When I was younger I had JD's in a lot of my tanks, had a breeding pair etc. Anyway they were always this awesome dark almost black color which made their blue really stand out. Anyway, I was thinking of getting a JD for the 150 I'm setting up but the ones in the LFS are all pale and frankly look like crap. Is it just the LFS and being stressed? If I bought one of these JD's is it likely to darken as it acclimates like the ones I had? I honestly don't remember any of my JD's being all that pale even if they were getting picked on by other fish etc, and I'd hate to buy one of these JD's and have it look bad forever.
Jack Dempsey color ?
- Thread starter CTU2fan
- Start date
I would think it should, my female I bought at petsmart and she looked ok but eh. I put her in my tank and she grew up to be a beautiful female with many kids =] (sadly she died a few days ago 
) Shes only in two of the pics below. Her mate which was a male my bf bought from a different petsmart, it looked speckly but still pretty pale and we decided to take him home, and he turned out amazing, I'll post up some pics of them both - but they arent the best and they def. dont do them justice. The one with a small jd in a net was her about 2 weeks after she came home - she looked pale before then (you have to click the picture then hit open). None the less thats how the paleish jds that we got from petsmart turned out.
) Shes only in two of the pics below. Her mate which was a male my bf bought from a different petsmart, it looked speckly but still pretty pale and we decided to take him home, and he turned out amazing, I'll post up some pics of them both - but they arent the best and they def. dont do them justice. The one with a small jd in a net was her about 2 weeks after she came home - she looked pale before then (you have to click the picture then hit open). None the less thats how the paleish jds that we got from petsmart turned out.Ah OK, that's a relief. These JD's at my lfs actually have quite a bit of blue on them so if they do darken up they should be very nice. Think I'll chance it. Nice pix BTW, sorry you lost the female. Do you still have the male? He's nice.
I have found with my JD that the darker the substrate in the tank tends to bring out their dark colors, making a better contrast to their blue specks and red edges on their fins. My JD has been put in my hospital tank where the substrate is a natural neutral brown color, the JD is much paler in this tank regardless of her health. to get the color that you want which is almost black with alot of specks of blue and such, use a black gravel. It will make a JD colors pop... blood worms and beef heart help as well.
I think it is true of a lot of CA/SA cichlids.....take Salvini's. You wouldnt touch em in your lfs under 3", they look so plain....then when they get older and colour up.....wow!!
My friends JD's were the same as yours.....4 were bought, 2 paired off and have awesome colouring now.....
My friends JD's were the same as yours.....4 were bought, 2 paired off and have awesome colouring now.....
My female changes color a lot. Especially at feeding time. You'll be fine, and if they have good color at that small size I'd bet they'll be lookers when they mature. Good luck!
When I got mine, he was washed out too, but after a good diet of Hikari Gold and Hikari Krill, he has some amazing coloring.
rkbenge;1473246; said:
Ding ding ding. We have a winner. Subdued lighting, dark gravel, and a dark background coupled with good food, good water quality, and low stress and you'll have a nice dark fish.
I bought mine paler with TONS of spangle. Put him and an equal size gt in at the same time (with other fish already in the tank), and it was instant jet black. Been that way since.