Is there hope for my JD

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ColeFishing

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jan 5, 2012
1,820
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Ohio
My JD is roughly 3" long and not displaying any color. Is it possible that it's colors will come out later. Believe it or not it's a male JD and I hear there're more colorful than females but he has no color at all. Here are some pics. Is it possible that he'll color up when he's bigger. What size do their permanent colors come in? The first pic is him on a good day and the second pic is how he looks 95% of the time.


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yea how did u go about knowing its male? and +2^ and just wait as they get older they also tend to get colorful i had a normal female that ended up being way more colorful than most males ive seen and yes males are usually always more colorful then females
 
ColeFishing said:
You can tell by the breeding pore if you vent it or something like that. I feed it bloodworms, nls cichlid pellets, Hikari carnivore, and earth worms. Pellets are the staple.


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JDs are pretty easy to sex once they start exhibiting more color. Females will have more blue pearls on their gill plate which is commonly known as a Blue Beard. Males will not have such predominant blue coloration on their gill plate. I have seen very small JDs with great coloration. It all depends on genetics, diet, tankmates, and water parameters. I see a small catfish in one of the pics. Are there anymore fish with the JD? What size is the tank? How long have you had the JD in the tank? A newly introduced cichlid will not always color up immediately. It can take a few days or weeks for them to become accustomed to their new surroundings. Larger and/or more dominant tankmates can also stress others to the point where they will not show bright colors and patterns. If you haven't done so already, try adding some cover for the JD in the form of caves, rocks, or driftwood. Sometimes living in a tank with little cover can make a cichlid feel uncomfortable, causing its appearance to be drab or very dark. I hope this helps a bit. Good luck.
 
Tank is 75 gallons. Tank mates are pretty chill. I have a Lima, ornate bichir, FL. Gar, channel cat, rtp, red parrot cichlid, sailfin pleco. I weekly 20% WC. And the biggest fish is my gar at 13". Everything else is 6"-9". I keep everything well fed and the only bothersome tank mate is the channel because when I turn my light off he will follow other tank mates around. Not causing any damage just probably anoyying for the fish being followed lol. I don't worry about fish and them outgrowing the tank everything has been sorted out and the 75 is more of a grow out. Also I have light natural gravel but moved the JD to a black gravel and I noticed no change except he darkened up w/ no more color.


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