View Full Version : Pics of blue jacks
Cypherman
07-17-2003, 2:30 PM
Yes, I am aware that those little community fish will be fish food sooner or later but I had to spice things up a bit; theyre so little and their tank's so big! :p
http://www.cichlidtank.com/uploads/photos/2950.jpg
Foraging among the rocks for New Life Spectrum...They seem to like the stuff a lot! :D
http://www.cichlidtank.com/uploads/photos/2951.jpg
Theyve had little problems with the normal jacks so far. I will see the occasional raised dorsal indicating tension but not so much as a true display. They forage freely with each other, although of course, they're all just babies...
http://www.cichlidtank.com/uploads/photos/2952.jpg
The left side of my 75. I thik it's aquascaped quite nicely, except for that bunch of Anubias that I've given up on rooting stuck in my Crypt. wendti lol. Those hygros must not be getting enough light since they shed all their lower leaves. Figures even after I pay $100 for a new light strip :mad:
http://www.cichlidtank.com/uploads/photos/2953.jpg
Tell me what you think!
Beautiful Jacks. Now you have made me made the decision...Blue Dempsey for my tank...hehe. Maybe I will get 2 of them. So get bigger...so that my standard jack will not bully them :D
FishNMusic
07-17-2003, 3:17 PM
Those Jacks Are Way Beyond great, and I have been looking at Jacks for awhile now and blues just over two months. But everywhere I go there over 60 dollars and I checked out that website and the fish are a third of the price + free shipping. You probably just inspired me to purchase the fish from that website. I just Have one question did you get to pick your gender or did automatically decided for you or whas it an ordinarry trio of male, female, & feamale?
Cypherman
07-17-2003, 3:25 PM
Be warned: The site TECHNICALLY has *FREE* shipping; the guy just doesnt charge you for shipping, the shipper (Airborne Express) does lol. Its not too expensive though (20-40 bucks, they're supposed to send me the bill in a few weeks or so) for next day delivery to your door. Hope I didnt bash any hopes.
As for the gender, I talked with the seller myself over the phone and he hand-picked two males and one female for me (the dorsal trailer is folded back on the one male in the middle of the third pic)
FishNMusic
07-17-2003, 3:29 PM
Would You Say that these Jacks Are Great Or What? Also Would You buy from this Guy Again?
FishNMusic
07-17-2003, 3:32 PM
Is there Anyway to figure out how much Airborn Express Will Charge You ahead of time Or no?
Cypherman
07-17-2003, 3:54 PM
I would say they are great. The males are much darker than the pics suggest, with forest green and silver highlights over the cobalt blue. I think the silver body color is from a lack of variety in their diet however. Pedro was sayin he gives em blackworms, but from what I hear thats not too nutritious a food. I tossed in a cube of frozen beefheart and they stuffed themselves silly just now lol. I would definitely buy from this guy again. And as for Airborne express, there's really no way to tell. He was saying it costs about 40 bucks to ship from his place in NJ to CA, so when I find out how much it was from NJ to NY I'll get back to you.
DarthV
07-17-2003, 5:17 PM
Arggg... anyone know of any canadian distributors for these fish ????
Originally posted by DarthV
Arggg... anyone know of any canadian distributors for these fish ????
You want one too, huh?
DarthV
07-17-2003, 5:39 PM
I've wanted one since I first saw a pic back in Feb or so ;) Unfortunately bringing in fish across the border costs too much for the fast shipping and the fish & wildlife paperwork :(
Originally posted by DarthV
I've wanted one since I first saw a pic back in Feb or so ;) Unfortunately bringing in fish across the border costs too much for the fast shipping and the fish & wildlife paperwork :(
That suck to need all that paperwork just to get a fish. :(
Cypherman
07-17-2003, 5:55 PM
They keep worrying me lol. At first it was just the one male, then the other goes to hide behind the rock for a few minutes and darkens as if stressed. But then I turn back around and theyre back acting as normal...Then they alternate back and forth....This is really driving me nuts!
ScottoMacD
07-17-2003, 6:31 PM
Originally posted by DarthV
Arggg... anyone know of any canadian distributors for these fish ????
I've got six. That are almost ready to breed. The biggest male is at 5 inches now.
They are true blues from the original breeder in South America.
I got them through a buddy. The breeder has told my friend that I should be able to breed them true with no problems.
If that doesn't work however I have 3 females and 3 males as well as my regular JD's that I will start to cross breed (or at least attempt to).
Give me six months or so. If anymore show up around here from the importer I will drop you a PM and we can work out how I can get you a couple. The last batch of 200 went in a week and half though. We will have to be quick. If mine end up breeding I will gladly send you one.
FishNMusic
07-17-2003, 6:36 PM
ScottoMAcD,
You said your Male is five inches long how long and how old is he?
And What do you feed him?
ScottoMacD
07-17-2003, 6:55 PM
I got them all when they were 2 inches in ......UMMMMM I think it was march??? Somebody please correct me? I posted the pictures of them when I got them.
The biggest dominant male is 5 inches the smallest female is 3.5 inches the rest are in between. They get feed allot ( I mean ALLOT) of frozen food as well as freeze dried plankton. I also give them Ocean Nutrition's Omni Flake.
They are all very active and quite bold. They come up to the glass and are very personable. Great fish. Much better than my first batch of Veil finned ones that cost me a fortune and died in 2 months. The seller makes all the difference. If I couldn't get them off of my buddy the only other person that I would buy them from is Jeff Rapps, because of his Amazing track record when it comes to ALL his fish.
DarthV One more thing. If you are looking for cichlids. Try here: http://fishopolis.ca/
The owners name is Joe and he is a very nice fellow that probably will be able to help you get what you want. He is based out of Ontario so his prices are reasonable.
DarthV
07-17-2003, 7:13 PM
Sweet. Only problem with fishopolis is that he doesn't ship. Definitely keep me in mind if you see more blues available... wonder how much shipping would be from you to me... I'm in Fredericton, NB.
ScottoMacD
07-17-2003, 8:41 PM
Originally posted by DarthV
Sweet. Only problem with fishopolis is that he doesn't ship. Definitely keep me in mind if you see more blues available... wonder how much shipping would be from you to me... I'm in Fredericton, NB.
Darth:
Email Joe at Fishopolis. He is a really nice guy. I'm sure that if you talk to him he would be willing to work something out.]
Shipping from me to you in NB wouldn't be that much. Let's wait and see. If all goes well we can work something out.
Beautiful!! I'll have to see if my bro can get some!!
Thanks for the pics!
stoopid
07-18-2003, 3:07 PM
Originally posted by Lila Boffins
Beautiful!! I'll have to see if my bro can get some!!
Thanks for the pics!
Ditto, what size tank is recommended for a pair of males (not interested in breeding them) ??
Would a 30g do?
Originally posted by stoopid
Ditto, what size tank is recommended for a pair of males (not interested in breeding them) ??
Would a 30g do?
No 30g is too small. Blue Dempsey gets as big as the standard JD, which is about 10".
Unless you plan to upgrade the tank when they get big.
stoopid
07-18-2003, 3:15 PM
Originally posted by peifc
No 30g is too small. Blue Dempsey gets as big as the standard JD, which is about 10".
Unless you plan to upgrade the tank when they get big.
Oh, okay... I'm getting itchy, thinking of stopping at the LFS this evening...
someone needs to talk this newb out of it :rolleyes:
:p
Local LFS will probably don't have them at all. It is sorta hard to find Blue Dempsey (have seen one at all around my area too). If you really want them...should get them online. I'm waiting for my reply from Jeff Rapps on the total. I ordered couple from him.
ScottoMacD
07-18-2003, 3:23 PM
Originally posted by peifc
Blue Dempsey gets as big as the standard JD, which is about 10".
Unless you plan to upgrade the tank when they get big.
I respectfully disagree. Actually JD's very very rarely ever get over 8 inches and that is even streching it a bit.
As for the blue dempsey's they Do Not get nearly as big as regular JD's. Your normal blue will get the size of an average female JD. 5.5 to 6 inches. That is assuming that you get a fish from a bumper brood from parents that haven't been cross bred too many times.
2 blue males would work in a 45 or 50 gallon tank. You are however risking territorrial conflicts with the chance of the dominant male killing the other male. Not exactly a good idea for such an expensive fish.
Why not go with 2 females. Less chance of aggression and you could get away with a smaller tank (40 gallons) because they are going to be significantly smaller, and much less hostile towards each other.
Fine, 10" for Blue Dempsey is exaggerating a bit. 30g will be a problem holding 2 big fish....even for 6" or 7" fish.
I checked www.aquamojo.com. He mentioned that standard JD gets to 8-12". Unless he is lying...which I doubt with his experience.
DarthV
07-18-2003, 5:39 PM
A regular JD will take probably 2-3 years to get to full size... I don't think I've read about any tank bred JDs that have gotten past 10".
Cypherman
07-18-2003, 5:45 PM
A 30 gal. would last you some time....About till they reach 6 inches, so about a year, I'm guessing.
Also, I thought I'd mention that they're hardly wimpy at all. In fact they're more aggressive than the standards I have. The female will give short chase to the others, and the males will display and refuse to back down when pressured by my male standard. No damage is done on either side however. Love these guys :wub:
stoopid
08-04-2003, 10:13 AM
Well, settled for a 30g and an ahli to go with my compressiceps (calvus)... once the new tank's fully cycled I'll get some cat fish and another semi-aggressive.
Got snails now too, they keep it tidy (but I'm leary of over population, hoping the calvus will eat enough of them to balance things out). Using my old 10g as a snail and guppie feeder tank.
Looking into the dempsies, they're too expensive, hard to find, and require a 50+g tank, which costs twice the 30g.
Cypherman
08-15-2003, 8:54 PM
I lost my lesser male yesterday, unfortunately. He started hiding more and more often, and finally i found him dead. My guess was he was being bullied by my other male blue, which is the dominant fish in the tank, but I didnt see a single scratch on him; he just turned up dead. I hope I'm not about to experience the mysterious "curse" that seems to befall blue jacks...My other male and female seem fine. The female hasnt grown a lick, but I think my other mle has grown a tad. The normal jacks have definitely gotten a mite bigger tho.
Mine has grown a bit. The male was 2.25" when I got him. Now he is 2.5" a month later. He eats a lot, but I think they are just slow on growing. The female has grown too. The female is about 2". Now she is 2.25".
At the beginning, the female constantly picked on my male. Now they are best buddies. They eat, sleep, and swim together. In fact, as I type right now, both of them sleeping on top of the log.
My BDs are living with my Blood Parrots and Severums right now. This is a more peaceful tank than the other tank I have. Over here, they can eat their full and no need to worry about hidding and being chased by the Standard JD.
As for my Standard JD, she has grown to 3" within 2 months. I got her when she was only an inch big.