Interesting Firemouth Behavior

[TheFishNerd]

My mix of African and Central American cichlids didn't go so well after the electric blue jack (Still not completely sure he actually is an EBJD) decided he hated the firemouth and was picked on by the mbuna cichlids. My firemouth was stressed and not doing so well after moving him to his own 10 gallon. I wanted to see my EBJD since I have grown to love that fish but didn't get to see him due to the mbuna and decided to move them in with the firmouth. The torn up lifeless little guy sprang back to life as soon as the mbuna were added and he follows them all around the tank. It's pretty interesting to watch and was wondering if anyone else has any thoughts. I thought for sure he was going to die from the stress of getting the stuffing beat out of him then being moved to a new tank but it's like he recovered in seconds.

 

[duanes]

In nature Thorichthys (fire mouths) usually live in loose shoals of other FMs, not as single individuals. Its usually half a dozen or so, so its not surprising more fish in the QT tank brought it back. As groups they don't seems to get as aggressive, as sometimes single individuals do.

 

[TheFishNerd]

In nature Thorichthys (fire mouths) usually live in loose shoals of other FMs, not as single individuals. Its usually half a group of a dozen or so, so its not surprising more fish in the QT tank brought it back. As groups they don't seems to get as aggressive, as sometimes single individuals do.

That might be the answer to my problem. I will try and get him three or so females and see if that helps the firemouth get more bold and spread out the aggression between him and the EBJD. A 55 with lots of rock structures should be big enough for 4 firemouths and EBJD since EBJD's tend to stay much smaller and be more mellow then regular Jack Dempseys. If that's not enough space I will probably return him so the EBJD can have the tank to himself with a couple of dither fish.

 

[Niki_up]

That might be the answer to my problem. I will try and get him three or so females and see if that helps the firemouth get more bold and spread out the aggression between him and the EBJD. A 55 with lots of rock structures should be big enough for 4 firemouths and EBJD since EBJD's tend to stay much smaller and be more mellow then regular Jack Dempseys. If that's not enough space I will probably return him so the EBJD can have the tank to himself with a couple of dither fish.

I don’t think a 55g tank is large enough for both of those fish, the ebjd has potential to grow just as large as a normal jd. I had an electric blue jd that was 9 inches and wasn’t finished growing I believe he would have reached about 11 inches.

I think you should choose either the FMs or the ebjd for the 55g, not both. And def not with mbuna in the tank.

 

[Niki_up]

Oh and I forgot to mention you could potentially do the FMs and ebjd together if you upgraded the tank to 80-90g

 

[TheFishNerd]

I rehomed the mumba today because of the smaller tank size. I had heard EBJD's are smaller but I guess I'll just give the little guy the space he needs and hope he gets to live a long life. Still might put some of my little sister's guppies in with him for a few months to act as dither fish because he is so shy the tank would seem empty all the time. He is warming up to me slowly but any fast movements and he disappears. I bought equipment to handle a much larger tank so I'll still keep looking for a minimum 90 gallon tank for him on facebook marketplace. Can't wait to watch him get bigger ?

 

[Niki_up]

I rehomed the mumba today because of the smaller tank size. I had heard EBJD's are smaller but I guess I'll just give the little guy the space he needs and hope he gets to live a long life. Still might put some of my little sister's guppies in with him for a few months to act as dither fish because he is so shy the tank would seem empty all the time. He is warming up to me slowly but any fast movements and he disappears. I bought equipment to handle a much larger tank so I'll still keep looking for a minimum 90 gallon tank for him on facebook marketplace. Can't wait to watch him get bigger ?

Oh that’s awesome news!

you should be able to have some dithers with him, mollies or swords might be better as they are larger than guppies...guppies will eventually be eaten.

here is my guy at 9 inches, don’t get discouraged as it took him almost two years to reach that size. I think the myth about them only reaching 6 inches might be surrounded by people who either have females or raise them to 1 year old And called them full grown.

very rewarding fish to raise a fish so big

 

[TheFishNerd]

I love mollies and swords too but I was thinking something short term just until he gets more bold. Hopefully he will be more comfortable after I get all my new rockwork set up for him. Your electric blue dempsey is absolutely beautiful. Mine gets more blue and less brown every day and hope he grows to be that big. Obviously there is a lot of myth surrounding them so I'm also curious, I've also heard they drop like flies at around 3 or 4 inches. You have a full grown one so there must be some hope he will be alright. Is there anything I should watch out for with EBJD's? I know I should always have emergency medication on hand but I want to make sure I'm prepared if disaster does strike.

 

[Niki_up]

I love mollies and swords too but I was thinking something short term just until he gets more bold. Hopefully he will be more comfortable after I get all my new rockwork set up for him. Your electric blue dempsey is absolutely beautiful. Mine gets more blue and less brown every day and hope he grows to be that big. Obviously there is a lot of myth surrounding them so I'm also curious, I've also heard they drop like flies at around 3 or 4 inches. You have a full grown one so there must be some hope he will be alright. Is there anything I should watch out for with EBJD's? I know I should always have emergency medication on hand but I want to make sure I'm prepared if disaster does strike.

I think you should have good luck with him if your willing to sacrifice having other fish with him in the 55g...it shows your commitment
I found the older they get the less active they are, they like to find their spot in the tank and literally sit there for most of the day only coming out to eat kind of boring but def a beautiful site when seen haha mine was not interactive at all.
I found that once they stop eating treatment needs to happen fast or they wither away and die. I had to treat mine with prazipro and metroplex 3-4 times until he was about 6-7 inches.
a good pellet diet will increase growth over frozen mysis or brine shrimp, though frozen foods were handy to have when they rejected the pellets bc they would always eat frozen.

do share pictures of yours growing we ?pics

 

[TheFishNerd]

I think you should have good luck with him if your willing to sacrifice having other fish with him in the 55g...it shows your commitment
I found the older they get the less active they are, they like to find their spot in the tank and literally sit there for most of the day only coming out to eat kind of boring but def a beautiful site when seen haha mine was not interactive at all.
I found that once they stop eating treatment needs to happen fast or they wither away and die. I had to treat mine with prazipro and metroplex 3-4 times until he was about 6-7 inches.
a good pellet diet will increase growth over frozen mysis or brine shrimp, though frozen foods were handy to have when they rejected the pellets bc they would always eat frozen.

do share pictures of yours growing we ?pics

Thanks for the info. I'll get those medications asap and also grab a 20 gallon tank that I can throw together as a hospital tank for when he gets to big to use the 10 gallon as a quarantine. He already just loves sitting in his plant all day now that he is alone. I am guessing the darker colors may have been from stress caused by the other fish so I am glad he's getting lighter and showing more blue. I'm certain now that he is a real EBJD even though he didn't look like one for the first week. I have a pellet food I give him but it isn't that good so I'm planning on switching him over to a better quality one. I also feed him some freeze dried brine shrimp, tubifex worms, or beef heart I got to condition my wild bettas once or twice a week and rotate them to keep his diet varied. I'll definitely get pics of him as soon as I can get a working camera. I can't wait to show him off he definitely is beautiful.