EBJD Questions

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I have 6 EB's, 5 Blue Genes and 3 jacks. One thing I disagree with is the blood worms. Any EB under 3'' long I would not feed blood worms. They are very prone to becoming constipated from them and eventually have issues with internal parasites. There is also very little nutritional value in blood worms. skinned peas are great for there digestive tract.

They are actually not hard to take care of. If you keep up with a couple of requirements they'll live a long healthy life.

Over filter the tank
keep the water well air rated.
Keep temps a little higher then average 80-84*
Don't over feed them. Better to under feed. A hungry fish is a healthy fish.
20% water changes weekly. Deep gravel vac once a month.
No aggressive tank mates. They stress very easily. danios and tiger barbs are great tank mates. EB's are usually very skittish. The use of dithers helps them feel safe and less stressed.

I feed mine Hilkari Marine A w/ spirulina, spectrum flakes/pellets and a vegetable flake.

Once they hit the 3'' mark they seem to have less issues.

Do some reading over here. Any and everything you want to know about EB's is there. There are quite a few EB breeders over there as well.

http://dempsey.6.forumer.com/index.php

I would get atleast 2 EB's and a few danios. Put them in a 30 gallon with plenty of places to hide. They are a very cool fish with great personalities and awesome colors.

Good Luck
 
The single reason I've found that they are "harder to keep alive" is that they are prone to parasitic illness...

So you must take steps to avoid a parasitic infection, but after that, they are no harder to keep alive than any other fish. It is also true that they are comonly slow growers compared to standard Dempseys, also that they often max out slightly smaller than standard Dempseys. It's also true that they sometimes suffer from deformities. If you do a little homework, you will elarn that all of these things, as well as a weak immune system are common traits found in heavily inbred creatures...

I use UV lights to combat the parasitic illness threat... other people use other approaches but I'll leave those approaches to be explained by those with more experience with them... I use 1 W of UV strength per 10 US gal of tank volume... and I push water past the UV at a rate of 10 gph (actual flow rate, not rated) per 1W of UV strength... in other words... a 9W UV light at 90 gph on a 90 gal tank...

As for tank size... it's easier to keep larger volumes of water stable (PH, KH, etc)... larger volumes of water dilute waste better... larger environments allow fish to avoid stress easier... the only downside I see to keeping them in a larger tank is it's harder for them to find food... but in my opinino a fish that struggles to find food is a fish that shuold be culled anyway...

I suggest getting the larger tank in the begining and getting a few Blue Dempseys to grow out together. This way you can keep the nicest one. It will be quite easy for you to find new homes for your "extra" Blue Dempseys down the road.
 
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