why does my jack dempsey hide

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R

regimezx

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 24, 2010
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usa
in the store he bullied all the jack dempseys around he was the boss now he is in my 55 he is 1.5" almost gets eaten by my 8" needlefish and my 3.5" oscar does not bother him but he hides a lot in this tunnel which is 7" long and 3" tall why? the needlefish only eats smaller fish he knows he cant swallow that fish and the jd even attacks the needle once it is too near its cave... arent they aggressive and in my surprise most jd keepers said their jds as often shy/hide, but why?? how come in their tanks at the store are evil and at the sites they say they are really mean, are there fake jds and real jds?
i have seen pics of full grown jds and they look NOTHING like my 1.5" he has stripes and some dotted scales it is a jd though all jds at the store and not just this one look the same at 2"....he has been in the tanks for weeks eats its food but never goes to the other side of the tank, ALL my last cichlids(gt, firemouth, convict, severum, etc.) traveled everywhere from top to bottom and side to side but this one doesnt, just being curious, the current fish are a 3" oscar, 7" neeedlefish, 4" bichir, 6" ghostknfie
 
Got pix?

And could you whittle a couple of clear questions out of that...paragraph?

My Electric Blue JD was also a hider. Then he died. Waste of money, those blues. Anyway, It's good that he's eating. He is probably scared of the needle.
 
its easy for them to bully their own kind cuz they know what to expect but being introduced into a larger tank with larger tank mates that they have never seen before scares the crap out of them especially after shipping it puts a lot of stress on them

just make sure he is getting his share of the food and once he gets to a fair size he will come out more or you can try giving him his own tank and gutt loading him so he can get bigger faster
 
"he is 1.5" almost gets eaten by my 8" needlefish"

Right there you answered your own question.
 
look even if my needlefish is 7" and he is 1.5" is not like the needlefish can swallow that fish he cant i have seen him having trouble swallowing a 1.5" goldfish and ended up spitting it out, and jack dempeys are not slender they are somewhat bulky, and this guy is not scared of him as he hid before i putted the needlefish in, the needlefish doesnt even follow him, cuz mine usually follows a fish very close before it bited, if it follows it may or may not eat it, but he doesnt even follow him and stays at the top i mean come on i had a firemouth this size and he swimmed anywhere in fact beated the needlefish up as soon as he went anywhere but the top of the tank as " that is the needlefish stratus, the very top, hence the name stick fish" all the tank mates are fine no fish has ever hid even if at this size.. they would swim anywhere without any shynerss
 
Ok sorry, I can't help you then. Good luck with him.
 
Sounds to me like everything is fine. Keep up on water changes and enjoy the fish! Remember to relax in front of your tank. :)
 
just because he can't be swallowed, doesn't mean that he won't be scared. If you were put in jail or something and there were murderers 4 times larger then you, wouldn't you be scared? even if there are guards, so you know they wont' kill you.... OF COURSE YOU WILL...
 
also, dempseys are territorial and live in caves, most of them will stay in or around their cave and defend it.... This is normal behavior
 
i thought dempseys were the sht but o wells none of my cichlids have ever done this just weird i guess
 
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