Jack Dempsey Color Change

[richardhmc]

Hi! I just wanted to know if Jack Dempseys turn white when stressed and turn black when comfy or the other way around. I've been told by three different pet stores different things. My friend has two dempseys and they are most of the time in a dark shade.

My dempseys range from 2.5 in to about over an inch. and they are always paleish color.
Does it have to do with settings?

Water is clear, temp is 75F, they are in a 55 gallon tank, and ive got a canister filter hooked up to it ( Filstar xp2).

 

[Tom EA]

They're comfy when they're black. White means they are stressed, etc (or that another dempsey is the "boss").

 

[richardhmc]

How can you make them "comfy"?

 

[cichlid savage]

Clear water is not a good indicator of good water quality and is rather subjective. How long has the tank been up and running? What is your WC schedule? Try picking up a test kit (from LFS) and see what your parameters are, for example ph, nitrItes, nitrAtes, and ammonia. This will be a better indicator of the quality of water in your tank. Poor water quality can stress or even kill fish. Hope this helps.

 

[richardhmc]

I see.
Well, you see, I just started the tank this mornin. I did the drip-water system to combine the water with old water from my 10 gallon tank. I let the heater and filter run a day before i added the fish in.

ill test it right now.

nitrate - 0
nitrite - 0
ph - 6.0 ( i have ph up and down ) ill use it
KH - O
GH - 0

 

[richardhmc]

Ive raised the ph to 7.0

 

[RedDevilDon2005]

my guys were stressed before i moved them. now they're really dark. and my ph is 7.

 

[richardhmc]

So Im guessing that its the conditions that affect the color changes. ahha

 

[craig]

You should have taken some gravel from the 10gallon and put it in a filter bag and placed it in the tank or the filter. and if you had a dirty filter on the 10 gallon you should have put that on the 55 until the new filter gets cycled.

 

[cichlid savage]

If you just started the tank watch it carefully to ensure you don't get a spike in toxins. You have to give the tank time to cycle. JD's are pretty hardy fish and should survive as long as you are careful, but expect a fluctuation in nitrItes, nitrAtes and ammonia. Good Luck!