jack dempsey expert needed

raift

??
Oct 7, 2005
194
0
0
53
new mexico
my baby jack/jill is very blue at times but only about two inches. i belive it is female but not sure. can you tell at a young age what color they will be at an older age? any knowledge on jacks would be appreciated like traits and behaviours thank you in advance
 
When I chose my JD he was a very dark 2-3 inch juvi who DOMINATED the store tank. Now he's 8 inches, still dark, but has mellowed considerably. I have dark substrate which brings on more/darker coloration. I'd say behavior will probably change based on what's in the tank with it, other JD's will probably bring out more aggression than some other species. Mine has been with breeding severums, green terrors, and now a P. friedrichsthalii over the last couple years. Changing tankmates may have cooled mine down a bit.
 
right now my jack is in a 55 gallon with a betta only i havent figured out what i want to put in with him yet i know the betta wont last long it seams pretty stupid and chases the jack once in awhile then finds out it shouldnt. i when i saw my jack at the store i knew i wanted it it was the most dominate in the tank and active my jack seams very happy in the tank alone and i wonder if i can get away with basicly leaving it alone except for a cleaning crew. i hope my jack does turn blue so when i see flourecent blue scales i get excited you said something about gravel and whatnot. so i can determine what color my jack will be? thanks for the info
 
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now im disapointed. i bought it at walmart misslabled as a oscar but was hoping if it was mislabled like that that it might be blue as it got older not that color matters i think they are cool fish anyways.
 
If you have a JD it will get more color as it grows. Females have more color around their gills. Males have it over most of their body. Juv to me look more like females because they seem to only have it around their gills. It's hard to sex Juvs. I don't know what your fish looks like but it might still be a JD
 
thats why i asume its a female because of the colors around the gills i know its a jack dempsey for sure and thank you for the comment
 
Most fish will get brighter and more vibrant colors as they mature. The Jack is a cool fish because when it does mature it can go from a deep puple with lots of green and blue spots all over to a very light almost pale color in a second... Mine does it when he gets scared(like water changes)or when he feels threatened... cool fish though
 
i have to agree about jack being cool hes/shes the most active in the tank and know its his/her tank i do have a stupid betta in with him/her at the momnet but sometimes its a small snack as its a small jack. ive never seen a fish as stupid as a betta. tries to intmidate the jack but every time loses fins for the most part the jack leaves the betta alone until the betta starts they are both in a 55 gallon so i figure it should be big enough for the jack i dont realy want any other fish in there except for the jack to play with.
 
raift said:
i have to agree about jack being cool hes/shes the most active in the tank and know its his/her tank i do have a stupid betta in with him/her at the momnet but sometimes its a small snack as its a small jack. ive never seen a fish as stupid as a betta. tries to intmidate the jack but every time loses fins for the most part the jack leaves the betta alone until the betta starts they are both in a 55 gallon so i figure it should be big enough for the jack i dont realy want any other fish in there except for the jack to play with.

I don't think the betta finds it a lot of fun.
 
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