Jack dempsey

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Critter1990

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
May 19, 2012
Messages
196
Who has or use to have jack Dempsey that would like to share any tips or suggestions to keeping a JD healthy and happy as possible!! I have a female that is about 3 inches and another JD that is a midget fish 1.5in. Hasnt grown. I feed twice a day. I rotate pellets, flakes and crickets as a treat once in a while. I do gravel vac/water change once a week. It's a 55g with one AC 110 and 2 AC 50s.
 
I've had my male for three months and is growing about an inch a month,4" now. I change the diet as well and do about 50% water changes a week. Noticed also he's getting some thickness to him.
 
my jd is a slow grower also, she refuses to eat anything other than spirulina flakes. no pellets at all. no matter how long a fast her for. she just waits for me to get tired of her not eating and give her the flakes. weirdo i suppose.
 
I think that the growth may be more to do with genetics than possibly anything else. I have four jack dempseys, all purchased at about the same size from different stores to insure no inbreeding. I have two that have grown like crazy and two that have progressed more slowly. All fish started at around 2" with the bigger two being 6" and 5.5ish and the smaller two are both around 4". Be patient with them they will get bigger I'm sure.
 
I purchased my JD about a month ago and he is already growing very rapidly (about 2"). Keep up the WC as stated above and I'd say you just have a slow grower on your hands.
 
Couple questions. How long have you had both jacks and what size were they both when you acquired them? Also, what other fish do you have in the tank with them, if any?
Keep it up with the water changes, that always helps keep any fish healthy! I find that a greatly varied diet helps also. I feed mine bloodworms, brine shrimp, good pellets, flakes, occasional crickets and earthworms, shrimp pellets, occasional beefheart, and probably other things i cant remember at the moment. Of course all in appropriate amounts, usually twice daily.
Jacks tend to be a pretty aggressive fish amongst similar sized cichlids, and can be quite temperamental also. If they feel they are being "bullied" sometimes that can cause them not to eat. And sometimes it doesnt seem like they are growing but they may just be growing at a slower rate than you expect them to. I got a new jack from a local breeder one time who was a three inch male, and the guy claimed he was a grown adult. (Over a year old). He was beautiful, so i brought him home and he didnt seem to be growing at first either. But after a few months i started noticing a difference, and before long he was up to 6-7 inches and as healthy and beautiful as can be. Have a little patience! Hope this helps
 
mine was only about 2 inches when i got her, she spent a good two months in hiding only coming out to steal a flake or two and the back to hiding. one day she just decided to come out. she refuses to eat pellets so i guess this is why shes only grown about 1.5-2 inches since march when she came out from hiding. ive tried not feeding for a cpl day and then giving pellets but she just wont take them. guess ill try another form of food to see if she will take it.
 
I got both about 4 months ago at about 1.5in and thank you for the replays. I like to learn from ppl who actually have or kept JD
 
Try frozen bloodworms. All of mine go nuts for them. Heres one of my females with a new batch of fry, about a week old.

ForumRunner_20120621_194104.jpg
 
Wow that's Coool! The one thing I hate is how dirty the fake plants always get. They get like a brown tint on then all the time.
 
Heres a better pic of mom, and one of dad, although these pics are kind of old and from my phone. Sorry about the quality.

ForumRunner_20120621_194517.jpg



ForumRunner_20120621_194447.jpg
 
Yeah, i dont care for the fake plants, and they seem to destroy most live ones so they just dont have plants in their tanks. Java fern seems to do ok though
 
Water changes are therapeutic to me. Crazy obsession to do at least a 10% every other day. I do have a bp, Oscar and Dempsey together in a 55 so it's kind of a requirement to keep those water changes up to par.
 
Back
Top Bottom