I was woundering if any one has any advice on how to breed jack dempseys or Any thing they may have would help.
Help With Jacks
- Thread starter Eutopia
- Start date
the best thing to do is get 6 or more juveniles, grow them up together and let a pair form naturally. once a pair forms you'll want to remove the extras or there's a good chance they could be killed. 
I had two males and i got rid of one cause he was sapressin the smaller one and i just traded it to my friend who gave me his female and i was just woundering if ther are signs of pairing and also the big male jack got ate by a red tail cat 3 days after i gave it to him sad really. Thank you fo your help.
Breeding Behavior
These fish exhibit classic Cichlid open spawning behavior. I recommend a temperate of around 78 degrees for spawning. They may not spawn at lower temperatures. The males can be really tough on a female that is not ready to spawn, to the point where he may kill her. Once a pair reach spawning readiness, all other fish in the tank will be driven away or destroyed. My Jack Dempseys have always cleaned an area on a rock and spawned there. Mine would not spawn unless a suitable rock was available. Spawn size is can be over 500 eggs and hatch in 3 days. Once the spawn hatch, the parents move the fry to small holes dug into the gravel. I eventually replaced the gravel I was using with sand to allow a better substrate for keeping fry. Every day the fry are moved to a new hole, until they become free swimming, which occurs in about 10 days. Parents share duties guarding the spawn and patrolling the general area. It is interesting to watch how the fish exchange these roles. They basically exchange spots in a swift motion, timed such that the fish pass each other at the halfway point. A bit like a fishy changing of the guard. Some sources say the young eat slime off the sides of the parents, but I noticed very little of this sort of activity, in my tanks. Though the fry may nip at their parents sides from time to time, the fry are not dependent upon parental slime, like Discus are. Parents will keep fry in a bunch by taking strays in their mouths and returning them to the general school. Young may be able to stay with the parents until the males begin to mature, at which point they will need to be separated. It appears that the parents crush larger food into small pieces and expel it through their gills for the young to consume.
From(http://www.willegal.net/tropical_fish/jack-dempsey.htm)
These fish exhibit classic Cichlid open spawning behavior. I recommend a temperate of around 78 degrees for spawning. They may not spawn at lower temperatures. The males can be really tough on a female that is not ready to spawn, to the point where he may kill her. Once a pair reach spawning readiness, all other fish in the tank will be driven away or destroyed. My Jack Dempseys have always cleaned an area on a rock and spawned there. Mine would not spawn unless a suitable rock was available. Spawn size is can be over 500 eggs and hatch in 3 days. Once the spawn hatch, the parents move the fry to small holes dug into the gravel. I eventually replaced the gravel I was using with sand to allow a better substrate for keeping fry. Every day the fry are moved to a new hole, until they become free swimming, which occurs in about 10 days. Parents share duties guarding the spawn and patrolling the general area. It is interesting to watch how the fish exchange these roles. They basically exchange spots in a swift motion, timed such that the fish pass each other at the halfway point. A bit like a fishy changing of the guard. Some sources say the young eat slime off the sides of the parents, but I noticed very little of this sort of activity, in my tanks. Though the fry may nip at their parents sides from time to time, the fry are not dependent upon parental slime, like Discus are. Parents will keep fry in a bunch by taking strays in their mouths and returning them to the general school. Young may be able to stay with the parents until the males begin to mature, at which point they will need to be separated. It appears that the parents crush larger food into small pieces and expel it through their gills for the young to consume.
From(http://www.willegal.net/tropical_fish/jack-dempsey.htm)
Eutopia said:
Yah Yah Yah. wat ever dave. He ate my fish too. I wish he didnt I miss him my tank looks empty. I think he did eat valentino BTW. Lets see. He has eaten 1 Jack, 1 GT, 2albino bichirs, 1 ornate bichir, 1 snegulas bichir, and 1 Glod fish. Little F**cker
i never treid and just happened to have some breed once they will breed like mad if you take the eggs out i just leave them in no use for 5,000,000 babie jacks (exagerated)
ty for all your help the male has been chasing the female like he wants some tail yet she runs and hids behide a assortment of rocks
thanks for the info on the midwest cichlid association I had no idea there was a chapter here in nebraska!!