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Raising Electric Blue Jack Dempseys

12K views 19 replies 5 participants last post by  paul83 
#1 ·
Looking for any advice on successfully raising EBJDs. I have 3 currently around 3cm (1 1/4"). Have them in my little quarantine tank with daily water changes. Really want them to make it considering how $$$ they are not to mention how stunning they become. Got plenty advice from the breeder but you can never have enough. Advice please :):):):)
 
#2 ·
I used too have 2 but only have 1 now. Because their cichlids, their pretty hardy but I made the mistake to put them with regular Jack Dempseys and lost the one and was able to get the other one out in time. I feed mine live brine shrimp and bloodworms and doesn't seem to like pellets nearly as much. Mines almost 5 inches. I'd love to see some pictures of yours
 
#5 ·
I have an electric blue dempsey approx two years old. He was approx two inches long and is now close to seven inches.
Never could interest him in pellets but is fond of chopped frozen krill,shrimp,bloodworms,earthworms (favorite) along with freezedried flukers crickets found in reptile section Petco,and tetra color bits.
He shares a 75 gal tank filtered with two emperor 400,s by Marineland and aquaclear 802 powerhead attached to quick filter with three clown loaches and three Yoyo loaches.When he was small, I performed twice weekly water changes and fed him three times a day.
Now he gets once a day feedings along with the loaches and once a week 50 percent water change.
 
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#8 ·
Only had them a little over 2 days. Fed them baby brine shrimp, bloodworms and cichlid flakes. Ph is 7.4 same as breeder. Had troubles keeping temperature down as it is so hot here. Breeder had them at 25C and I am struggling to keep temp under 30C. At work atm, hopefully the 2 remaining ones are still ok.
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#9 ·
Only had them a little over 2 days. Fed them baby brine shrimp, bloodworms and cichlid flakes. Ph is 7.4 same as breeder. Had troubles keeping temperature down as it is so hot here. Breeder had them at 25C and I am struggling to keep temp under 30C. At work atm, hopefully the 2 remaining ones are still ok.
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By most accounts ,not a good survival rate for the Electric blue dempsey's at two inches or smaller.
Would use drip acclimation for any others you may try and with temps you posted,,might consider lowering water level to cretae water fall effect from the filter which will help with oxygen which is lower at warmer temps in the aquarium.
 
#11 ·
So sorry to hear of your fish loss! I need to ask since I don't see it in your posts, what are your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels? How long has it been running, ie cycle and well established or did you make changes to cause a mini cycle. We are notorious as fish owners for cleaning our tanks and saying ooooh that looks nice now, and running off to the LFS to get more fish, forgetting that we just may have caused chaos. Did anything like that happen? Clean your filter? change the substrate?
Also did you rest the bag for min 45 minutes to an hour, and drbble in "little drinks" of tank water to acclimate them to the different PH of your tank's water? You should double the bag's volume over the 45 min, by slowly adding tank water...
Temp shock happens very fast, within hours, but ph shock happens over the next day or two. Ammonia makes them clamp their fins tight to their bodies.
Please let us know your perameters and if you don't have a liquid test kit, please try to get one, not the strips as they are not reliable. Good luck.
 
#12 ·
So sorry to hear of your fish loss! I need to ask since I don't see it in your posts, what are your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels? How long has it been running, ie cycle and well established or did you make changes to cause a mini cycle. We are notorious as fish owners for cleaning our tanks and saying ooooh that looks nice now, and running off to the LFS to get more fish, forgetting that we just may have caused chaos. Did anything like that happen? Clean your filter? change the substrate?
Also did you rest the bag for min 45 minutes to an hour, and drbble in "little drinks" of tank water to acclimate them to the different PH of your tank's water? You should double the bag's volume over the 45 min, by slowly adding tank water...
Temp shock happens very fast, within hours, but ph shock happens over the next day or two. Ammonia makes them clamp their fins tight to their bodies.
Please let us know your perameters and if you don't have a liquid test kit, please try to get one, not the strips as they are not reliable. Good luck.
Ammonia, nitrite & nitrate levels are all good. The tank is 7 months old. Has only 1 neon tetra as a tank mate. (Did not want to put my last little neon into my other tank where it would meet its end). My ph is the same as the breeder. Transferred fish to tank over 6 hours (as per breeders intructions) plenty of airation. As of yesterday I'm giving daily doses of Primafix and Melafix. Also I have a liquid test kit. I still hold my breath before looking at the tank every afternoon after work but my last EBJD seems to be doing well.
 
#14 ·
I took fish out of tank before adding ebjd's. Put ebjd's from bag into bucket with foregone adding water slowly over 6 hours from aquarium and tap water (tap water is same ph 7.4). The only things I can think of are I added too much water at a different temperature or I had some genetically weak ebjd's that were going to die anyway.
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#16 · (Edited)
Still would not discount the possibility that biological filter could handle the addition of one fish,but not three or four to a tank that only held one tetra previously.Not enough bacteria for the increase in numbers,size of fish,waste produced,and or food uneaten.Would be equivalent of starting a new tank(cycling) with too many fish for filter to process.
Six gallons is a bit small for quarantine and smaller volumes of water can go south more quickly than larger body of water.
 
#17 ·
1077 !! So you are saying that when we add a larger number of fish to even a well established tank, it causes an increase in poop = ammonia etc, and the existing good bacteria can't handle the load... which is why a small tank reacts very quickly to that load and you get death. Ahhh!! In a larger volume for example my 75G, I can add 5-6 and not loose anyone because of the volume of good bacteria already present. I still have to watch my numbers and do my water changes but it is far less trauma to the dynamics in the water. Of course all this depends on the type and size of fish I'm adding to even a 75G, 2 goldfish would reek havoc on even a larger tank. So adding 3 small to a 6 G would be hard on the load. (I'm going to get yelled at for saying this but... If these fish are coming from a KNOWN breeder, and not a store(!), he would have been better to have put the expensive fish right into his larger tank and risk other issues.) I know hind site is 20/20 but we need to understand what we do and the effects of those actions. Am I on the right track? Thx
Is this what you are saying 1077?
 
#18 ·
1077 !! So you are saying that when we add a larger number of fish to even a well established tank, it causes an increase in poop = ammonia etc, and the existing good bacteria can't handle the load... which is why a small tank reacts very quickly to that load and you get death. Ahhh!! In a larger volume for example my 75G, I can add 5-6 and not loose anyone because of the volume of good bacteria already present. I still have to watch my numbers and do my water changes but it is far less trauma to the dynamics in the water. Of course all this depends on the type and size of fish I'm adding to even a 75G, 2 goldfish would reek havoc on even a larger tank. So adding 3 small to a 6 G would be hard on the load. (I'm going to get yelled at for saying this but... If these fish are coming from a KNOWN breeder, and not a store(!), he would have been better to have put the expensive fish right into his larger tank and risk other issues.) I know hind site is 20/20 but we need to understand what we do and the effects of those actions. Am I on the right track? Thx
Is this what you are saying 1077?
Yes you are close enough. If my established 75 gal tank housed say five or six tetra's then biological filter would be sufficient for the waste created by those five or six fish.If
I were to suddenly add another dozen tetra's at once,then bacteria would have to scramble to catch up with the new addition of fish (ammonia).In larger tanks,,this may or may not cause sudden ammonia spike due to the dilution capabilities of larger volume of water. Daily water change would still be a good idea until the bacteria caught up due to possibility of ammonia or nitrite spike occurring between test's .
Another analogy would be ..take a drop of food coloring, and drop it into a glass of water,then take another drop and drop it into a five gallon bucket. If you consider the drop of food coloring and how quickly the water turns in the glass of water,then observe that the water does not change nearly as fast or as noticeable in larger bucket,, you then have an idea as to what ammonia levels also do in smaller body of water as opposed to larger volume.(if you consider the food coloring as ammonia).
Bacteria will only develop in proportion to numbers of fish,fishwaste,fish food ,available. Is always wise to add fish slowly ,one or two at a time with week in between new additions.
 
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