Love hate feelings for jack dempsey

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Mrs. Nicky

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 3, 2014
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Norfolk, Va
I just really need to vent. So thanks in advance. I have spent many years loving jack dempsey's. When I was a kid my mom had one and I just remember that fish being the prettiest fish I've ever seen. I have kept several jack dempseys since I entered this hobby and I will never understand how a fish so bold and beautiful can also be so skittish. I love how beautiful jack dempsey's are but I hate the fact that I hardly ever get to see mine. Whenever I do get lucky enough to see them it is only for a split second before they fearfully dart back into their cave. I will never be over the beauty of a jack dempsey but I am over the frustration of keeping such a skittish fish. It really defeats the purpose of keeping fish if I never get a chance to watch them interact. I know in my heart that I must find a way to learn how to stop keeping dempseys because other then their appearance they no longer satisfy my needs in this hobby. I just really hope another type of fish would capture my interest as much as the jack dempsey once did :'(

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I know that feeling my jack is the most colorful in my tank yet choses to hide most of the day unless its eating or chasing around anything which is rare occurrence since It hides 22/7.

If you like colorful and definitely in your face most species of sunfish could work or if you decide to stick with the Jacks try more dithers.

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Mrs. Nicky said:
I just really need to vent. So thanks in advance. I have spent many years loving jack dempsey's. When I was a kid my mom had one and I just remember that fish being the prettiest fish I've ever seen. I have kept several jack dempseys since I entered this hobby and I will never understand how a fish so bold and beautiful can also be so skittish. I love how beautiful jack dempsey's are but I hate the fact that I hardly ever get to see mine. Whenever I do get lucky enough to see them it is only for a split second before they fearfully dart back into their cave. I will never be over the beauty of a jack dempsey but I am over the frustration of keeping such a skittish fish. It really defeats the purpose of keeping fish if I never get a chance to watch them interact. I know in my heart that I must find a way to learn how to stop keeping dempseys because other then their appearance they no longer satisfy my needs in this hobby. I just really hope another type of fish would capture my interest as much as the jack dempsey once did :'(

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Get an umbee. They look really good and some have a nice blue color and they are pretty interactive...or a dovii hehe :) that should make you happy :D. However my jack dempsey is very interactive not shy and very personable but I'm not really intrested in them myself.

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Damn now I'm worried. I just bought an EBJD for $30. I don't want a fish that just hides all day. Should I keep him or sell him off?
 
I see my jackDempsey every time i look at the tank(witch is a lot of the time) but it may be I have 6 columbian tetras and a pair of pearl gourami. He follows me when I walk past the tank I have plenty of caves. And he's always trying to escape from the tank and nipping gourami.
 
Get a GT, they look better than JD's imo and actually swim about; that's why I got one.

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9JackDempsey72 said:
I see my jackDempsey every time i look at the tank(witch is a lot of the time) but it may be I have 6 columbian tetras and a pair of pearl gourami. He follows me when I walk past the tank I have plenty of caves. And he's always trying to escape from the tank and nipping gourami.
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my Dovii follows me... but he bites the tank at the same time.

I never had an isue with shy Dempseys, but I always had other fish in with them so they felt more secure.

try larger dithers and see what happens
 
convict360 said:
Get a GT, they look better than JD's imo and actually swim about; that's why I got one.

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Yeah I have a small GT and he is great he happily swims all over the place. He never runs from me. He just don't seem to be growing. I got him about 6 months ago and he is still the same size. I think I'm going to ditch the Jacks and add some dithers for the GT

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