What are your EBJD experiences?

[Freezekougra]

Do they still retain the nice blue color throughout their body as they get bigger?
What are their growth rates like, and maximum size?
Are they relatively hardy or do some of them randomly die even though water parameters seem fine?

 

[Bully Fish]

They are all different. Some will keep the deep blue coloration while others will develope a metallic blue with greens and golds next to the blue. Some will turn out darker also.

Same with growth, some grow quickly whilst others grow slow. I myself have never had one die. That may be due to the quality of the fish that I bought or proper care or both.

 

[Loves severums]

they are all different mine grew fast he is now a year old and still look good...

 

[Sarah88]

the hardiness of them is all about where you get them, like stated some will retain the nice deep blue while others will have lighter or even darker blues with more black markings or none at all, the main thing with these guys is getting weak juvies from the lfs from them being overbred and have parasites, the main thing to look for with these guys is deformities and parasites, if you can avoid those and keep up with water parameters then you should be good, my little guy that i had was great and active despite having parasites and ate like a pig, i treated him as soon as i saw the stringy poo and he never once stopped eating and was super personable (was more personable at 1.5in than my regular JD was at 6in lol) but yeah he was doing great and growing but then sadly i lost him when while i was out he got stuck in a shell decoration and instead of swimming back out the way he came, tried to force himself through too small a hold and got stuck needless to say that shell went into the trash that day, i was very disappointed but health-wise he was great, so you just have to start with a good juvie and he will do well

 

[mr limpet]

I have been keeping EBJDs for some years now.Originally started with 6-1 inch juvies from a lfs.5 of the 6 died,but the one that survived grew to 7 inches.I tried to find him a mate,but he would'nt breed.Had a feeling he was sterile.I traded him to a lfs for some red albino oscars(wish I kept him,he was a beauty)Last year got back into the EBJD thing again(after having a health issue).Got 3 EBJDs online,along with 6 Blue Gold Dempseys.They look more Gold than Blue.little bit of a disappointment.Took 3 of the BG dempseys and put them in a 29 gallon,the others I keep in a 90 gallon,with the EBJDs.All are about 2 1/2 inches.Then I decided to buy a mated pair of BG/GG dempseys online,along with 2 extra females.These are the ones that produced the Blue Gold dempseys,but in their spawn will also be some EBJD,Gold JDs,and Blue Gene JDs.The mated pair looks just like regular JDs.They have spawned 2 times so far for me.I lost the last batch of fry in October.But they spawned again last week and I decided to keep parents with fry this time.They are in a 46 gallon tank,parents and fry are doing fine so far.I do notice EBJDs do grow slower than regular Dempseys,and I would also suggest using a UV sterilizer when keeping these kind of Dempseys,as they are more sensitive to water issues and parasites.

 

[Bully Fish]

A further recommendation and something to consider when getting blue dempsey is to know as much as you can about who produced it. Alot of people are being really cheap and lazy breeding fish that are too closely related. Breeding siblings and father to daughter etc is disgusting and the offspring of these types of pairings are less vigorous and more prone to deformities.
Some people have tried to cash in on this fish so go with a quality breeder. If buying from a store try and select one that displays good health. Avoid shy fish and any with deformities. Coloration will change as the fish matures so that should not be a major factor in your selection.
These fish are cool and shouldnt have the reputation they have. It is true that young ones do need care but its worth it.

 

[Sab_Fan]

mine has maxed out at 4" ... he is very colorful, but also very ugly, with a bulldog jaw and sunken eyes ... he cannot survive with even moderately aggressive fish, so he shares a tank with a single female pink convict ... I'm not ever sure if he can see ...

 

[Bully Fish]

mine has maxed out at 4" ... he is very colorful, but also very ugly, with a bulldog jaw and sunken eyes ... he cannot survive with even moderately aggressive fish, so he shares a tank with a single female pink convict ... I'm not ever sure if he can see ...

Thats a bummer. I hope you can get a good one in the future.

This little guy is my favorite. I hope I can get a better camera after christmas so I can take decent pictures. He's almost 4" now and agressive and eats like a pig. Havnt had any health issues with him and he begs for food like a dog. Hoping to get a bg spawn from him.

 

[Snowflake311]

My experiences was disapointing. I bought this EBJD when he was 2" a year ago.

Then

And Now. He is this ugly runt. Only 4" and seems to get more and more deformed everyday. His head gets larger but his body stays the same.

He now has a lumpy beak face a dent in his side he always has this dent but its worst. His color is not great he is not as healthy as the others. I would never get one again. He was a good fish out going and cute likes to show off and eats well. Not at all what I though he would be.

His growth was good for the first few month he grew fast. But seems to have stoped. My Severum that I got at the same time is now 8" but the EBJD 4".

 

[Bully Fish]

Wow I hope more people can post some good stuff about these fish. I agree the one above is not very good quality. Does anyone else have an ebjd that is decent quality?