My Jack Dempsey Family is About to Get Bigger

mahemaheman85 wrote:

Mostlycichlids wrote:

Wow, those are amazing already! Healthy as well...would be interested on info of where to get some!

you can actually get them all over, most lfs will have

Not here in Colorado I have been to 10-15 different pet stores...most don't even have Jack Dempseys at all.

Thanks Mark I will check them out. Maybe an excuse for another 55g for Christmas or my Birthday!

_________________
"There he goes - one of God's own prototypes -
a high powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production.
Too weird to live, and too rare to die".

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Mostlycichlids wrote:

Thanks Mark I will check them out. Maybe an excuse for another 55g for Christmas or my Birthday!

Sounds like a plan to me! Very Happy

Like I said, if you want to get info from the experts, go to All Things Dempsey. Those are the guys that know their Dempsey morphs. I've been raising various morphs of Boas and Pythons for over thirty years, and these folks look at Dempsey breeding with the same commitment and scientific reasoning. I've got degrees in Biology and Geology, and too many minors to count, and these guys know their genetics, and how to properly "line breed" fish. Most importantly, they want to breed an EB that will be as strong as the normal JD morph.

Mark

Nice I will go over there and sign up! Maybe I can get their banner to put up here as a link.

_________________
"There he goes - one of God's own prototypes -
a high powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production.
Too weird to live, and too rare to die".

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

The Turtle Whisperer Posts: 1902

That reminds me, Mark. I've looked at my books, and it's not quite exactly clear. What specifically am I looking for to sex JDs? I recently took in what I was told was an albino, (or is that what the golds are?) and I think I'd like to maybe attempt to breed it. All my other jds are regular, but I was thinking it be a good way to figure out more of the specifics of the breeding process and the kids would like it too I bet.

saint_felony wrote:

That reminds me, Mark. I've looked at my books, and it's not quite exactly clear. What specifically am I looking for to sex JDs? I recently took in what I was told was an albino, (or is that what the golds are?) and I think I'd like to maybe attempt to breed it. All my other jds are regular, but I was thinking it be a good way to figure out more of the specifics of the breeding process and the kids would like it too I bet.

My bet is that what you have is a Gold JD which is considered by many to be the Leucistic morph. I personally lean more toward it being a hypomelanistic morph, since most true leucistic animals appear nearly pure white displaying almost no pattern or color. My Gold JDs, on the other hand, have a good bit of blue spangling, and a bright red trim on their dorsal fins. They also display a barred pattern when spawning. Also, the Gold morph has normal colored eyes, while an albino would have bright pink or red eyes. Any of these morphs will be a simple recessive trait.

Sexing the Gold morph is a little more difficult than the normal, but still not too difficult. By about 3" the lower gill plate of the female should start displaying large areas of blue coloring, while the male displays little to no blue coloring on the lower half of the gill plate. If you get a chance, post a pic, I'd like to see it.

I hope this helps,
Mark

A quick two week update. All four are doing great. Very Happy

They are getting four meals a day, two Hikari Cichlid Gold Baby, one cube frozen Hikari Spirulina Enriched Brine Shrimp, and one cube of frozen Hikari Blood Worms. They are eating from my fingers, and jumping out of the water to get the Blood Worms. I'll try to post a couple of new pics tomorrow.

Mark

Very nice, sounds like they are nice and healthy. Can't wait to see the updated pics. Thanks for the update, glad to hear they are doing so well. You should consider submitting some of those Dempsey photos for POTM!

_________________
"There he goes - one of God's own prototypes -
a high powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production.
Too weird to live, and too rare to die".

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Member Posts: 289 Age: 40 Location: West Melbourne, Fl.

They're sooooo pretty!!!!!!!!!! Envious. Razz

Update:
All four EBJDs are doing great, and have put on a good half inch in the past 2 1/2 weeks. The two biggest are now a good 3". Very Happy

They have settled in beautifully, and will actually jump from the water to try to get the cubes of frozen bloodworms and spirulina enriched brine shrimp that they get as two of their meals each day. These they eat from my fingers. So far they have shown none of the timidness and slow growth that EBJDs are notorious for. Here are a couple of new pics I took today.

Mark

Member Posts: 289 Age: 40 Location: West Melbourne, Fl.

They look really happy.Nice!

Wow mark They look great!

Sweet dude!

_________________
"There he goes - one of God's own prototypes -
a high powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production.
Too weird to live, and too rare to die".

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Member Posts: 5 Age: 42

They look fantastic. Sounds like a worthy and challenging breeding project. Best of luck.

Member Posts: 289 Age: 40 Location: West Melbourne, Fl.

So how are they doing now? Updated pics?

Yeah ditto!

_________________
"There he goes - one of God's own prototypes -
a high powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production.
Too weird to live, and too rare to die".

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas