I started my project out about a year ago. I raised up a group of 6 het blue dempseys and let them pair off. They are certainly just as aggressive when pairing as the normals. I am left with a pair and an extra female who jumped to the next tank to survive the pair bond forming. One batch growing out now in a 48 gallon cube. They are about 1 month old and the biggest ones are a cm in size. I will be seperating the blues from the siblings this week, because as it was stated earlier they are certainly not as strong as their siblings. It looks like about 20 or so in the batch of about 150. I will be taking the siblings and growing them up as well to see if we can get some more het pairs. I know that everyone is talking about inbreeding here, but I really don't think that there are many dempseys being imported and only a few farms here in the US producing them in any real quantity. So really, most of these fish are pretty closely related as it is. I have a feeling that the gene does affect aggression and hence their ability to compete. All of the fry are siblings in my batch, but the blues are on average half the size of their siblings. Not to say that there aren't a few that are nearly the same size, but that is what variation gives us.
I am breeding mine in a 20 high bare bottom with a flower pot and a hand made clay cave. The male is about 4 inches, the female about 3.
I am breeding mine in a 20 high bare bottom with a flower pot and a hand made clay cave. The male is about 4 inches, the female about 3.
