned all over the tank very nice fish too look at easy to look after will eat anything offered

 

[rdp50734]

I have a jd a tank with a severum now! but she was in a cichlid community she's 6" body size. She hides a lot now but as she was younger a lot more aggressive! Mellowed with age I guess! I have had mine for a year now from 1.5". When it comes to food she takes the whole bloodworm cube and takes it home! NO SHARING!

 

[Confish]

thanks for the fast replies and ye ive been wanting one for ages just not found it found ebjd but there too fragile for me and ye ill keep it with a convict and jewels ( i know there not new world )

 

[1411939]

the reason why a jack dempsey will hide is because another fish is trying to kill or eat them, when i first bought it it hid the first week as the oscar was huge compared to him then it gained up size and kiled the oscar after a fight

 

[rdp50734]

My jd was 5" in in with 4 x 1" HRP and a small pleco and still hid inside a submarine ornament! They weren't big enough to eat whole bloodworms lol

 

[forby3]

my jd's had to be removed at 5" as my jags where just going to town on them at only 2-3" woops

 

[Glenbo1981]

Yep 9/10 are very skittish, they act like stalking predators rather than bold and brash like some other Cichlids.

 

[1411939]

Yep 9/10 are very skittish, they act like stalking predators rather than bold and brash like some other Cichlids.

well im guessing all of you guys are not owning a jack dempsey, is just like the fake green terrors of the store, those green terrors have yellow fins, the REAL green terrors fins are white swim bladders and different features... and those fake gts are not even aggressive compared to the real gts, so the same thing goes with the jack dempseys, thats why people at the internet say it depends on the fish...bs it depends whether u got the real fish or not
all sites warn you this fish is completely dangerous, with the type of fish breeding we have today, it is rare for anybody to buy a REAL jack dempsey or real green terror, or the other type of oscar called astronotus crassipines, which is totally different from the astronotus ocellatus, both look the same but many different things such as size, etc.
either way the jack dempsey has the same wrong behavior of the green terror, both fish look the same to the eye but one of them is the real thus the fish the site is ACTUALLY referring to...
the jd i owned was wild caught and looks 4-5% different than the full grown mellow skittish jack dempseys i see on youtube

 

[forby3]

if you read our posts all of us have had or have jacks mate

 

[Glenbo1981]

Why does he keep explaining the difference between Andinoacara (formally Aequedins)Sp. "Gold Saum" and Andinoacara Rivulatus? this thread has nothing to do with Green Terrors its about Jack Dempseys and GT's are nothing a like other than in length.

 

[1411939]

because the same thing is going on with jack dempseys and green terrors, those are NOT the real fish the fish sites talk about otherwise, so since all of u r saying 9/10 of jack dempseys(not the real jack dempsey from fish websites like badmans, etc.) are shy and skittish, my explanation to this is the same with gts, as real gts/jds are killer machines as the websites tell you...i hope i made it clear now