******Jack Dempsey breeding help******

[Redbellypiranha]

I have a male and female jack dempseys. what my question is how do i breed them? they are in a 55 gallon fish tank alone with sand substrate is this okay?
How do i care for the fry? should i remove them when free swimmers? how can i trigger spawning? when do they become sexually mature? they are about 4-6 inches each. what should the temperature at?

Thanks

 

[Jmart159]

I've never bred them myself but a few things that might be worth a try would be a good water change, feeding some meaty foods, adding a dither fish so they have something to bond together against, and bumping up the temp a few degrees. Also, I've heard that conditioning them separately and then reintroducing them can work but probably isn't necessary. Once again, I've never bred them myself but I believe these things should help.

 

[Nate_N_Nicole]

I've never bred them myself but a few things that might be worth a try would be a good water change, feeding some meaty foods, adding a dither fish so they have something to bond together against, and bumping up the temp a few degrees. Also, I've heard that conditioning them separately and then reintroducing them can work but probably isn't necessary. Once again, I've never bred them myself but I believe these things should help.

Great advise... Jacks breed very easy... As long as you have a slate for them to lay eggs on... Having a male and female helps... lol, They really do breed easy though... Try everything above and get a nice clean flat slate in your tank I bet they will breed soon. 4-6 inches should be perfect size...

 

[mshill90]

MOST jacks don't mature until 6-8 inches, but come mature earlier.

I have some tips on breeding that will help since I accidentally had them breed.

I had 2 males and a female... 2-3 inches with some eartheaters and clown loaches cramped into a 30 gallon tank (not recommended) the temp was set at 76 degrees F, and I never really paid much attention to the tank.. lol..

One day one of the males started being aggressive so I took him out of the tank, and left the male and female in the 30. Then a few days later, I walk past the tank, and there is papa jack guarding a HUGE ball of wigglers in the sand.

I didn't do anything special, I didn't feed them anything special... I just pretty much put them in a tank with NO intention on them breeding, and it happened.

I have a 11'' Male Jack, and an 8'' Female Jack, and they don't do anything at all. They just chill in their tank.

The key thing is remembering that Jacks pick their partners- not you.

 

[sunshinetrenie]

well with my jacks i keep temp at 80 degrees. i have a big clay pot that they use as a cave and also lay eggs on top of. when im wanting mine to breed i do a few things first i feed them earthworms. hamburger in the winter (just a pinch as it can really foul up the water) next i do a big water change. then if that doesnt work i tape a mirror onto the glass... sounds weird but it makes the male think that their is competition and he attacks the mirror and in turn gets her attention. are you sure u have a pair? if you post a pic of them we might be able to at least tell you if they are male and female.

 

[sunshinetrenie]

just checked out your pics on your profile and i see you do have male and female. and they do look as though they are a pair! so that is a great start!

 

[rkaney]

Kept my water at 78, had a cave, kept up with water changes, and added some earthworms every couple days to their diet of flake/pellets. Two batches of fry within the last month.

 

[Planetnicolas]

I was reading a web site about breeding JD's and apparently you can coax them into breeding by placing a mirror next to the tank so the male can see his reflection. he will become aggressive towards it and this will bring the female towards him good luck

http://jackdempseycichlid.com/breeding/encouraging-jack-dempsey-cichlids-to-lay-eggs/

there's the link to the site it has information written out and it also has a video clip of the mirror strategy again good luck