May have to put my acara Jazz down. Opinions.

[celebrist]

Once is a fluke, three a pattern.

With the level of care you provide your fish I must agree with your assessment

 

[jjohnwm]

Thanks for that info! I'm not a fan of designer fish and don't follow them very closely, but I always assumed that EBA were yet another man-made line-bred variety of pure BA's. Yet a number of sources that I've just now looked at state that they are AcaraXRam crosses. They also go so far as to state that the females and males are artificially "stripped" of their eggs and milt, which are then mixed together to create fertilized ova, similar to the way that salmon and many other hatchery-fish are produced.

A few other sources also state that they're just Acaras bred for colour. It's difficult to know who to believe, especially when one is equally unfamiliar with all the various sources being searched.

Doesn't anybody just keep plain ol' fish anymore?

 

[phreeflow]

The regular blues are darker with spangling resembling a Dempsey or Gt. I actually didn't know until recently the EBAs are a hybrid crossed with blue rams. I just thought they were line bred for color. From doing a bit of research the regular blues used to be common in LFS but are hard to find now. BA's can get up to 8 inches. My biggest EBA was Rocky at 7 inches and still young.

the blue acara
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the electric blue acara

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blue ram cichlid

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some information I verified at other sites and consistent with my experience.

View attachment 1528181

Talking about this helps some. For people wanting an EBA I'll only say they're energetic, personable and intelligent fish. Not a dud personality anywhere. But know what you're getting into long term and be prepared. They are champion jumpers and will escape closed lids often hurling themselves several feet away. Hollow bellies and infections can appear suddenly after adulthood and you'll be on a merry-go-round of improvement and decline. I've had 4, and 3 of them went through this cycle (lost one to multiple jumping).

I can't even say the EBA look 'better' than the BA, they're stunning fish. I don't get it. But as much as I love the EBA I'm not putting myself through this anymore. Once is a fluke, three a pattern.

Sorry for the loss and difficult decision. Again, I’ve never seen anyone put the effort forth that you do.

As for the EBA’s, I have also had the same experiences with them in the past and am currently dealing with a male developing similar issues. Had no idea they were crossbred with rams

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

This info on EBAs has changed my mind about them. Even though they are beautiful fish, I don't want to deal with consistently sick fish. I already have enough stress from daily life to worry about consistently sick fish. I was seriously considering these fish, but I will pass on these.

Thank y'all for the great info!

 

[FINWIN]

This info on EBAs has changed my mind about them. Even though they are beautiful fish, I don't want to deal with consistently sick fish. I already have enough stress from daily life to worry about consistently sick fish. I was seriously considering these fish, but I will pass on these.

Thank y'all for the great info!

I'd never tell someone 'don't get a fish' but as long as you know the possibility of problems you can decide if its worth a shot. I did see posted on a cichlid website someone with an old EBA (7 y.o.) that definitely looked it (curved back, sloped head). Whether that was an exception or good luck I don't know. They are a "get under your skin" type of fish. Very playful and attentive.

I've heard about the delicacy of the EBJDs that they're hard to keep alive to adultthood, stress easy and roll over before they hit 5 inches. Full size ones are unicorns.

The EBAs are the opposite. You can raise them to full size with no problem! But once they get to adulthood everything starts to go haywire. It's almost like they have a genetic limiter on a timer. I'm no geneticist but maybe there's an instability/incompatibility of the dna cross. Just because you can have viable offspring doesn't mean they're stable genetically.

What's annoying is calling them EBAs as if they're just a color variant of acaras. Blood parrots aren't called RBDs (round body devils). They have a specifc name letting you know they're hybrids.

P phreeflow , what's the deal going on with your EBA male? Age? I notice you said you were getting similar issues.