Jack dempsey

[Litos]

I have about a 4inch jack Dempsey and noticed about 3 weeks ago a major change in his behavior..... He hides all day, I don't think he is eating and if he is, it's very little.... He moves around the tank when I turn the light out.... Prior to this he would eat EVERYTHING and a lot of it.... He would be in your face at the front of the tank ready to eat... Now I'm lucky to see him come out of hiding.... There is a sucker in the tank with him... The water levels are good and it's a 40 gallon.,, what is his deal?????

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

Can you post exact parameters?

Any big changes lately? Change in diet, light schedule, amount of traffic around the tank?

Also, cichlids are pretty common to go through changes in mood as they grow. It's all leading up to them becoming an aggressive predator type.

 

[Litos]

Can you post exact parameters?

Any big changes lately? Change in diet, light schedule, amount of traffic around the tank?

Also, cichlids are pretty common to go through changes in mood as they grow. It's all leading up to them becoming an aggressive predator type.

No change in diet except he won't eat....light is on 8-10 hrs a day and I've started to cover the tank at night cause I'm awake all hours of the night... It's usually just me around the tank sometimes friends and family..... Right before this started happening he did get spooked as I walked in the room and he ran into the tank a couple of times so hard I could hear it... It's a bowed tank like 42 gal or something

 

[Aski247]

My experience with JD's are they are skittish fish. They tend to hide in their area/cave until feeding time. Him not eating or not eating as much is not worth worrying about yet.

What are you feeding him?
How much?

A change in diet ie. pellets to blood worms or crickets or shrimp. May help. My JD's have always LOVED live crickets.

 

[Litos]

I usually give him live crickets, ghost shrimp, frozen blood worms, beef heart, brine shrimp, live guppies.... I try to change it up... I used to feed him twice a day.... Before would eat 6 shrimp at a time or two cubes of the blood worms or brine shrimp.... I put two guppies in there a couple of weeks ago and he never touched them

 

[Aski247]

I would recommend against all that live/frozen.

Really pellets should be the staple of his diet. NLS, or hakari are great pellet food. Frozen/live are better if used as snacks or treats every once in a while (once or twice a week for frozen) (once a month for live feeders) Crickets are not that bad. But feeder/guppy fish are not that healthy.

Trust as he gains size there are a lot of cool live things you can feed him. Crayfish,feeders,tadpoles,bugs. The hard part is getting him to that size. And pellet food will surely help him get there and healthy.

 

[Litos]

When he was eating, it got to the point where he wouldn't touch the pellets.... But I will take the advice and only put pellets in and see how it goes

 

[Aski247]

Yeah that's what I would try. A few 3-4 pellets at a time. He will not allow himself to starve. It might take a while for him to eat. I would also skip all frozen for the week. Just so he will relate the pellet to his food source again.

 

[kenbob]

Yeah that's what I would try. A few 3-4 pellets at a time. He will not allow himself to starve. It might take a while for him to eat. I would also skip all frozen for the week. Just so he will relate the pellet to his food source again.

I completely agree.

 

[Litos]

Thanks for it help... I will keep what u said in mind... Hopefully he gets his spirit back

 

[jetajockey]

I agree with the advice given. It took me a few weeks to get my EBJD converted over to pellets, but it's well worth it. Have you noticed stringy poo or anything?

 

[Litos]

One more thing.... How long can he last without eating?

 

[jetajockey]

At least a week.

 

[Megacichlid]

I have a male jaguar that goes on a hunger strike once in a while,but eventually he eats whats on the menu,i wouldnt get too worried,like the others said
Go pelletts

 

[Litos]

At least a week.

It's been around 3 weeks.... I don't know what his deal is