Jack dempsey behavior

[bennylax3]

I have a 2" dempsey who is acting a little strange. He swims form side to side alone the backwall. he likes to swim along edge usally but not this often. he has dont since i got home from work today. i did a 30% water change yesterday. all the water parameters are good. the temp is around 76. he looks visable fine. no fish have been added or taken away. it just seems strange.

[ScottoMacD]

Hi.

Just a few of questions.

What size is the tank?
Is the JD eating?
What are the tank mates?
How new to the tank is the fish?

Thanks.

[bennylax3]

20 GAL
he is eating
4 tiger barbs anf a pleco
he has been in this tank a week

[prerunnedyota]

a 20 gallon wont be big enough at all for him unless u plan on upgrading ur tank before he gets to big

[bennylax3]

around mid march i am getting a 65 to 50 gal

[ScottoMacD]

Originally posted by bennylax3
20 GAL
he is eating
4 tiger barbs anf a pleco
he has been in this tank a week

Ok so he is still new.

JD's can be very skidish at first. Is the tank in a high traffic area? Or do you have dogs or cats that may be bombing by the tank and spooking him?

There are a couple of things that you can do to help.

Does he have a small cave to hide in? If not make him one. It will help. He will come out when he gets more comfortable. Slowly he will be better off and out more and more.

You can also cut down on the lights for a week or so. A couple of hours a day at first. The increase it gradually as the days go by. Shouldn't really have it on more than 8 hours a day though.

If the tank is in a very bright room you can also try covering it with a towel and only take the towel off when the light is on. Don't need any house fires now...do we. :shake: :D

He should start to relax soon. Mine get in their moods where I won't see them for days and then other times they are out greeting me when I am in the room.

When my wife moved in wth her big Husky/shepard mix years back my male JD was so spooked by this big dog bombing around the room I didn't see him for a month. He was only use to seeing my little black cocker. Then all of a sudden there was this monster staring at him at tank level. YIKES! When he got use to seeing Bear the JD learned to ignore him and has been fine since.

[peifc]

:OT:

Hey, Scott, did your Blue Dempsey and Jack Dempsey spawn? Just curious.

[ScottoMacD]

Originally posted by peifc
:OT:

Hey, Scott, did your Blue Dempsey and Jack Dempsey spawn? Just curious.

Hey pefic. :)

So far I have had 3 nests from on set and 1 nest from the other set, but no fry yet.

I was just speaking to the breeder that I got them off of a couple of days ago. He was telling me that I am going about it the rightway. It turns out that roughly only 3% of the blue males are not sterile. So my female blues with the male regulars is the right direction to go.

I guess that my males are now just here for show. That's OK though.

He also mentioned that getting the fry to eat will be my biggest challenge. He said that eventually the eggs will hatch given enough time and nests between the two sets of parents. I should however not get discouraged if I only get a 5 to 10% survival rate from the fry because of the nutrition/eating issue.

So on I go. I figured that this would be a two year project when I started.

[peifc]

That's a lot of time consuming. I guess this is another reason Jeff Rapps didn't wanna hatch his own Blue Dempsey.

I wish you the best of luck. And I sure would love to hear that you got some fry out of them :D

[bennylax3]

i think the light had something to do with it. as soon as i turn it off he sems like it more. it is a 15 watt flouresent tube for a 20 gal. it is pretty bright is there any one that arent as bright or anthing i can do. the tigers barbs nip him every once in a while. i think i am getting a tank froma friend for them.

[ScottoMacD]

Originally posted by bennylax3
i think the light had something to do with it. as soon as i turn it off he sems like it more. it is a 15 watt flouresent tube for a 20 gal. it is pretty bright is there any one that arent as bright or anthing i can do. the tigers barbs nip him every once in a while. i think i am getting a tank froma friend for them.

I wouldn't worry about the light. Just increase the amount bit by bit and the JD will be fine.

As for those tigers. Boy are they in trouble when the JD finally realizes what kind of fish he is. :p

Tigers are fast but not that fast. ;) UMMM ... Live food lunch. ;)

We had a trade in big male JD (6 inches) at the store a couple of weeks back. He was or seemed very lazy so because of lack of space we put him in with a full tank of convicts.

Well let me tell you. Those convicts were picking at him and driving him nuts. Well one morning I showed up and all the convicts were swimming around the tank but not going near the JD. They were really giving him a wide berth. Then I saw why.

One got within 3 inches of the JD and SNAP! The convict was gone. He must have just gotten fed up and then happened to realize that they were just the right size...Bite size.

One customer happen to see the lunchen happen and bought him on the spot. It was boxing week sale. He got him for 75% off it came to $4.99. Great deal. :D

[Delco]

I have a few barbs in my tank with my JD and I don't think he even knows they're in there. He's too busy fighting with my Green Terror and Black shark. I also have 3 silver dollars and 4 Giant Danios as dither fish. Funny thing about this JD is that until very recently I hadn't seen him eat since I first got him 1 1/2 years ago. Now he's out a lot more aften and when he sees me he comes up to the front waiting for food. He also has finally stood up to my GT who would always chase him into hiding. He has ripped the GT's lip a bit on a couple occasions and it looks like he's gaining dominance in the tank. After the GT he only has the 14" Black shark to deal with.