Help with Jack Dempsey

[joycerino]

thanks!
I had Mbunas before and they always ate from the top. I'm new to the neotropical cichlids.
what type of sinking pellets do you recommend?

 

[liv2padl]

i use hikari, new life spectrum, tetra jumbo min, krill .. to name a few.

 

[aardvark1]

"Jack", my JD must be different!

Roams around the tank all day, will stay in one spot and watch me (wierd to look up from my Lazeboy which is 18" from the tank and see him just staring at me!)

Food is no problem! I drop 5-6 Tetracichlid sticks in at the top and if I don't watch my fingers they are gone! Food just disapears! I pick the pond snails out of my community tank and drop them in Jacks tank; only time they get more than 3 inches below the surface is when he's on the other side of the tank...

 

[PhillyIn06]

Yeah..I just got a JD the other day and he was really timid at first and is slowly coming around, and I had the same problem at first, but he would wait for the pellets to sink to eat them. I think he has been too nervouse to go too far from the bottom and other than that probably cant even see the food. Ill put flakes in and he waits for the filter to push them underwater and he gets them that way. Ill be purchasing sinkers tomorrow to eliminate this problem.

 

[slowlyburn]

Mine will only eat at night with the lights off and the blacklight on. He is a weird fish.. Hides ALL DAY. Only swims at night...

 

[fish_freak]

My JD, Jag, Convict, and Salvini all eat off the top of my 90 gallon. My bolivian rams on the other hand wont even look at the top of the tank they wait for it to sink. I think a lot if it has to do with the personality's of the fish.

 

[rmcder]

Maybe it has to do with their size when you get them. My ebjd will actually grab onto the tip of my finger as if he's trying to swallow it! The only fish I have that is hesitant about feeding at the top is my nic. Everyone else will come up readily for food - ebjd, gt, clown loaches, firemouth, hrp.

 

[DeRo316]

I just think they are staying near the bottom cause its a 3ft deep hex tank. They dont have much room to go back and forth and they prefer not to go up and down. I had an oscar in my 55 that ate pellets from the top all the time, I sold him to a co-worker that had a 75 hex for him to live in alone and now he stays near the bottom/middle.