electric blue jack dempsey lifespan

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XB Arowana

Banned
Jun 12, 2009
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MI
i have heard mix things about the ebjd lifespan, i have heard they never live pass 2, some have lived pass 5 years, so whats the average lifespan, im not getting one since apparently too aggressive for discus, just really curious. i know they are weak geneticly, short lifepsan then?
 
It seems all you hear about are the ones who died. Well what about all the ones who lived and are doing well? I wonder if that many really do die by 3 inches or whatever. Maybe we only see people post about theirs dying, just never see about all the people's that live.
 
There might be a reason why you don't hear "about all who lived". Large/full-grown ebjds are fairly unusual; you occasionally hear/read about 7" or 8" fish, but not very often. Virtually never see any being sold. Otoh, we hear of LOTS of them dying young. A good part of the problem is/has been poor genetics/stock available to the hobby. I know that I have personally owned close to 20 of them, grew out a number of them, lost several at 6", lost LOTS of them at 2-3", and maybe had 3 with good conformation/genetics. With those kinds of numbers, it's a crapshoot no matter how you slice it.

FWIW, my current ebjd is probably the best one I've owned in terms of its conformation, etc. About 6.5", fairly beefy, but I'm always worried about it because it is a picky eater, and at least half the time is indifferent to eating. About the time I get really concerned, it'll start eating well for a few days, and then the cycle repeats. Of course to be fair, I seem to "lose" swordtails once in a while... :confused:
 
I'd imagine with no internal infection and good care from owner... 2-3 years? Hard to say really...
 
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