blue dempseys

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jason longboard

Piranha
MFK Member
Apr 12, 2007
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I was told by a shop that they are crazy sensitive to water quality and temps. Is this true? Not that I have bad habits but just in case something happens I dont want to put a fish to death because of it.
 
They are very delicate fish compared to regular Dempseys and are very prone to parasites, bacterial infections and other illnesses, especially when young (under 4"). Some people recommend getting an UV sterilizer when trying to raise EBJD (you can get one for around $50) and report success. Of course perfect water quality and stable parameters are the first thing you must consider.
 
thanks guys, not my favorite looking fish but the ones Ive been around seem very personable even at such a small size and thats what hade me liking them even more, but I dont want to worry all the time. May wait on those. I gues a good looking regular one would be fine. I just thought they were cool and since they stay smaller you know. Anyways thanks.
 
I must disagree with the above two posts. My experience with ebjd has been similar to any other central American cichlid. The only trouble I have had with them has been due to the quality of the fish, some were prone to popeye and internal parasites but these same blues had sunken in faces or other deformity.
 
Regular adult dempseys can be just as stunning, if not more. The only difference is EBJD are very colorful even when really young... making them more attractive at pet shop size. Regular dempseys don't get their real color until mature:

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Bully Fish;5103191; said:
I must disagree with the above two posts. My experience with ebjd has been similar to any other central American cichlid. The only trouble I have had with them has been due to the quality of the fish, some were prone to popeye and internal parasites but these same blues had sunken in faces or other deformity.
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EBJD in general are weaker, less aggressive and more prone to diseases at a young age than the regular JDs, in fact many people here have chosen not to keep em anymore because they can't deal with raising a fish for months and having it die suddenly for no reason. Yes, there's a lot of success stories, you might get one and raise it successfully without even noticing a difference, but many other people have had bad experiences with them... "prone to diseases" doesn't mean all of them get sick or die, it just means you're at a greater risk of encountering some kind of problem when keeping these instead of the regular fish.

If they were perfectly normal and competitive they would be found in the wild living alongside common JDs, but they're not.
 
Here's a good bit of info explaining why they tend to be weaker (inbreeding)

aglarond;2308268; said:
EBJDs carry a gene that makes them blue. They are not a cross or hybrid with any Africans. This was scientifically proven, some guy went so far as to do some DNA sequencing.

Getting fry from two EBJDs of the same family won't ever happen (your situation). They have been linebred so much for that blue gene that they are all inbred to hell. As it is, 90% of the little fishies that you bought are probably going to die due to poor health and weak immune systems; only when they are past the 2" mark will they have an excellent chance of surviving.

There are two ways to successfully breed them:

The first way, the irresponsible way, involves crossing an EBJD to a normal JD then crossing the fry from that (blue gene JDs - BGJDs - carriers of the recessive blue gene) to another EBJD. The fry from the second cross have enough non-inbred wt JD blood to survive (for no less than one generation).

The second way, the responsible way, is more difficult. You have to get two unrelated EBJD specimens as well as two unrelated JD specimens. Cross one of the EBJDs with one of the JDs and cross the other EBJD with the other JD. You will get BGJD fry from each pairing. Then you have to cross a BGJD from one pairing with a BGJD from another pairing. The resulting fry will be 25% EBJDs, 25% wt JDs, and 50% BGJDs.

The first way is irresponsible because, if you look at the contributions of all the fish into the genes of the final offspring, you have 25% wt JD blood and 75% inbred EBJD blood. Even if the second EBJD is from a different family than the first one you have 25% wt JD blood, 25% EBJD1 blood, and 50% EBJD2 blood. This isn't good at all and any EBJD from this type of pairing probably won't be able to interbreed.

The second way is more resonsible because if you break it down the final offspring will have 25% JD1, 25% JD2, 25% EBJD1, and 25% EBJD2 blood. About as non deep woods Georgia as you can get. These fish will be able to breed amongst themselves and with other inbred EBJDs because of how they were raised.

Bottom line - 90% of your fish will probably die because people inbreed them irresponsibly. You will never get fry easily and if you do end up trying do it the responsible way. Also, buy a UV sterilizer for their tank, they're going to need it.
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Thanks guys for the info, and I know the normals get very nice I have had a few adults growing up. One of them was the best one I ever saw to this day. About 12 years ago however. Wonder if one would be too much for my tank, pry not. The good looking one I had was shy, unless something swam near his cave he would shoot out like a rocket and tag it. Otherwise he would hide all the time. Wonder if all of them are that way or if one would be fine with firemouths. Maybe I should just wait for sevs. See now Im just thinkin out loud :)
 
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