Need Electric Blue Jack Dempsey Tips

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I feel Blue Dempseys have a bad reputation from misinformed people giving advice, or people speculating about why they are having the experiences they are having...

When young, Blue Dempseys are prone to parasitic infection. This is completely true. I personally use UV lights to remove the risk of parasitic infection. Others keep things as clean as possible trying to reduce the liklihood of introduction and are prepared to treat the fish if they fall ill.

I do find some Blue Dempseys to be weak, slow growing, etc... but I also find some of every species I've bred to be weak, slow growing, etc. It's a simple reality that Dempseys developed a breeding style that produces many many offspring and very very few of them are meant to survive.

I feel it is misleading to suggest that Blue Dempseys are slow growers, as I have some that grow as quickly as my standard Dempseys.

I feel it is misleading to suggest that Blue Dempseys do not get as large as standard Dempseys, as I have a 3 year old 9" robust adult male Blue that is larger than some 3 year old standard males...

I feel it is misleading to suggest that Blue Dempseys are not as aggressive as standard Dempseys as the 9" Blue male I mentioned can and has dominanted similar sized Standard (or BG) males.

I think it is fair to suggest that slow growing or less aggressive Blue Dempseys are more common than standard Dempseys. I personally feel this is due to selective breeding for coloration, long fins or other characteristics besides health... as well as excessive inbreeding...

I have foudn that after sexual maturity the risk for parasitic infection is no different than standard Dempseys. I have had adult Blues get ick a couple of times and they were able to overcome it with little to no issues.
 
I feel the same as nc nutcase.I grew mine up in regular filter, gravel, everything. I really did not notice much of a difference from regular jd's. I didn't use uv sterilizer or any of that fancy stuff. Just keep up with your water changes. Mine have had ich before and waterchange, salt and less light did the cure. Mine are pretty hardy and the one in my AV is pretty mean.They can hold their own like most JD's, but I wouldn't risk throwing them in with regular CA cichlids, just because of the price tag on these guys. Just try to keep it simple... Keep up with Water Changes! I feed small hikari pellets, and flake food when they were little. Now they like bigger hikari and stealing massivore pellets from my bichirs.
I was more careful because I payed $40 rather than $2.50 for a JD, and heard the horror stories of how hard it is to raise them.
 
Some times your lucky with them.. sometimes they die from unexplain causes..

I had one for 9 months a good 2.5" that was stable enough and started to grow.. sadly he passed on.....:(

Its better to find ones from breeders that are famous for breeding them.. Should try the allthingsdempsey.com forum or electricbluejackdempsey one...
 
I have purchased many a Blue Dempseys. The only Luck I have had is when they are purchased at the 2.5-3" stage. Although there are some higher quality blues now then there were when i was raising them. Id suggest just raising the Blue dempsey with other blues or dithers till it reaches a certain size. If you were to keep a regular dempsey with the Blue it will outgrow the Blue, (I have had this happen).

Another thing to look out for is bad genetics, fish with one eye bigger than the other or mishapen jaws. I had some that when I grew out ended up having these traits and I culled them.

They are a great and beautiful fish to own but came become frustrating if you run into issues.
 
I just lost one in my planted angelfish tank, it died of bloat. He was around 2.5-3". They are way more sensitive than angels. I put them in there because they wouldnt last a second in any other tank that I have, and I this is the most over filtered over planted tank I have running.
 
My brother got one it it is deformed, pretty bad too, its about 4 in now. It's eye sockets point straight forward. Wierd looking fish. So I guess I'm going to jump in with a question, was is the top size for one of them that lives to maturity? I'm probably getting a couple next week, going to raise them up (hopefully) for my boss, keep one if I like it, seen pics and vids of them. Never actually dealt with them.
 
I was more careful with tankmates and feeding than I would have been with a reg jd due to thier rep for dying.But mine seems to be a robust,healthy fish.He eats mainly Kens tropheus flake,and earthworms.Flat out refuses any pellet,always has.
 
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