Raising a EBJD and Oscar together? Growth rates, bad idea?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Once the Oscar gets some size I would definitely not keep the cories in there regardless of whether he seems to show interest. They have spines on their backs that can choke fish that try to eat them and make it impossible to spit up. And if it can fit in an Oscar's mouth, he is going to try to eat it.
 
lol im not sure if anyone here actually owns a ebjd. EBJDs growth rates are extremely slow. Especially comparing it to an oscar. your oscar will outgrow it because they have a better body in general. EBJDs are completely selectively bred. so they have pretty much a 110% chance of inbreeding. so defects will more than likely be possible. Oscars are rarely selectively bred unless long fin strain. I have 12 EBJDs growing for about 3 months now. I have an oscar grown from small in my monster tanks. EBJDs have smaller mouths and their full body size is about 1/2 the size of a full grown oscar. EBJD ranges around 8 inches max only because of their strain. rarely do they get bigger. Oscars average out 10 inches. And some can get up to 15. i have mine eyeballing at 11 inches. and its about almost 2 years old.
 
Oh that's not so bad I guess. Here they are $30-and up for little 1".
Hopefully he is a strong one. The weak genes are another reason I'll likely never have one. They are beautiful fish, but I get too attached.

Guy at the store said they get it from a local breeder. Hopefully they're strong little guys. He's got quite the appetite which is good.
 
lol im not sure if anyone here actually owns a ebjd. EBJDs growth rates are extremely slow. Especially comparing it to an oscar. your oscar will outgrow it because they have a better body in general. EBJDs are completely selectively bred. so they have pretty much a 110% chance of inbreeding. so defects will more than likely be possible. Oscars are rarely selectively bred unless long fin strain. I have 12 EBJDs growing for about 3 months now. I have an oscar grown from small in my monster tanks. EBJDs have smaller mouths and their full body size is about 1/2 the size of a full grown oscar. EBJD ranges around 8 inches max only because of their strain. rarely do they get bigger. Oscars average out 10 inches. And some can get up to 15. i have mine eyeballing at 11 inches. and its about almost 2 years old.

Should I be worried that one day my EBJB will fit inside the oscars mouth?
 
I tend to agree with Jesse. Oscars are very hardy fish, although mine grew to way over 14".
EBJDs are a line bred normally "weak fish" that need lots of help and extra care to remain alive.
A little stress, they're done, slack off on water changes allowing water quality to slip, they get sick and die etc etc.
Grown up together they may live well, I'd say you have a 50/50 chance.
Whether or not they are locally bred is probably not relevant
 
I tend to agree with Jesse. Oscars are very hardy fish, although mine grew to way over 14".
EBJDs are a line bred normally "weak fish" that need lots of help and extra care to remain alive.
A little stress, they're done, slack off on water changes allowing water quality to slip, they get sick and die etc etc.
Grown up together they may live well, I'd say you have a 50/50 chance.
Whether or not they are locally bred is probably not relevant

I disagree a bit on the locally bred part. The fact that they make it to this size on local water means that they're used to the local water chemistry, and the ones that couldn't handle it all died when younger already. I think it gives them a slightly better chance. Where as if they were bred elsewhere where the water chemistry was a lot different, it might not adjust.
 
I've had EBJDs and much of what's been said above is true. Health on them is delicate, it just is. Doesn't matter locally bred or not, acclimated to local water or not, they're genetically delicate and some make it to adulthood, some don't. So Duane is essentially right on that point. Much more of a factor than where it's bred is how robust or weak the particular breeder's strain is. Producing baby EBJDs is one thing, producing a (relatively) robust strain is another.

Almost undoubtedly a healthy Oscar will grow faster than an EBJD, how well they'll get on together will depend mostly on the Oscar, the bigger the tank the better. EBJD, especially smaller ones, do best with easy going tankmates. They stress easily, stop eating, etc.

I found freeze dried mysis to be a good supplemental food for EBJDs, good for growth-- at least that's my experience. I wouldn't go overboard trying to get them veggie foods as long as they're getting a good quality pellet in the first place, not too many starch and grain ingredients. I'd also avoid foods with soy ingredients in them. EBJDs can lose appetite and some develop bloat. Can't personally prove the connection to EBJD, but typical soy ingredients have been shown in studies to cause intestinal inflammation in a number of fish, not what I'd recommend for an already touchy fish like EBJD. Be careful what you feed, some foods, ingredients, or combinations (like soy and peas) are known (in science studies) to cause intestinal problems. You can sometimes kill a delicate fish with kindness, trying to give it "variety" but creating a combination of ingredients with unsuspected consequences.

...Just my experience and suggestions.
 
I've had EBJDs and much of what's been said above is true. Health on them is delicate, it just is. Doesn't matter locally bred or not, acclimated to local water or not, they're genetically delicate and some make it to adulthood, some don't. So Duane is essentially right on that point. Much more of a factor than where it's bred is how robust or weak the particular breeder's strain is. Producing baby EBJDs is one thing, producing a (relatively) robust strain is another.

Almost undoubtedly a healthy Oscar will grow faster than an EBJD, how well they'll get on together will depend mostly on the Oscar, the bigger the tank the better. EBJD, especially smaller ones, do best with easy going tankmates. They stress easily, stop eating, etc.

I found freeze dried mysis to be a good supplemental food for EBJDs, good for growth-- at least that's my experience. I wouldn't go overboard trying to get them veggie foods as long as they're getting a good quality pellet in the first place, not too many starch and grain ingredients. I'd also avoid foods with soy ingredients in them. EBJDs can lose appetite and some develop bloat. Can't personally prove the connection to EBJD, but typical soy ingredients have been shown in studies to cause intestinal inflammation in a number of fish, not what I'd recommend for an already touchy fish like EBJD. Be careful what you feed, some foods, ingredients, or combinations (like soy and peas) are known (in science studies) to cause intestinal problems. You can sometimes kill a delicate fish with kindness, trying to give it "variety" but creating a combination of ingredients with unsuspected consequences.

...Just my experience and suggestions.

I moved the Oscar and OBJD to a 90gal. There is a big piece of wood and java fern in there. They've been in there a few days now and they're both eating (oscar is eating like a pig). There is also 5 adult cories,1 4-5inch BN pleco, and there used to be a few cherry shrimp that I couldn't catch in there that are now just red turds. They all seem to get along. The oscar is twice the size of the EBJD but doesn't seem bothered to have to share food. They both eat at the top.

I'm feeding them North Fin community mix, North fin cichlid pellets, Northfin veggie pellets, busted up North Fin Kelp waffers and Omega One FD mysis shrimp. They're both eating just about anything. I had no idea about the peas. I fed a cooked pea (after squishing it) to them last week and they both ate it. Gave the O a piece of mango the other night but the EBJD took one bite and didn't seem to really like it.
 
Seems like it's going well, glad the JD isn't shy about eating. I would just be careful once the Oscar gets to a size where the JD can fit in it's mouth- even if it doesn't try to before then, it will probably eat anything that can fit.
 
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