HOW TO BREED JACK DEMPSEY CICHLID FISH
HOW TO BREED JACK DEMPSEY CICHLID FISH
Mated pairs are not all that easy to come by.
Why the Name?
Jack Dempsey was a world-renown heavy-weight boxer (or pugilist) in his day. His name lives on today in the form of one of the more pugilistic fishes, the Jack Dempsey, Cichlosoma octofasciatum, or whatever descriptive Latin tag the experts put on him these days.
You could make the point that all cichlids are rambunctious specimens that enjoy beating up on their tank mates and re-arranging their tank decor. We could mention a few exceptions but on the average you’d be right. Most cichlids do not belong in your average community tank.
The Beginning
Small Dempseys start life smaller than a baby guppy. Their parents fiercely protect them from other fishes. Dempsey parents will bite you if you put your hand in with their fry.Tiny fry sport the typical black line that helps their parents keep them in line. As they mature, they develop an extremely attractive black and white pattern. Dempseys are one of the few egg layers that will eat dry food from birth. Newly-hatched brine shrimp or microworms work better, of course, but many will accept finely powdered dry foods.
Parallel Worlds
Think of Jack Dempseys as warm water sunfishes (Centrarchids). If you’ve ever fished for bluegills in a clear water lake in the spring, you’ve seen typical Jack Dempsey spawning behavior. Pairs dig theoretically defendable shallow pits in which they lay their eggs. If you drag a plug or any crank bait thru that protected area, you will harvest that sunfish — the male over 90% of the time.
Adults
Full-grown Dempseys can grow to 12 or more inches. We saw an ancient one in Peoria that was a misshapen 14 inches but most top out at eight in the home aquarium. They are a very dark blue liberally sprinkled with iridescent blue spangles. Males usually sport twice as many spangles as the females. Their top and bottom fins are often trimmed in red, orange, or yellow. Cichlids and centrarchids both intensify their colors at breeding time — especially the males.
Substrate
Over dark gravels, Dempseys develop darker colors. Over lighter gravels they bleach out. Cichlids are nearly all strongly affected by the color foods and those with spirulina. Color foods work to bring out their breeding colors. But the most effective color enhancer is live foods. Garden bugs such as moths, flies, earthworms and most any other soft skinned insect are more the welcomed by Jack Dempsey cichlids.
Dempsey Fry
Most small fry are neutral or camouflage colors. Predators always eat the pretty fish first. Half-inch-long Dempsey babies stand out from other cichlid fry because they are an eye-catching mottled black and white. (Baby oscars look like this also.) These eye-catching juvenile colors make them sellable at an early age.
The Young
At young ages (under two inches) Dempseys get along fine with other more average fishes (swords, mollies, tetras and so forth). But Dempseys keep growing. At three inches long they are not so much bullies (like red devils) as they are needful of more room. And they take it.
Give Them Room
In a 10-gallon tank your Dempsey will take his 90% of the space and keep the other fish intimidated into whatever nooks and crannies they can find. In a 20H, he only needs half the tank space. In a 30, he’ll only take a third. Problems with Dempseys arise when you try to keep them in small quarters. Half-grown (4-6 inch) Dempseys want a cubic foot of space. Unless kept with other equally stout and argumentative fishes, they will take it — often to the detriment of less combative tank mates. For best results keep them mostly with other rowdy cichlids.
Good mixers with young Dempseys include:
1. Convicts, regular
2. Convicts, pink
3. Curviceps
4. Firemouths
5. Keyhole Cichlids
6. Acaras (various)
7. ?lue Acaras
8. Festivums
9. Kribensis*
Good mixers with half-grown Dempseys include:
1. Jewels*, various color types
2 . Latifrons
3. Porties
4. Rainbows
5. Black Belts (B)
6. Chocolates (B)
7. Friedrichstahlis (B)
8. Geophagus, various
9. Green Terrors
10. Other Jack Dempseys
11. Managuenses (B)
12. Ocellaris (B)
13. Oscars (B)
14. Red Terrors
15. Salvinii
16. Severums, Green
17. Severums, Gold
18. Texas Cichlids
*not American but always sold as American.
Species marked with a (B) grow large and belligerent enough to pose a threat to the life of Jack Dempseys. Also note that we did not list Red Devils. Unless considerably smaller, they are not good mixers with anything.
African Cichlids
Oddly enough, you can mix Dempseys with African cichlids – for a while. African cichlids ignore them until the Africans get about half grown. We would not recommend this mix for most Cichlasoma (whatever) species. Maybe convicts.
Provide Room
As usual, the larger your tank, the fewer fights for territory you will see. Losers of these squabbles in big tanks also have room to retreat, recover, and fight another day. If you have limited space, put a divider (or dividers) high on your shopping list.
The Pairs
Adult Dempseys select their own mates. You see typical sidling up to one another and undulating together, chasing one another around the tank, and lip-locking. Lip-locking panics new fish keepers (check out “Lip-Lock video) that have never seen it happen before. The male and female lock lips and try to overpower one another. I agree with the theory that the male cichlid is testing his potential female mate for strength and endurance. A strong female will have healthier eggs and able to defend the nest vigorously along side her male.
Match Sizes
Here’s where you prefer two future parents of about the same size. Males tend to be larger and rougher. Too large a male often winds up killing his prospective mate. Try to keep them about the same size (within an inch or two). Although some males will breed with females half their size.
They Decide
No matter how carefully you pick your breeders, they will decide who breeds with whom. Since mated pairs are not often on the market, most would-be Dempsey breeders select six or so fry and rear them together. The process takes about a year. (And never pick out all the biggest ones or you’ll get all males.) If you’re in a hurry (this is America, isn’t it?), toss four six-inch specimens in a 30-gallon tank and be prepared to remove the non-breeders. They will be the ones with the torn fins and missing scale often lying on their side at the surface.
Your Breeding Tank
Give them a 20H or way larger tank. If the male gets too rough, the female needs room to get away. Provide at least one cave (the more bridal suites, the merrier). Lots and lots of plastic plants really help provide cover. Don’t decorate with expensivelive plants. Dempseys will redecorate to their own preferences. Anacharis and hornwort bunches help absorb many waste products and keep their water healthier. Provide other cover and a flat rock for the egg-laying site.
Plants?
In general, forget live plants. (make your own plants) Your Dempseys will uproot them and/or shred them. Use plastic plants instead. Weight them with lead strips or smear tank sealer on their bases and roll them in dry gravel the same color as your tank gravel. After they dry, toss them in and let the Dempseys re-arrange their furniture however they prefer. (And they will re-arrange it. Dempseys like to pile all their gravel at the front of their tank.)
Dither Fish
Many breeders recommend adding a “dither fish” to encourage the parents to bond together against a common enemy. A slightly smaller convict cichlid makes a good dither fish. You want one they can’t kill too quickly. Smaller fast fish such as Zebras might also work. Even if you lose them, they are quite inexpensive to replace.
Condition Them
You can successfully condition Jack Dempseys with a variety of cichlid food types. You increase your conditioning results when you add higher octane foods to their menu. But first, get off the one feeding per day habit. Feed them small amounts often. After you feed them flakes or pellets, give them small amounts of live or frozen foods to really plump them up and color them up. I have found that earthworms are a great conditioner for the Jack Dempsey. It brings those sluggish males around quickly to the mating fever. Throw some flies and other soft insects on the suface and watch them vanish with a splash. Even ants are accepted if they are very hungry. I’ve tried all of these and more with no ill effects whatsoever. Don’t forget about Spirulina algae, it’s great for their immune system. Oh, just a word of caution. Don’t throw ground beef in the aquarium. Even the most lean beef is too fatty. You may, however, chop up turkey or chicken and feed very small amounts of that but do not feed it on a regular basis and never too much. Beef heart is a wonderful conditioning food for most cichlids.. try it.
No Plecos Allowed
We get calls all the time about fish eggs “disappearing.” They don’t see the parents eating the eggs. They’re just gone the next morning thanks to their local algae-eating (and egg-eating plecostomus). You won’t see him eat the eggs. The parents are fierce protectors during the day. He, however, works the night shift. The parents never even know what happened.
Artificial Rearing
You can remove the eggs and use a slow airstone as a surrogate mother. The eggs need a slow flow of water near them for the best hatching rate. Most people consider it much more enjoyable (though less predictable) to watch the parents tend the eggs and herd the fry around.
Fry Food
Most baby Dempseys will eat finely crushed flake foods but you will get a better survival rate and faster growth with microworms and/or newly hatched brine shrimp. Keep in mind that your nursery tank is not a natural environment with all it’s tiny micro food sources for young to pick at constantly. If you wish to get your fry to grow anywhere near the fast rate they do in their natural surrounding, you must feed often and the right kind of food. It’s always fun to watch their bellies turn orange after a heavy feeding of brine shrimp. Most micro food sources are good for your fry providing it is small enough to be eaten. Don’t rely only on flake foods and powdered fry foods. Although many fry will survive on that, your mortality rate will be quite a bit higher. It’s critical for the first month to feed them as often and as high a protein diet as practical for you. You will truly appreciate the results. Now go have fun watching your “World of Jack Dempsey Cichlids”. — Jack
: jackarthur46
: Breeding
Tags: breed, Breeding, cichlid, cichlids, dempsey, egg, eggs, feed, fish, food, how, jack, lay, laying, mate, mating, nutrition, pair, spawn, spawning, to
Derrick
June 12, 2010 at 5:18 pm
Moved this week and started to breakdown the tank. Noticed eggs on rock, so I put the rock in a large bowl with air stone. Had to put the parents in my friends tank till I got theirs set back up. This is my Jacks first brood.Looks like there is anywhere from 700-1000 eggs. I thought they only laid 300-500 but anyway. The eggs are hatching just fine, seems like some are dying after hatching. Trying to remove fuzzy dead eggs, but some still remain. I would like to give them the best chance to live as I possibly can, so any advice? I also have some brine cysts, but should I start to hatch them now? I haven’t ever had much success with keeping brine alive more than 2-3 days after hatching. I didn’t have the option of leaving the eggs with the parents, so anything I can do to help the little buggers?
