As some of you know, Ive had my jack dempsey for about 12 months. It was about 1.5 inches when I got it so Im guessing its about 14 or 15 months old. It will only eat a few kinds of food (wardley tropical flakes, gammarus, and sometimes freeze dried bloodworms and snails), I could never get it to eat pellets of frozen foods or anything like that. Around christmas when my dad died I didnt feel like doing much and didnt do a water change for about a month. I feel bad when I look at the fish because I feel it might have had a better life if someone else would have bought it. I keep thinking my dempsey is small for its age, its almost 7 inches. How big is the average dempsey of this age?
What do you think?
- Thread starter ROLLIN
- Start date
I got mine about a year ago and its about five inches. They are real slow growers. I always fear I have stunted mine too.
The average aquarium raised JD will get anywhere between 6 to 8.5 inches for a male. Smaller for a female.
My big male is 7.5 inches and people say he is quite big.
They are quite tough fish, and even though you may have not put 100% into the tank I'm sure that the fish has no ill effects from it. I wouldn't worry about it. If you had done something bad then I'm possitive that you would have seen the visuale effects friom it.
My big male is 7.5 inches and people say he is quite big.
They are quite tough fish, and even though you may have not put 100% into the tank I'm sure that the fish has no ill effects from it. I wouldn't worry about it. If you had done something bad then I'm possitive that you would have seen the visuale effects friom it.
What do you feed yours?
The main thing I was worried about was not doing a water change for a month. The tank sure gets 100% now, I do water changes every other day. My mother commented the other day on how big it is getting, I guess I dont notice because I see it every day, she hardly ever does. I dont know why but I expect an inch of growth a month from my dempsey, just like an oscar, red devil, etc. I know they grow slower but I still always expect it to grow fast. Scotto, you mentioned the maximum size, but what is the average size for a dempsey this age, 14 - 15 months.
I feed: marineland formula one and two flake, marineland formula two frozen, marineland cichlid flake, spiruina frozen, bloodworms, mysis and krill frozen, live earthworms and ghost shrimp, raw shrimp, romaine lettuce, zucchini, peas, spinach, spirulina pellets, cichlid gold pellets, hikari pellets, omega one pellets. All flake and pellets are dusted with pure spirulina powder.
I think they are just slow growers. I do a forty to fifty percent water change a week. I was reading somewhere that JD's got their reputation because when they were first imported the biggest fish going where sword tails. Well I guess I would consider a JD a pretty mean SOB compared to a swordtail. They are really just shy not very big fish with a reputation that was earned sometime around my grandfathers 25th birthday.
Yours sounds about on target. If it is a female then she's big. I have a second 2 year old female that I bought as a juvenile but never ended up breeding. She's about 4.5 - 5 inches right now.
As for feeding. I use the following.
Ocean Nutrition Cichlid Omni Flake.
I can't tell enough people about this stuff. It IS without a doubt the best flake on the market. IMO. I tried just about every other brand before no luck. Everyone I have sent some to has agreed. The fish even the most finicky eaters eat this stuff. It can be hard to find but trust ne it really is worth it. Geez. Listen to me. I sound like I work for them.
Rollin: PM me and I will send you some to try on your JD
I also use Zeiglers staple flake. (good food)
For pellets I rotate everyday between the following
HBH - south american cichlid color pellets (they go crazy for this stuff)
Tetra - cichlid sticks
OSI - floating cichlid pellets
I was using Hikari pellets for the longest time but my buddy's company (he is the supplier for almost all the independant stores here in Quebec and eastern Ontario) who I buy my food off of doesn't have a working agreement with Hikari anymore. I absolutely refuse to pay $20 + taxes for a bag of pellets when I was paying 6$ wholesale. So I change brands. The fish don't seem to care.
I also treat all the fish 3 times a week with the following frozen food. In a random rotation.
Plankton
Krill
Bloodworm
Glassworm
Gramrus
Brine shrimp
Homemade beef heart (my buddy and I make it and sell it locally.)
Mysis
Remember that the maximal sizes given for most of the Cichlids are not the averages (unless you're consulting Wal-Mart, and those are the averages of stunted adults...), so your fish may never attain those sizes. Dempseys are small compared to most of the other so-called large cichlids, and are often shuffled off to a medium size class if the author has enough foresight to create such a third grouping. I would say that your Dempsey seems to be fine in terms of growth and, if he isn't sick, he's weathered the storm quite admirably.
Originally posted by ScottoMacD
Yours sounds about on target. If it is a female then she's big. I have a second 2 year old female that I bought as a juvenile but never ended up breeding. She's about 4.5 - 5 inches right now.
As for feeding. I use the following.
Ocean Nutrition Cichlid Omni Flake.
I can't tell enough people about this stuff. It IS without a doubt the best flake on the market. IMO. I tried just about every other brand before no luck. Everyone I have sent some to has agreed. The fish even the most finicky eaters eat this stuff. It can be hard to find but trust ne it really is worth it. Geez. Listen to me. I sound like I work for them.
Rollin: PM me and I will send you some to try on your JD
I also use Zeiglers staple flake. (good food)
For pellets I rotate everyday between the following
HBH - south american cichlid color pellets (they go crazy for this stuff)
Tetra - cichlid sticks
OSI - floating cichlid pellets
I was using Hikari pellets for the longest time but my buddy's company (he is the supplier for almost all the independant stores here in Quebec and eastern Ontario) who I buy my food off of doesn't have a working agreement with Hikari anymore. I absolutely refuse to pay $20 + taxes for a bag of pellets when I was paying 6$ wholesale. So I change brands. The fish don't seem to care.
I also treat all the fish 3 times a week with the following frozen food. In a random rotation.
Plankton
Krill
Bloodworm
Glassworm
Gramrus
Brine shrimp
Homemade beef heart (my buddy and I make it and sell it locally.)
Mysis
To be honest Im not sure whether its male or female. It has spots/splotches on the whole gill plate, its body is mainly a light brown/tan color with black markings when it is near light colored things, and dark brown with black markings when it is near dark colored things, but judging by its fins I dont know what to think, it seems like it could be male or female, but I think the fish is female. Thanks for the offer on the flake food, Im sending you a pm. It must cost you a fortune with the variety of food you feed your fish.
*Edited to add: I used to think only females has spots on the whole gill plate, but I recently heard that occasionaly males do too. Hopefully I can borrow a digicam soon and put some pictures on here, and let you guys decide what it is.
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