# Jack Dempsey & EBJD Pics & Stories!



## MikeM (Feb 8, 2009)

For those of you who have/have had Jack Dempseys, Post a few pics of them and their home and share with everyone else on their behaviour and personalities! They're an awesome fish! :fish:

I just got a trio of Juvi Jack Dempsey's in an 80Gal and am waiting for 2 to pair off. They are in there with 5 Tiger Barbs, soon to be 10...I know they may have a hard time in there, but they could also be fine until the JD gets huge, so until then, they seem happy  They used to be in there with a pair of convicts, but the Cons took over 3/4 of the tank when breeding so they were re-homed and the JDs now have it all to themselves =D>

No pics right now but I will post later this week with pics!


----------



## lil mama (Nov 24, 2007)

Here is a pic of EBJD he is only 2" but doing well.








He is bold has a lot of spunk and eats well for me. He does like to hang in his cave more than swim around. His name is Atlantis.


----------



## MikeM (Feb 8, 2009)

lil mama! Beautiful looking EBJD...really wish there were some near me! I"ve never seen any for sale though.


----------



## lil mama (Nov 24, 2007)

somethinsphishy.com will ship to you. I paid $19.95 plus shipping.


----------



## lil mama (Nov 24, 2007)

Oh and thank you


----------



## lil mama (Nov 24, 2007)

Oh and thank you


----------



## lil mama (Nov 24, 2007)

Oh and thank you


----------



## lil mama (Nov 24, 2007)

Oh and thank you


----------



## lil mama (Nov 24, 2007)

sorry for all the post I thought my PC was locked up


----------



## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

Iâ€™ve raised several groups of Juvis from several suppliersâ€¦ my older ones are over 3.5 years oldâ€¦ my youngest adults are over 2 years oldâ€¦ I have Blue Genes from each â€œlineâ€


----------



## CiChLiD LoVeR128 (Mar 22, 2006)

Wow awesome Toby_H!

Beautiful JD's and EBJD's! By the way I love your setup and your other cichlids! :thumb:


----------



## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Wow Toby great pictures and great fish. In the first picture, what is in that tank with the two EBJDs, are they some sort of Geo? I actually had a couple questions about that first pic, what size tank is that? How many adult fish do you typically have in that tank? Does all that drift wood mess with you Hardness/ PH? Does white or black sand bring out the EBJDs colors better? I was under the impression back made them look more vibrant.

I also wanted to comment on how nice your large EBJD looks, I love the pattern on the face, and the face shape (I suspect that is your 9 inch one.

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to lean as much as possible, we can start a new thread if this is deterring the conversation.

I will also add me brief experience with EBJDs. I raised one from about an inch, purchased from a LFS; she got to be about 5 inches. She had a permanently ragged tail fin and a gimp shot left fin. She lived with a ram and a geo suri happily in a 55gallon. Believe it or not she seemed to love hanging out with the ram, and the ram would even actually kind of give some **** to the EBJD, small nips, and she would not retaliate. Anyway, a strange Texas (shot bodied or hybrid) I bought as a dwarf Texas from a LFS out grew his tank and was 4 inches. When put in the 55 gallon he tested the EBJD they liked each other and appeared to be attempting to mate. The "Texas" seemed to protect the territory for the EBJD. Then one day with no signs the EBJD was dead. I think the Texas was just too rough of a spawner, and stressed the EBJD out, even though there were no signs of excessive fin nipping or anything. I did not want these fish to spawn, but had no other choice as at the time I only had a 55 gallon 29 gallon and 20 gallon, all with fish, had to move the ram to the 20, and the 29 is full.

Now I have a nice looking EBJD that I purchase at that size. Again the Texas and the new EBJD seem to enjoy each others company and even share a cave and shake in front of each other. I am going to keep a close eye on this EBJD, who is a much stronger and better looking fish than the old one, and move either the Texas or the EBJD to another tank if there are any signs, I have a 38 long now. However, I did not see any signs last time, and I was watch my fish more than the TV, so I am a little afraid to lose what I think is such a great looking EBJD. Maybe I need to just spend the cash and get a bigger tank, or get another 55 for one of the fish, but what I really need is to not live in an apartment and get a garage or spare room where I can really overdo myself. As for now I am just very interested in fish and wishing for the means to get a better set up, one day.

Sorry Toby you had to hear the funny Texas/ EBJD story again, I just love to talk about them and all my friends have herd about enough. Let me know if anyone has any thoughts, concerns, and/or ideas etc.

Here is a pic.
With a flash









Thanks for listening.

-Matt


----------



## Sprungster (Mar 17, 2008)

My EBJD's (They have grown dramatically since this photo):



















My JD male with one of his spawns:


----------



## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

NICE FISH EVERYONE!! :thumb:

Wow, wow, wow I just hope my own EBJD becomes as nice as the ones here! 
Here is another one of my famous crappy pics...and as I posted in the photo forum, this pic turned out strange (again) so yes, his fins are that blue but his body has more silver on it...










I really like this little guy...very outgoing always out and about, very, very active guy.


----------



## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

Thanks for the compliments 



> Wow Toby great pictures and great fish. In the first picture, what is in that tank with the two EBJDs, are they some sort of Geo?


Geophagus Steindachneri



> I actually had a couple questions about that first pic, what size tank is that?


125 Gal



> How many adult fish do you typically have in that tank?


The Blue x Blue pair, young adult pair of Elliotâ€™s Cichlids, 10 or so juvi Blue Gene JD Grow Outs, 25 or so young adult Geos and a 12~14â€


----------



## thinking_fish (Aug 13, 2007)

Nice golds, EB and BG guys hope mine turn out that nice :thumb:


----------



## MikeM (Feb 8, 2009)

Great Pics and experiences...keep 'em comin'!! I know there are more of you out there with Jack Dempseys! :fish: :dancing:


----------



## fatpuffer (Jul 30, 2007)

My ebjd male

Dad with babies (sorry for the bad pic):


----------



## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

fatpuffer said:


>


Very nice looking fish... where did you get him from and do you know his "lineage"


----------



## fatpuffer (Jul 30, 2007)

I got him from a fish store up here in Canada. The owner ordered him from Florida. That is all I know re: lineage.

Looking for some BGJD in Canada right now.

Js


----------



## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Hi Fatpuffer,

You have a beautiful EBJD. One of the best I have seen. How big is he? You should defiantly get some BGJDs and breed him. If you were so inclined, I would just get a nice looking reg JD breed him with her, then you will have your own BGJD, with his quality genes. My friend who breeds EBJDs says his best quality EBJDs come from BGJD x BGJD breeding, only 25% will be EBJD though. It is more time consuming but I think you will have more high quality EBJDs from a BGJD x BGJD brood, compared to EBJD x BGJD. I have not bread EBJD so if anyone has any other thoughts chimein; this is just what a friend told me. But defiantly keep his lineage going. I wish I was in Canada and could get some of his BGJD fry. Great looking fish, totally awesome.

Thanks,
Matt

Edit: I didnt relize your pic said "dad with babies", so maybe you already have some BGJDs from him. If so my post is kinda pointless, sorry. I also wanted to coment on his great head shape and fins, looks great. If some day you have some fry let me know.


----------



## fatpuffer (Jul 30, 2007)

THanks Matt. He does have fry with a regular jd. I left the fry with the parents and unfortunately had to go on vacation. Upon my return, I was down to about 100 fry which is fine. THe parents are still taking care of the babies and they are triple the size. I want the biggest, strongest, and fittest to breed with other bgjd or if i find a nice looking ebjd.

Thanks again.

Jonah


----------



## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Sounds like you are on top of it. Totally awesome, have fun with it. What size tank do you have the pair in?

Thanks,
Matt


----------



## fatpuffer (Jul 30, 2007)

they are in a 46 gallon bowfront tank by themselves.

Js


----------



## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Cool, How big is your EBJD?


----------



## fatpuffer (Jul 30, 2007)

Male is about 4-5 inches 
Female about 3.5 inches

Total length for both
Js


----------



## lmhollist (Aug 7, 2009)

Wow everyone, these EBJDs are beautiful, especially the pics of the mature adults. I just got my first EBJD nearly a month ago (an impulse buy, but I'm glad I did it) and we just moved him into a 55 gallon. He's still pretty small, in the 1 1/2'' to 2'' range but his colors are beautiful. I can only hope that he turns out as well as some of the ones posted on here. My roommate and I also have a regular Jack Dempsey pair + 1 small female. She's probably about half an inch bigger than our EBJD and we are thinking about pairing them up when they are larger to try and get some Blue Gene Dempseys. As it is, she gets left out of all the fun while our two larger JDs perform mating dances every time we do a water change (no fry yet, but they are still pretty young). Anyway, here are pics of our JD pair and EBJD.

Calco the EBJD










Jade and Illadriel, our JD pair










Illadriel (Don't worry, his tail has nearly grown back, Jade doesn't play as rough anymore)


----------



## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

lmhollist said:


> My roommate and I also have a regular Jack Dempsey pair + 1 small female. She's probably about half an inch bigger than our EBJD and we are thinking about pairing them up when they are larger to try and get some Blue Gene Dempseys. As it is, she gets left out of all the fun while our two larger JDs perform mating dances every time we do a water change (no fry yet, but they are still pretty young). Anyway, here are pics of our JD pair and EBJD.


Hi lmhollist,

Were you ever able to pair you EBJD up with one of your regular JDs (or did you even try)? I was also wondering if your regular JDs ever had fry. Is there a cat fish (pitcus, pleco, etc...) in the tank with the pair who show spawning? I ask becuase i have fish that show spawning charateristics about once a month but i have never seen eggs. I assume my large pleco or three cories make work of the eggs pretty quickly. The pleco is agressive and even pushes my JD out of the way during feeding some times, so i assume he muscels his way in any time there are eggs.

Also if anyone else has updates to their fish or new post please share, with pics if you have them.

Thanks,
Matt


----------



## Moofish (Jan 27, 2010)

Hi Guys

Am new to this forum but couldn't resist a reply on EBJDs. I have an EBJD, probably about the same size and age as lil mama's and must say that he is the most active fish in my tank. He's in there with a load of other SA and CA cichlids but DOES NOT hide away - he is in charge! My Blue Acara however is twice his size but a real shy character. I'll try and get some pictures of "Jack" for you soon. Always wanted one of these fish and this was the main reason for upgrading to the 275L (75 Gal for the US folks)


----------



## lmhollist (Aug 7, 2009)

Hi mslancaster!

Yes, my JDs did spawn, although I didn't have any surviving fry. I think a large majority of them got sucked into the filter, I should've known to put a sponge filter over the intake.

But anyway, at the time I didn't keep any catfish types in with my dempseys. After the fry all died off I moved the pair into a 75 gallon with a few cories and a small pleco. They didn't have any successful spawns during that period, even though they exhibited spawning behavior. I've since moved them into another 75 gallon in my living room where their tank mates are giant danios and a female convict. I haven't seen them spawn successfully yet although I think they will soon. I've been feeding them a pretty protein heavy diet lately and I've been trying to up their water changes in an effort to get some fry out them again.

I haven't tried to pair my EBJD up with any other fish yet. He's about 4 inches now and growing pretty fast but I don't think I want to try breeding him. He's developed something of a hook jaw (probably some sort of deformity from inbreeding) and it would be pretty tough to breed it out. It's challenging because he's an extremely healthy and active fish and I want to pass that on, but I don't want to pass on his physical looks since they aren't ideal.


----------



## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

*lmhollist*

Interesting about the spawns... let me know if you get any fry with the catfish in there. Could you post some updated pics of the EBJD or JDs please?

Thanks,
Matt


----------



## lmhollist (Aug 7, 2009)

Sorry for the extended wait! Life is just so busy right now! I finally got around to taking a few pics today with my old camera (blech) since the lens on my newer one is malfunctioning (bigger blech). Anyway, here goes!

Calco the EBJD (much different compared to when he was just a little guy, he's probably 4.5 inches now)



















Cute lil' corycat in Calco's tank










Jack Dempsey tank










Jack Dempsey Male (Illadriel)










Jack Dempsey pair (Illadriel and Jade, this one is about a month old, ignore the datestamp on it)


----------



## Moofish (Jan 27, 2010)

Hi All

I thought I would resurrect this post now I have gotten some pictures of my Jack. Hopefully this will work:


















Thanks


----------



## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

you need to get the URL of the pic...then IMG tag it.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/448 ... 1d91_b.jpg









http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/448 ... 2890_b.jpg


----------



## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

some of mine...




























then...









now...


----------



## Moofish (Jan 27, 2010)

Thanks Riceburner, how did you get the url of the pic? I just copied and pasted it from the Flickr page, is that not right? :-?

btw, bottom pic is my Blue Acara, he and Jack barely pass the the time of day, they have no interest whatsoever in eachother!


----------



## firenzena (Nov 29, 2009)

There are some great pics and stories here.

I got five Juvi EBJD when they first appeared on NZ market about 3 yrs ago.
I got mine from a trusted supplier and within short time other suppliers were bringing them in too.

The difference in quality was amazing. They were About US$60 each and some were horrible body shape, popeyed and some blind.
I was happy with the five I got.



















and had them growing out in a 60 gallon tank.




























I found a nice Female JD










and left male EBJD in 60 gallon, rest went into 125 gallon



















The pair gave me some BGJD










Unfortunately this is where it went pearshaped.

I sold off all but the male EBJD and a Female EBJD that I was fond of.

I was later to find out that the two people that bought the others managed to kill them within two mths.

I raised the BGJD, culling off many, and keeping the strongest.

For some reason the male EBJD was no longer interested in breeding, and after months of trying I had to give up on that project for my sanity.
I know of a few here now that have produced EBJD fry either from EBJD X BGJD or BGJD X BGJD and my hats off too them.
I have kept my one big girl-now 7-8inches and have given the rest to someone who is keen to get them going.

I wonder how many like me that are out there. Cuaght short of the finishing line  .
There is no doubt that to breed these from juvi EBJD through to juvi EBJD is a labour of love
but I still love this fish.


----------



## marinerm10 (Feb 2, 2010)

My big male Jack....

This guy is a wild card. Always hiding and hovering in curiosity when I approach the tank. But he has forced me to take a male Jaguar out in the past. He was so rampant chasing it around.

I also put in accidently another male that was sold to me as a female and he beat this one up pretty bad.

I rescued him from a store a year and a half ago, he was missing his fins and I had no choice put to put him in my old Malawi tank. He got on fine and eventually ruled the tank until I sold all of the Malawis.










And I managed to actually pick up a female this time and recently put them in together. This is a photo of her...










In another tank is this little guy/girl ...... again rescused from an over crowded tank being bullied


----------



## jagz (Nov 1, 2009)

Lets keep it goin...

before pics


















and after


----------



## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

Moofish said:


> Thanks Riceburner, how did you get the url of the pic? I just copied and pasted it from the Flickr page, is that not right? :-?
> 
> btw, bottom pic is my Blue Acara, he and Jack barely pass the the time of day, they have no interest whatsoever in eachother!


depending on the browser you use...right click on a pic and either copy the URL or look in the properties for the pic location.


----------



## Leucistic Guy (Jul 8, 2009)

What do you guys feed the EBJD to get their color to pop?
Do you think grand sumo red or green would be good, or is GS only good for FH's?


----------



## jagz (Nov 1, 2009)

I feed my dempseys hikari gold cichlid pellets and bloodworms and flakes


----------



## Leucistic Guy (Jul 8, 2009)

I got all of those & more, so that;s good to know.
I might be picking up an EBJD tonight so I want to be prepared.

Thanks jagz.


----------



## Leucistic Guy (Jul 8, 2009)

I picked up 2.
I try to get pix when they settle in.
They're quite small still too.


----------



## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Hi *Leucistic Guy*,

Nice pick up, EBJDs are great. I think they look great when young; can not wait to see some pics.

I feed my EBJD Hikari Cichlid Gold as a staple, then sometimes I feed them Hikari Tropical Algae Wafers, hikari bio gold, San Francisco Bay Brand Emerald EntrÃƒÂ©e/ Cichlid Delight frozen cubes, and de-shelled frozen peas (very rarely, it is a pain to de-shell every pea, I warm them up in water then squeeze out the insides to feed. If anyone knows a better way to de-shell peas please let me know).

I have never used Grand Sumo red and/or green, so i am not sure of the ingredients and how it would be for your EBJDs. If it is for flower horns i am sure it is extremely high in protein and i have heard that high protein diets can cause internal parasites which EBJDs seem to prone to getting. The information about high protein diets and internal parasites is only by word of mouth so take it for what it is. I personally try to only feed high protein diets to fry then switch them over to a more standard food once they reach juvi size (but i have never had a FH and/or purely carnivorous fish).

I have found my EBJDs to be a little picky when it comes to food, that is until there is some competition. Now my EBJD will eat anything just as long as he gets it before the other fish. Therefore, if you are having trouble getting your EBJDs to accept food, try putting some tetras in with them to give them some competition/motivation to eat.

Keep us posted.

Thanks,
Matt


----------



## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

Lost control of the tank but still hot. :lol:

This guy like to spend most of his time hiding in the cave till I walk by.


----------



## Leucistic Guy (Jul 8, 2009)

I'll leave to GS to my bigger fish.
Thanks mlancaster.

Sweet JD LSBosst!!!


----------

