Electric blue jack dempseys?

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poopybark

Registered Member
Jan 23, 2011
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hello! im thinking about getting two EBJDs for my thirty gallon tank. I don't know all that much about them though so i figured i would be safe and come here for questions.
here i go:)
1. i heard that they are one of the least aggressive and can even be kept with neons. is this true?
2. what are the ideal water parameters?
3. are they difficult to to take care of? i have heard both that they are easy and difficult.
4. what is the ideal diet?

thanks:)
 

user_name

Senior_Member
May 23, 2010
3,169
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Real Name
Cam
hello! im thinking about getting two EBJDs for my thirty gallon tank. I don't know all that much about them though so i figured i would be safe and come here for questions.
here i go:)
1. i heard that they are one of the least aggressive and can even be kept with neons. is this true?
2. what are the ideal water parameters?
3. are they difficult to to take care of? i have heard both that they are easy and difficult.
4. what is the ideal diet?

thanks:)
Dempseys get too big for a 30 gallon. You could do 2 electric blues in a 55, but be aware of the fact that most Electric Blue Jack Dempseys don't live past 3" and ussually unhealthy.

1. It depends on the actual fish, you'll have the best luck keeping dempseys with similarly size fish. Neons will be eaten when the JD's get bigger.

2. Softer water, and I'm not sure about temp. Mine was kept around 76-78.

3. They aren't if you provide a large enough tank and proper filtration. They will have a lot of health problems in a small tank, but a 55 for two should be fine. (Put a massive filter on it though, they are crap machines)

4. I feed mine Omega chiclid flakes, and they will take pellets too. I'm not sure about their ideal diet though...
 

Lab_Rat

Merry Christmas!
Dec 3, 2009
2,535
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Deep South
30g is way too small for one EBJD, much less two.

They are not as aggressive as a regular JD, but unless you don't like neons, I wouldn't keep them together. I kept mine with other CA/SA mild mannered cichlids, and used rosy barbs as dithers (in a 75g).

CA cichlids like neutral-alkaline hard water. They need pristine conditions

Ridiculously difficult to grow out past 3-4". I've tried several times and for now I am done with trying. Next time I will give the EBJD it's own tank with a UV sterilizer because they seem to get parasites from out of nowhere.

Same diet most CA cichlids should have. High quality pellet staple, with occasional bloodworms, PE mysis, glass worms, brine shrimp, etc. Occasionally I fed red wigglers or ghost shrimp (though my parasite probs may have come from there, but none of my other fish had signs of parasites). I also fed garlic heavy food.


I get the feeling you're new to cichlids. I would strongly encourage you not to try EBJDs until you have more experience under your belt and a big enough tank to house them in. Instead, bolivian rams or kribs could be a good choice. A convict would also work (more aggression though).
 

Lab_Rat

Merry Christmas!
Dec 3, 2009
2,535
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0
Deep South
Dempseys get too big for a 30 gallon. You could do 2 electric blues in a 55, but be aware of the fact that most Electric Blue Jack Dempseys don't live past 3" and ussually unhealthy.

1. It depends on the actual fish, you'll have the best luck keeping dempseys with similarly size fish. Neons will be eaten when the JD's get bigger.

2. Softer water, and I'm not sure about temp. Mine was kept around 76-78.

3. They aren't if you provide a large enough tank and proper filtration. They will have a lot of health problems in a small tank, but a 55 for two should be fine. (Put a massive filter on it though, they are crap machines)

4. I feed mine Omega chiclid flakes, and they will take pellets too. I'm not sure about their ideal diet though...
Do you even own EBJDs? Softer water- that is just wrong. They are CA, not SA. Not difficult? :bs: Maybe if you don't care if they die after a couple months cuz you're bored or something. 55g for 2? Way too small. Might be ok for grow out, but adult size, no way. I've never seen you mention EBJD and seeing as you post about absolutely everything you have, I highly doubt you've ever kept one for a significant amount of time.
 

nano cichlids

Over ran with EBJD fry
Feb 10, 2008
1,625
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Clarkston MI
Real Name
Kyle
hello! im thinking about getting two EBJDs for my thirty gallon tank. I don't know all that much about them though so i figured i would be safe and come here for questions.
here i go:)
1. i heard that they are one of the least aggressive and can even be kept with neons. is this true?
2. what are the ideal water parameters?
3. are they difficult to to take care of? i have heard both that they are easy and difficult.
4. what is the ideal diet?

thanks:)
1. EBJD aren't that unaggresive I've had mine pin down feeder fish ment for an arowana. They can be pretty unaggresive but should not be kept with small tetra. Remember if it fits in a fishs mouth they'll eat it.
2. Warmer water, I keep mine at 85°F. Clean water. When I say clean I mean CLEAN I do daily water changes in holding tanks for young EBJD and my grow outs. If you see left over food at the bottom clean that tank! Keep it crystal clear. You may want to invest in a UV sterilizer.
3. Yes they are quite difficult to raise if kept in small tanks and bought at a small size. You should have some knowledge on raising fry IMO before purchasing one, you'll most likely only find small 1.5 under ones at the LFS. Knowing how to care for small fish and feeding them properly will give you a great advantage. Another thing, BUY FROM A BEEDER. Might not always be possible but trust me it's a lot safer than buying from the LFS.
4. Diet needs to included, amino acids, protein, and calcium. Now a lot of fish diets have this it's the quality. I suggest feeding freeze dried river shrimp, frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp, freeze dried brine Shrimp, high protein cichlid pellets (I use Xtreme) and the night crawler every few months or so.

Now you plan on putting this into a 30 gallon, this will work for awhile but only as a grow out. You can not house the EBJD in there for life, they do grow slow and smaller quarters does give you a better chance to observe them. If you do this keep a single EBJD in the tank until I reaches about 4in the move to a 55 or larger.

Hope this helps
 

nano cichlids

Over ran with EBJD fry
Feb 10, 2008
1,625
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Clarkston MI
Real Name
Kyle
Do you even own EBJDs? Softer water- that is just wrong. They are CA, not SA. Not difficult? :bs: Maybe if you don't care if they die after a couple months cuz you're bored or something. 55g for 2? Way too small. Might be ok for grow out, but adult size, no way. I've never seen you mention EBJD and seeing as you post about absolutely everything you have, I highly doubt you've ever kept one for a significant amount of time.
Lab no need to snap like that my friend. Remember were all here to provide help and information in a peaceful matter. Let's not turn into MFKers here and keep AC family and newbie friendly. :headbang2:
 

Lab_Rat

Merry Christmas!
Dec 3, 2009
2,535
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Deep South
Lab no need to snap like that my friend. Remember were all here to provide help and information in a peaceful matter. Let's not turn into MFKers here and keep AC family and newbie friendly. :headbang2:
Yes, but I feel it is extremely important to provide the proper information. Acting like you've had success keeping a particular type of fish when indeed that is not true is not cool, especially when the info given is very wrong. But that is just my viewpoint. :thumbsup:
 

jetajockey

AC Members
Apr 9, 2010
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florida panhandle
Real Name
David
Dempseys get too big for a 30 gallon. You could do 2 electric blues in a 55, but be aware of the fact that most Electric Blue Jack Dempseys don't live past 3" and ussually unhealthy.

1. It depends on the actual fish, you'll have the best luck keeping dempseys with similarly size fish. Neons will be eaten when the JD's get bigger.

2. Softer water, and I'm not sure about temp. Mine was kept around 76-78.

3. They aren't if you provide a large enough tank and proper filtration. They will have a lot of health problems in a small tank, but a 55 for two should be fine. (Put a massive filter on it though, they are crap machines)

4. I feed mine Omega chiclid flakes, and they will take pellets too. I'm not sure about their ideal diet though...
Seriously?
Do you keep EBJDs? They can be touchy but given proper care and treatment can be just fine. I wouldn't dare venture to say that most don't make it past 3" and are usually unhealthy.

1. I agree, no neons, unless they are feeders.

2. They are fine in neutral water. The temp should be 80-82ish for best results. It actually makes a huge difference in their behavior and level of activity versus mid 70s water, from what I've seen.

3. They aren't crap machines any more than any other fish their size. A 55 would work, but it wouldn't really be ideal by any means. A 75 is a better idea, these size cichlids really deserve a wider footprint tank imo.


4. Any high quality staple food will work. I prefer to use NLS thera+a since it has garlic in it. I would avoid feeding flakes to larger fish only because there's not much to them, compare the density of a handful of flakes to a handful of pellets.
 

user_name

Senior_Member
May 23, 2010
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Real Name
Cam
Do you even own EBJDs? Softer water- that is just wrong. They are CA, not SA. Not difficult? :bs: Maybe if you don't care if they die after a couple months cuz you're bored or something. 55g for 2? Way too small. Might be ok for grow out, but adult size, no way. I've never seen you mention EBJD and seeing as you post about absolutely everything you have, I highly doubt you've ever kept one for a significant amount of time.

I've never owned EBJD's, looking back I don't really know what I was talking about. I DID own a JD when I was younger, although it wasn't for very long (year or two) and I didn't know much about it. Sorry for the confusion, I guess I shouldn't try to help out if I'm not 100% sure.
 

user_name

Senior_Member
May 23, 2010
3,169
0
36
Mass
Real Name
Cam
Yes, but I feel it is extremely important to provide the proper information. Acting like you've had success keeping a particular type of fish when indeed that is not true is not cool, especially when the info given is very wrong. But that is just my viewpoint. :thumbsup:
All I said was that I used to feed mine the omega flakes, I never acted all high and mighty behind my computer because doing something like that is just awful.
 
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