# Jack Dempsey Blue Acara Green Terror



## orphicwater (Aug 7, 2010)

When looking up images of the three fish above I find that as juveniles and as adults they all seem to look alike. The Acara and Terror are in the same genus but the Dempsey is not. What is the exact difference of these three fish? Do they interbreed? Why are they in different genus? I have searched all over and have not been able to find a comparison of these fish. thank you


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## khamele (Aug 11, 2010)

Im not familiar with the Blue Acara, I know its similar in appearance to the Green Terror though.
I myself have Jack dempseys and Green Terrors in the same tank. They look nothing alike!
My jacks are laid back, and growing fast! Terrors sometimes chase each other. 
They both get to be at least 8 inches.

I;ve heard housing Blue Acaras and Green Terrors isnt the best idea because they fight due to similar looks, but im not sure if thats completely true.

true GTs will get a hump on their head. JD's do not.

sorry if this doesnt help you. I can tell you that both the JDs and GTs are wonderful fish to keep though!


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## illy-d (Nov 6, 2005)

JD's are from Central America, where as the Blue Acara and GT's are South American.

If you compare adult specimens of JD and GT you will see striking disimilarity - they look nothing a like. As juveniles I agree they can be very similar.

The GT and Blue Acara look similar but there are differences.


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## MickRC3 (Aug 9, 2010)

I've kept Jacks on and off for more than 30 years and the one thing I can tell you about them is that they often mate outside of their species. I've had males crossbreed with Congos, Convicts (pink and regular) and once a small female bred with a Firemouth. Made for some ugly offspring.


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## JCsicklidnewbie (Mar 8, 2010)

I have both and I can understand how some people can confuse them at 1 inch...even the pet store I bought mine from had them all labeled at JD but I knew the difference so I bought the GTs at JD price. when they are small the blue on the face can confuse some people and their skin tone is similar.

even at that size....JD should have some red on the dorsal and the tail spots are a key for smaller JDs the GT will typically have two spots or at least some spot in the center of their body.....and a tint of orange along the tail and dorsal fins...and finally the slope of the head on a GT even at that size is steeper than a JD. GTs might also have two vertical bars straddling that spot I mentioned earlier.....I'm sure others will disagree but that is my experience ...I have 3JDs and 2GTs.

once they break 1.5" the JDs should have the stripes and at that point they should clearly discernable. The GT will start to morph at 4 or 5 inches but you will know what you have before that...they grow slow....

Blue Acara typically wont have the orange border on their fins and they have a bit different spotting but it's hard to tell until they hit 1.5 or bigger.


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