# recommended food for juv. EBJD



## jlive (Nov 30, 2008)

i bought a beautiful little ebjd 2 days ago at the LFS. The only food i have right now is cichlid flake food. He'll eat the flake food, but sometimes he'll suck a piece in then spit it out and let it sink to the bottom. The owner of the LFS gave me about a dozen small guppies to let him feed on. i haven't seen him eat any of the guppies, but the smallest of the guppies are missing.

so what do you folks recommend. i've read that they love krill. How about frozen brine shrimp, blood worms. are all of these good choices? One better than the other? thanks in advance.


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## jlive (Nov 30, 2008)

I should've mentioned It's only about 1.5". in a 72g bowfront with a chinese algea eater and about 7 guppies. I just did a 25% water change and found alot of the flake food lying on the substrate (PFS). Also found 4 dead guppies.? I test the water for ph, ammonia twice weekly, and i take some water to the LFS so they can test everything else. Tests say everything is where it should be.


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## planetnicolas (Mar 16, 2010)

No live food it's a bad habit and Its bad for them. I feed my jd live food every once Ina while because he loves his pelet food ALOT more than the live but until your Jack demspey is hooked on cichlid pelets I wouldent give him anything else plus the pelets help bring out his colors. Good luck my jd loves topfin cichli pelets.


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

It sound to me like the OP doesn't know Jack will eat the guppies once it get big enough. I think that's why the guppies are dead (Jack knock them out). The smallest guppies is missing? Now you know where it went. :fish: My question is did the pet store recommend you to put the JD in with the guppies?

Ok now for food recommendation. JD need variety in their diet. A good quality pellet food should be fine. I feed mine Hikari gold, it has high protein which is good for growth. I heard nls cichlid formula is good too, I still need to get some and try it. Occasionally you can feed them Frozen Bloodworm, shrimp, or krill found at the pet store as treat. Treat means no more than twice a week.


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## jlive (Nov 30, 2008)

LSBoost said:


> It sound to me like the OP doesn't know Jack will eat the guppies once it get big enough. I think that's why the guppies are dead (Jack knock them out). The smallest guppies is missing? Now you know where it went. My question is did the pet store recommend you to put the JD in with the guppies?


The guppies were given to me as a food source for the EBJD ,just as my original post states. 
Yes,I know that the jack will eat the guppies :thumb: :roll: I was hoping he had eaten the missing guppies, but i found them dead on the bottom while vacuuming the tank this morning. 
I went out and bought some Wardley shrimp pellets, and some frozen krill. I will keep the krill as a treat as advised above. The protein content in the wardley brand is "35% crude protein". i didn't compare this to other brands. Is that a suitable amount? Thanks for the replys.


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

Sorry i miss that, 

In my experience wardley are not that good. My bro's betta don't eat wardley betta pellets. My JD and GT stop eating wardlet cichlid pellet after a while. I thought they had bloat but I got hikari and they eat that. I tested it on the oscar too. I put the wardley pellet in and it will just spit it out. Now i got a bunch of wardley pellet laying around. I'll try to feed it to my koi later when it warm up see what happen.

35% protein is pretty low for krill. Krill suppose to have like 50%-60%, same with shrimp and blood worm. That's why I use it as treat because it's so high in protein. Hikari cichlid gold have 40% protein, I use it as a staple food feeding twice a day. All my fish have great color, water is super clean, can't really complain much.

I don't recommend feeding live fish at all because they are not nutritious and may carry diseases but I guess people enjoy watching that. So, if you must then I guess you should breed your own guppies and/or quarantine them for 30-40 days before feeding them. Live worm is much more nutritious and they're safer.


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## jagz (Nov 1, 2009)

hikari cichlid gold as the main diet and frozen bloodworms 2 to 3 times a week is usually best for theses guys. If he is not eating now get him started on frozen bloodworms as soon as you can.


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## Lunafish (Aug 9, 2009)

My JD loves her Hikari Gold Cichlid pellets. And blood worms. She doesn't go for the frozen brine shrimp though. And she won't touch the floating cichlid 'sticks" But my GT will take the sticks from my fingers! :thumb: I started out in the hobby with Mollies that will eat ANYTHING opcorn: and I am finding my cichlids a lot pickier :x

Matt


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## mleibowi (Nov 26, 2006)

my juvie EBJ loves frozen bloodworms. I haven't had parasite issues, and he just loves them!


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## joedafrog (Sep 19, 2008)

I will remind you that ebjd do not act like jacks until they have some growth in them. if, you want some specific info on EBJD, i would check out all things dempsey. it is a great jack source.

http://dempsey.6.forumer.com/index.php? ... f72eddd3b6

they are very docile and non aggressive while juvies. you can keep them with swords or platties until they are 2 to 2.5 inches-ish. the important thing is to keep them eating during the initial growing phase. everyone else is correct when they suggest pellet food. while i agree that frozen food should be a treat, just make sure they eat until they grow another .5 inches or so.

jacks are gluttons and will eat just about anything you feed them given enough exposure. I seriously doubt that your jacks will eat the guppies for a while. use flake food and frozen until they are big enough to eat pellets. pellets are going to help their colors the most. but, get something into their mouths until they are at least 2 inches.


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## firetiger (Mar 3, 2010)

I would suggest removing the guppies as they will probably continue to die off and will hurt your water quality if you don't get the dead out quickly.


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## jlive (Nov 30, 2008)

Quick update.....

The Electric Blue Jack has been nibbling on the shrimp pellets. he's consuming enough to make me happy. Today i bought some frozen blood worms and cut off a small sliver to drop in the tank, and wow, he attacked that stuff!! :dancing: he ate all the bloodworms that i put in. I think he would've eaten more, but i didn't want to over do it. Whats the rule of thumb with these fish.....give em' has much has they'll eat in a 1-2 minute period? 
Thanks for all the advice. =D>


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## jagz (Nov 1, 2009)

Thats great dude!! Give him as much as he can eat in 5 mins. He needs flakes and pellets too.


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## jlive (Nov 30, 2008)

jagz said:


> Give him as much as he can eat in 5 mins.


He ate so much in that 1st feeding that i could see that his stomach was noticably larger after the feeding. Could he over eat? I need to do my research, but, isn't "bloat" caused from overeating?

Flakes and pellets will be the usual foods at feeding times with the occasional bloodworms or krill as a treat 2-3 times a week. :fish:


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

jlive said:


> jagz said:
> 
> 
> > Give him as much as he can eat in 5 mins.
> ...


5 mins? are you trying to kill him? What kind of advice is that. Overfeeding will lead to bad water quality and a bunch of problems could come from that.

Only as much as he can eat in 30 seconds once or twice a day. That translate to about 8-10 large hikari cichlid gold pellets for a large JD.


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## jagz (Nov 1, 2009)

Jlive, just make sure he is eating the food you put in there, don't add too much food at once. you don't want food floating around uneaten. There is nothing wrong with their bellies getting a little full. My dempseys will usually eat up 5 minutes or more when I feed them. They will search the bottom of the aquarium looking for more food even after the food is all eaten.

With your dempseys being so small and under 3 inches they are really prone to disease and parasites. IMO I would try to get them to grow as fast as you can in a healthy way of course.

Once they get past the 3 inch mark they become alot stronger and healthier.


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## jlive (Nov 30, 2008)

thanks Jagz, Those are some great looking fish!


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## jagz (Nov 1, 2009)

Thanks. The male dempsey is almost a year old now and about 6 inches long. Here is a pic when he was about 4 inches.His color has changed quite a bit.


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

Here's mine with way less feeding than Jagz. Grew from 2 inch to 8 inches in just 9-10months with small frequent water changes. My GT live in the same tank with the same feeding time and he's pretty colorful. If you feed a lot I suggest to watch the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels.


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## jagz (Nov 1, 2009)

Jlive, do you have a uv sterilizer?


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## jagz (Nov 1, 2009)

Nice fish Lsboost! Reg dempseys usually grow alot faster than ebjd's. I'm not suggesting jlive overfeed his fish just give him enough to get full at feedings. As far as amonia/nitrite/nitrate levels, the 1.5 inch dempsey is in a 72 gallon with a chinese algae eater and 3 guppies.


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## jlive (Nov 30, 2008)

LSBoost-that GT is amazing. I love the red on the tips. Thanks for sharing. As far as the feedings go, i use common sense. i don't dump a sh*t pile of food in the tank and watch it sink to the bottom. I'm cautious and observant when feeding. I check the ammonia levels about once every 2 weeks. I check ph just about every other day. I take some water to the LFS every month so they can test everything else for me. so far..so good. i do frequent, small water changes. I think my EBJD is doing really good, it's early in the game....i know.....But with some persistance, maintenance and asking questions on this forum, i'm hopeful that i can maintain a strong and thriving environment for my fish.
I've kept a variety of fish over the past 15 years, so i'm not new to the hobby, just new to EBJD. Finding and buying this fish has sparked a new found interest in the hobby, and i want to make sure i do the best i can to keep my fish happy and healthy. So thanks for the help.

Jagz- No, i don't have a UV sterilizer. I've read that alot of people recommend it for these fish. I'd like to get one, i've never had one. right now the budget is tight. so it'll have to wait. do you use one?


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## jagz (Nov 1, 2009)

Jlive,

I do use one. I think it is a good preventive measure for these guys. And it helps with algae.

Check this website out (allthingsdempsey.com) it has alot of useful info for ebjd's


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

Lol thanks jlive, your EBJDs are nice too. I guess whatever you're doing is working for you. Your tanks is pretty big so I guess that helps. As for UV sterilizer, some people use it some don't. I don't. No carbon either.

Here's the result in the 100gallon (you've already seen how clear the 55g is). Didn't clean the inside of that glass for 2-3 weeks. Some algae is starting to show on the left side but I don't mind algae:


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## mleibowi (Nov 26, 2006)

I mix flake, blood worms, occassional brine shrimp, and pellets. He also nibbles on algae pellets. My EBJ also gets a bloated looking stomach after eating blood worms, but its OK. I only feed once in the AM, and small snack later in the day. He's fine. It's my understanding that bloat is a real issue for africans, not so much in CA cichlids.


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## jlive (Nov 30, 2008)

LSBoost said:


> Lol thanks jlive, your EBJDs are nice too. I guess whatever you're doing is working for you. Your tanks is pretty big so I guess that helps. As for UV sterilizer, some people use it some don't. I don't. No carbon either.


What kind of filtration do you use? This might be a dumb question.....but why no carbon? Whats the benefits/negatives with carbon. I've always thought that carbon helps keep water clean, so i've always just used it without giving it much thought. 
thanks


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

You can go to the link on my signature and read from page one. It has all the info on my filtering system.

You should do a little reading on carbon and decide if you want to use it for yourself. They're good to remove medication. They can hide imperfection in an aquarium, hence the clearer water. I like to deal with problems from the source of it. Even if you use carbon, you really don't know how long they will last. So you will need to replace them once every few weeks. If you keep them too long in there the chemical they remove will leak back out into the tank. They can only absorb so much and last for a few weeks depending on how much "stuff" need to be remove from the tank. They're just take up space IMO, I rather have some bio media in their place.


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