Will any two male and female JDs breed if put into a tank by themselves in good conditions or is there more to it?
Breeding Jack Dempseys
- Thread starter guapoteman
- Start date
Sometimes even if you put a male and a female together they simply won't like each other and never breed. Or the male will kill the female.
The recommended method is to pick 5 or 6 juvie fish, and raise them together. Hopefully there's a couple of females in there and they will eventually choose a mate and breed. Once you have a mated pair tho they will become super aggressive and kill the rest or make them really miserable.
This is the method I used and it worked perfectly, and really fast. They started breeding at around 3 inches and did a wonderful job with the fry.
The recommended method is to pick 5 or 6 juvie fish, and raise them together. Hopefully there's a couple of females in there and they will eventually choose a mate and breed. Once you have a mated pair tho they will become super aggressive and kill the rest or make them really miserable.
This is the method I used and it worked perfectly, and really fast. They started breeding at around 3 inches and did a wonderful job with the fry.
Contrary to what many people will tell you here, you don't really need to obsess over water quality and daily 50% water changes and a fancy "500 gal" tank for a pair to breed lmao. Mine bred accidentally on a tank where I was raising australian red claw crayfish, so I really wasn't paying attention to the fish at all, one day I woke up and noticed the female looking very pissed off and very beautiful almost black with white stripes, so I was like wtf... then I look closely and notice a bunch of eggs right below her... on a flat rock. =) (this is very important, they need a flat surface to lay eggs on... I think they will dig thru the substrate until they reach the bottom of the aquarium if they don't have a flat rock... so sand and other soft substrates are adviced).
registered;4788207; said:
Don't give out bad info like this, water quality is very important to the health of your fish. Unless you have a planted tank (hard to maintain with cichlids since they tend to eat them.), then a 50% water change weekly is needed to keep nitrates from becoming toxic and causing HITH or other health problems for your fish. Is it possible for your fish to still live in water with bad parameters? Sure, but then the moment they get injured in a fight or by hitting decor that bad water will cause infections and diseases to set in and before you know it your fish are dead.
To the OP, if you just want a pair of Jack Dempsey's, I'd suggest getting males and females from different bloodlines. 3 of each as juveniles. Distinguishing male and female is actually fairly easy in Dempsey's. Females will have blue splotching on the gill plates, while the males will have no blue on the face. Mine had these characteristics at a young age. A pair can be housed in a 75 gallon tank for life, just make sure you have places for the female to flee to when the male gets too rough with her. Because they will get rough with each other during spawning. If you get 6 as juveniles, once you have a pair, rehome the other 4 and enjoy your pair.
Gatorxxx420;4788373; said:
It's not bad info, and I never adviced "bad water quality" did I? I'm simply saying you don't need to exaggerate or do a lot of work for them to breed, as in "you don't need to stress over it" because they will breed under regular water conditions, on their own. By regular water conditions I didn't mean stagnant water in a 10 gallon tank lol, just that they don't need a lot of help as long as you have them in a nice sized tank and let them choose their mate.
As for 50% water changes weekly, that depends on the size of your fish, tank, and the amount of food you provide. Either way, most of these fish are hardier than you might give them credit for, and survive in the wild for long time under less than ideal conditions.
registered;4788821; said:
If they're in an aquarium in your house, they're not in the wild are they? No. We can give them ideal conditions, so why not do it? It's an hour or so once a week if that. It's not to "get them to breed", but to promote optimal health and a long life. I'd be willing to guess in the wild most don't live 7+ years either.
i recently bought a 7 1/2 inch male jack i want to breed to pair at that size mite be a challenge..what ima try is buy 1 or 2 females closest to his size as i can altough its hard to find female jacks dat size cause lfs only sell 3 inch biggest...ima do the mirror trick....i havve a 110 hallon with jsut the male in there...driftwood and a clay pot...ima add the females and ill see what happens after they get used to ea other maybe a week ima tape a 4x4 mirror to the tank.so when the male sees his reflection hes gunna start trying to fite his image tinking another male trying take over...this will ...arouse the female and shes going to start picking at him as he hits tha tank reflection...the male will chase the female here and there but nothing serious..after a while the male will get used to the female picking at him and he will turn and dance and lip lock..then theyll start breeding at that point remove the mirror and there u go..i heard this trick works most of the time...problaly my best hope to pairing a 7 inch jack..try it see if it works ill post if i hae success...heres pics of the bad boy
ninjajackdempsey;4789115; said:
Or you can make a divider out of egg crate with a hole big enough for the female(s) to cross through, while too small for the male to get through. I wouldn't use the mirror as it creates stress for the fish. I think it would be best to use the divider and place the female(s) on the opposite side from the male. They'll learn they can fit through that hole and go back and forth. That way she has a secure safe area if he gets too rough.