Hello MFK. First post with a new EBJD! Need advice!

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Nicodemayo

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 18, 2010
16
0
0
Kennesaw, Ga
Hello everyone, this is my first post on this website, and so far I am having a blast looking through the threads(and photos). I am not new to fish keeping or cichlids, but this saturday I bought a flawless 2" EBJD. I went into the lfs to pick up a peacock cichlid I had on hold and they had just gotten this EBJD in, and I didnt want to leave the store without him. My question is with how to keep him proper. I know EBJD's are a bit more sensitive than other jack dempseys and sa cichlids in general, and I'd like to know any pointers that would help me get this guy to a good size, and to prevent an unwanted death. Seems to be rare that a EBJD gets to a decent size. I plan on housing thing guy alone in a 46 bowfront. Right now he is in a planted community 28 bowfront until I get the 46 bow setup this weekend. He is doing some chasing, but hasnt killed anything (yet), but this is just his temporary housing. So far I have fed him flakes, and Hikari cichlid gold, the mini pellets. Any tips as to what to feed, and what NOT to feed, or any information that would be useful in succesfully keeping this guy would be awesome. All advice is appreciated! I will try to get some photos up this evening.

-Nic
 
I did some reading, and it seems that growing this guy out in his own tank is the best route to go. I am pretty anal about water conditions, so I'm not worried about poor water killing him. He'll be alone in a 46 bow with a fluval 305. As far as diet goes, I plan on feeding mostly what my peacocks eat, which is a staple of cichlid gold. I'll feed mysid shrimp, brine, and small krill to mix it up. Any pointers from fellow ebjd's would be great. I'd love to see this guy get to a good size. I bought him the day after the lfs got it in, and hes plump and eats everything ive offered.
 
In the 5 months I've had mine he went from the size of a guppie to about 5". He's kept in a 125g with a nic, rotkeil, silver dollars, sword tails and common plecos. I feed hikari and nls pellets daily with frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp, freeze dried krill, omega one veggie pellets, live black worms and various vegetables as treats. The ebjd beat up the nic once and nobody has messed with him since even the the nic and sev square off daily.
 
bbortko;4563626; said:
In the 5 months I've had mine he went from the size of a guppie to about 5". He's kept in a 125g with a nic, rotkeil, silver dollars, sword tails and common plecos. I feed hikari and nls pellets daily with frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp, freeze dried krill, omega one veggie pellets, live black worms and various vegetables as treats. The ebjd beat up the nic once and nobody has messed with him since even the the nic and sev square off daily.
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Thanks alot for the input man. This gives me hope of successfully raising this guy up. Most seem to have bad luck. This is going to sound mega noob, but what is a "Nic". Nic just so happens to be my name, spelled the same way, and I keep seeing threads with that fish mentioned, LOL. Anyway, Jeinkinz, have you had bad luck yourself, or are you just wishing me a friendly good luck? lol
 
Welcome to MFK and congrats on your first EBJD! EBJDs are not the hardiest of cichlids and they require a little bit more attention than most, but they are one of the best looking cichlids IMO. I currently have 3 EBJDs that are about 4-5 inches long in a 55 gallon tank with a AQ110 and emperor 350, and I feed them hikari gold, NLS, and blood worms regularly. I have also read that they are prone to early and inexplicable deaths, and I initially bought 3 because I figured one or two might die. To my pleasant surprise they all survived and are thriving. They have great personalities and always beg me for food whenever I walk by the tank. I have heard that using a UV light will greatly increase the survivability of your young EBJD until they reach that magic 3 inch mark, but I never used it and my EBJD turned out fine. However, if you feel that it can help then what are a few dollars if it can bring you peace of mind. Just make sure that you have excellent filtration, keep up with water changes, don't overfeed, and keep an eye out for anything unusual when they are young (early detection and treatment is key!). Pretty standard stuff for any fish IMO, but I think the biggest thing that kills EBJDs is stress. They freak out easily and continuous stress will severely reduce their survivability. When I first got my EBJD they were very skittish and were terrified of anything that cast a shadow on their tank. I would walk slowly to the tank and drop some fish food in and observe them quietly. Eventually, they got to know me and now they constantly beg me to feed them by swimming at the top of the tank with their noses to the glass. The extra attention EBJDs require is a small price to pay for such a beautiful fish. I hope my experience can be of some help and good luck to you and your new EBJD
 
Nic = Nicaraguan cichlid. Sorry I can't give the scientific name, but I'm a horrible speller and I'm on my blackberry so I can't tab between pages.
 
sweet EBJD make sure u have him with peaceful fish and that he is the bigger fish in the tank. :D pm me if u have any more Q... GL
 
Water quality should be a big concern here. If you want to increase the growth rate try feeding smaller amount of food more often during the day. This will accelerate growth especially for the size you have. You might also consider using the Cichlid Bio-Gold+ instead of the gold as it contains a living micro-organism which will increase the digestive action, take up nutrition that potentially bad bacteria in the digestive tract needs to survive and also remains active in the waste to decompose it faster allowing your bio-ation to better handle it. This can translate in to better water quality which will be a big help!
 
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