# Jack Dempsey sulking?



## Japtastic (Jan 21, 2008)

Hi guys

I have a 3.5" JD that up until now has been fairly active and eating well but I had to remove the 3 females that were in with him due to too much breeding, every since I have done that he has appeared to be sulking and for 90% of the time just sits in his favorite spot and hardly moves and he is off his food, I've tried all the normal foods I give him from flake to frozen food and he pretty much ignores all of it, he only just bothered to eat some shrimp I put in there for him.

The other thing I have noticed is my Firemouuth which is also the same size has been fronting up to him a lot and gill flaring and also a bit of lip locking, he/she seems to pester him constantly and he/she has a fair few bites and fins broken when he gets angry. Does he/she fancy him or what?

Water parameters/temp all normal and 20% water change done weekly, all other fish fine.

Any thought on any of this would be great as he clearly isn't happy and not really eating.


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## Japtastic (Jan 21, 2008)

Any thoughts any one?


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## yankz12603 (Mar 2, 2008)

give a girl back to him... idk


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## Japtastic (Jan 21, 2008)

Right bit of an update.

I moved everything out of the tank while I did my monthly 50% water change and filter clean then when I put it all back together I completely re modeled the way the tank looked with different caves and more of them, once everything had settled down everything went wild, the whole hierarchy of the community was gone, the Salvini was attacking everything, the FM decided to pair up with a convict and defend a cave at one end of the tank, the JD was fighting with the FM and Con and the Sal, it was chaos.

After a while this seemed to calm down and the JD and Sal are now between about 3 different caves having face off's every now and then but it has certainly sorted the problem for now, will keep you updated!

Wish me luck.


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## swimalong (Feb 9, 2008)

Hi.... I have a JD too whose behavior changed a lot when other species were removed from the tank.... they weren't JD's either... I think they can be affected when the other big fish are suddenly gone. Dither fish helped for me.

Sounds like they just need to work out the hierarchy.... have things settled yet?


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## Japtastic (Jan 21, 2008)

Just checked and things seemed to have calmed down and all fish are swimming about a lot more rather than just hiding in their respective caves, hopefully it will stay like this, will keep ya posted


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

So there's 4 fish in this tank altogether (JD, sal, FM, con), right? What size tank?
How are things looking today? Do the con and FM still seem to be buddied-up together? Any fighting taking place? Has someone established themselves as 'tank boss' yet?

BV


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## Japtastic (Jan 21, 2008)

Yeah 4 all together all around the 3.5-4" mark in a 63g at the moment so plenty of room for now, I'll upgrade them to a 125g that I have lined up when it's needed.

There is a bit more hiding today but no where near as bad as before, the JD seems to be the tank boss now with the Sal very close behind, the FM below that and the female con at the bottom although she does help the FM when he needs help which I find funny, that FM sure sticks up for him self and has a couple of nipped fins but nothing too serious, they are still not eating as much as they used to especially the JD.


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Well, about all you can do is keep a close eye on them and be prepared to intervene if it looks like any of them are going to be bullied to death. It will be interesting to see what unfolds when the FM and con end up spawning...

BV


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## csnaspuck (May 28, 2008)

My JD does the same thing sometimes too until I give it some feeders and then after that seems to be fine for another couple weeks and eats flakes and all. But then it will just go to its hole and not eat and then it will also thin down too which sometimes worries me but then it fattens up with the a couple more feeders.


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## Japtastic (Jan 21, 2008)

Yeah I'll keep a close eye on things, will the FM/Con produce any fry? If they do what will they look like, any pics?

Wanted to keep away from feeders if I could although I do have about 30 convict fry sitting here...

What do you use as feeders?


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