New JD help

[Vaskov]

Hello all back again with another JD thread, sorry!

I finally got myself a 2" JD at the minute it is more black and brown stripes than anything but it does have a blue chin starting to color up which is good!

I put it in the tank yesterday and I have researched that they are skitish and shy fish and so far it hides in its cave until it sees me then makes a run for a small crevice in the driftwood where it hides out more often than not and just seems to occasionally peer out at me from different angles before sliding back under its quite comical but anyway onto my concerns.

I have tried feeding it some mini cichlid gold pellets and it took no notice and Ive tried some affa cichlid mix frozen worms and still no luck. I know its still early days but when should I expect it to eat and when should I be worried?

The tank is 120cm by 40cm by 55cm and its the only fish in there.

Thanks!

 

[justarn]

She's probably terrified with all that space and no other fish. I would get a group tetra or small barbs to entice her out. (Blue chin=female)
You have no need to worry about feeding yet, at a few weeks I would get a little concerned.

 

[justarn]

I would get a male and another 1-2 female and 10-15 tiger barbs. Maybe a nice bristlenose pleco too. And a spotted pictus catfish.
Be a nice little community.
Failing that as a we pet I would get a male.

 

[justarn]

Get some clear pics up, it might be male but going on what you said I'm leaning female.

 

[Vaskov]

She's probably terrified with all that space and no other fish. I would get a group tetra or small barbs to entice her out. (Blue chin=female)
You have no need to worry about feeding yet, at a few weeks I would get a little concerned.

I would get a male and another 1-2 female and 10-15 tiger barbs. Maybe a nice bristlenose pleco too. And a spotted pictus catfish.
Be a nice little community.
Failing that as a we pet I would get a male.

Get some clear pics up, it might be male but going on what you said I'm leaning female.

Thanks for the replies! As it stands I have no chance of getting a pic the JD has one cave where it stays if it thinks im not there and a driftwood fortress it stays in when it knows im there! I will try my best as the days go on and hopefully it gets comfier!

If it does come through as female would the tank be big enough for another JD? Would the tiger barbs pick up on her being timid and bully her if I put them in soon?

Hopefully she gets a bit more relaxed the tanks in a room where I spend alot of time so it should get used to me being there either that or itll get worse for me being there!

The guy who sold me the JD has another 1 for sale that is the same size. Would adding that now cause problems?

 

[demonknight]

I faced your same issue with a small RD when i got him into a 90G all by himself.

Added a few tetras and what do you know, the little guy was not so scared any more

 

[Vaskov]

I faced your same issue with a small RD when i got him into a 90G all by himself.

Added a few tetras and what do you know, the little guy was not so scared any more

Awesome! Which Tetras did you add? Thanks for the reply!

 

[demonknight]

Empepror tetras and Red Phantom tetras. Those were the biggest i could find other than the widow tetras.

Will lose the Red Phantoms first i guess. 1 down already.

 

[Vaskov]

Empepror tetras and Red Phantom tetras. Those were the biggest i could find other than the widow tetras.

Will lose the Red Phantoms first i guess. 1 down already.

I asked my LFS what bigger tetras they had and they said black phantom, x ray, serpae or black widow. Im not sure which of these would pair better with a JD.

 

[duanes]

In nature JDs are surrounded by live bearers like mollies, swordtails or Gambusia, so if you care about things like being geographically correct they would be more appropriate, if you don't then the others suggested above work well as dither fish.
They also live among Astyanax tetras in Mexico, but these are often hard to find, and can be nippy, especially irritating if the JDs fins start to grow, and they trim them (I also find Tiger barbs to be quite nippy in the same manner).
Couple Natural habitat videos below
Eden2
027 zps4b102ffd