Holy crap guys! I might as well give up fish forever...

[balton777]

alright, ill leave the pleco out of it... i have just a few more questions...

1. What else should i do to treat the ICK? My Jag is extremely scared of the gravel vaccum, and shes just now getting less and less scared... Dont wanna re-scare her...

Just keep the water at 87F+ for about another week. Make the fish comfortable and keep the water clean. She may get scared now, but in the end, everything will be for the better. She'll come around, don't worry.

2. I have a small, 10g tank that i may be able to put her in while i vaccum and clean the plants of any remaning ICK bacterias, or will they ALL die with the salt and warm water?

NO. DON'T PUT HER IN ANOTHER TANK. That will stress her waaaaaay more than a gravel vac doing it's job. Just do your water change as you always do, she'll be fine. Just make sure to replace it with water over 86F and the Ick will soon die from the water being too warm for them.

3. If i ever want to get into breeding them (Jags), what should i do about finding the one i currently have a partner? Shes way to big for the Jags at petsmart, and the D&G here doesnt sell Jags at all... they have some big Jack Dempseys and Tiger Oscars, about the size of my Jag, but i dont want one of them to kill the other... Ive read that Jags pretty much only get along with the opposite sex of that species, and even then its a 'Give or Take' relationship... If I cant find it a partner, should i just buy like 4 or 6 from petsmart and see if any of them pair up? And just start from scratch? (Still keeping my current one, just not giving it a partner..)

Jags will cohabitate with most cichlids who can hold their own. But as with all fish, each one has it's own level of aggression that can range from very docile and shy to all out serial killer.

If you want a male as big as her, you'll probably have to either order one from a fish vendor or an individual who has one for sale. Another option is to start from scratch with a group of smaller ones, grow them out and hopefully two will pair, then sell the rest. GL

See replies in red above.

 

[Sarah88]

the warm water and salt will take care of everything, whenever i happen to get ich i just dont do water changes for the two weeks im treating the tank and everything gets taken care of. but only do this if your filtration and tank size is adequate enough that your nitrates stay below 20 during this period. as far as finding her a mate, you can try on craigslist or something to find one her size, but yeah usually jags can be kept with tank mates in a large enough tank but since she is already larger and has been alone this whole time then she may not accept tankmates anymore, and yeah if you really want a pair and cant find a male her size then your best bet would be to get a new tank and get several juvies and grow them out till they pair

 

[PaiLum92]

about what size do they pair? like, when theyre about to spawn? Mine started to lay eggs at about 4.5 - 5 inches...

 

[balton777]

about what size do they pair? like, when theyre about to spawn? Mine started to lay eggs at about 4.5 -5 inches...

That's about the earliest they'll pair.

Holy crap guys! I might as well give up fish forever...

Okay then.....are you still with us? Hang in there...

 

[PaiLum92]

yea, i just ran out of questions for now.. i noticed she moved a bunch of plants that were firmly planted.. do they tend to do that? (All the plants are fake, but she put a couple in front of her cave entrance, that were originaly on top of the cave...)

 

[Gervahlt]

LMAO - she's making herself at home. I'm still fairly new to this myself (maybe 2 years now), but I have yet to see a healthy cichlid that DIDN'T move plants around.

 

[Gatorxxx420]

yea, i just ran out of questions for now.. i noticed she moved a bunch of plants that were firmly planted.. do they tend to do that? (All the plants are fake, but she put a couple in front of her cave entrance, that were originaly on top of the cave...)

She's doing house keeping, that means she's coming around. As mentioned, stick with the water changes, eventually she'll be attacking that siphon hose and you'll have to divide your tank to clean it. In all the youtube videos I've seen of larger Jags, they ALL get nasty like that. But that's the fun in keeping them, wish I'd known more about them when I first got my fish. But, I'm happy with my Dempsey's and when I get a chance to get a couple large tanks. Jags will be the other fish I keep.

 

[PaiLum92]

hmm, going to sleep now guys, in the morning ill feed her, turn off the light/timer, and lock my door, that way shes gets total privacy... When i leave in the morning, should i feed her the normal amount, or a little more since i wont be home till monday?

Or should i even feed her at all?

 

[Gatorxxx420]

When was the last time you changed the water? If it hasn't been too long, give her a light feeding, otherwise I wouldn't. That way your water doesn't foul up while you're gone.

 

[Allan01230]

Guys a little imput from an old timer. I have had fish since I was 8 years old. I'am now 48. Jack wattley is a famed discus breeder from way back. He does 95% wc on all his tanks daily. W/C ARE VERY GOOD FOR FISH! Remember they are in a closed enviorment they should be in a lake or river. Salt and heat are all that is needed for ick. Ick is a very simple disease to cure. And lastly you really only need carbon to pull out meds. Enjoy the hobby!