regular jd and ebjd
- Thread starter fishnoob
- Start date
EBJD grow drastically slower than standard jd. I was reading the new TFH magazine and there was an article called "Back to the Beginning of the Electric Blues." In the article they compare the growth rates and from the pictures its pretty significant.
fishnoob;3179458; said:
How large was it when he sent it?
Blue Dempseys are very difficult to sex. Having raised quite a few of both males and females, I do not know of any consistent physical differences. Females do turn very dark when spawning, but by the time they are spawning you already have witnessed pairing behavior...
Venting is the only way to sex them... and the younger the fish the more difficult to vent...
Many people do rely on the idea that females grow slower, and assume that slower growing fish are females. While this is often true, it's not reliable at all. It becomes even less reliable when dealing with a species/morph that is well known to have growth issues, like the Blue Dempseys do.
Jeff knows Cichlids very well, so he may have learned something I've overlooked... or if he sold you the fish at 3.5" he may have witnessed this fish in pairing behavior...
Also, just to share my experience... I've had 3 Blue females pair off with other fish... one produced fry just fine (with standard & 'Gold' Dempseys)... one produced weak fry (with standard & 'Gold" Dempseys)... The other has laid eggs only with a Blue male and the eggs always turn white (the other two females produced fry with Blue dempseys, but they were always weak and died soon after free swimming)...
Thus, in my experience, it works better to use Blue males x Standard females to make 'Blue Gene' producing pairs... This kind of pairing also makes it easier to match them via size/aggression...
3.5 inches the largest he has. and i don't care if they breed, i don't want them to breed to be honest. I just wanted a female jd for my male so he will stop being so shy. But I couldn't find a large enough regular female jd, so just went with a ebjd female.
Midas Madness;3179488; said:
I've beleieved for years that the biggest problem with Blue Dempseys was excessive inbreeding... Common resuluts of excessive inbreeding are: slower groth rate & smaller adult size...
Increased genetic disorders & fluctuating facial asymetery are also common...
...and many other issues commonly found in Blue Dempseys...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbreeding
fishnoob;3179641; said:
First impressions mean a lot... and you mentioned previously that they appear to be getting along quite well...
I think the 'risk' will come if they do spawn... Dempseys will often lip lock as a test of strength, one that your female may not do so well at...
But I have had pairs spawn with absolutely no (apparent) aggression between them...
Another risk may come if your female is not willing/able to spawn and the male is eager... he may become aggressive out of frustration...
All in all, yes there is a solid chance this pair will get along fine... just keep a close eye on them and seperate them if need be...
