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Jack DempseyFamily: Cichlidae
Latest Reader Comment - See More When I bought my JD's I only got them because I always heard about them. I put them in a 50 gal tank with some pleco's and a mixed variation of other cichlids. I bou... (more) Josh Danielson 2008-07-16
The Jack Dempsey is one of the most interesting and beautiful of the American cichlids!A mature Jack Dempsey displays magnificent color, covered with light blue spangley spots all over its body (the female has fewer spots). The male also has bright red edges on its dorsal and anal fins. This is a beautiful fish, but It takes over a year for it to develop full coloration. Today there are some captive bred color varieties with one of the most notable being the Electric Blue Jack Dempsey. When first introduced to the aquarium hobby, this fish was considered quite ferocious. It was named after "Jack Dempsey" the 1919 Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World. Although it is rather aggressive it is not nearly as combative or aggressive as some of the cichlids later introduced, such as the Red Devil. The JacK Dempsey is a very attractive show type fish, and will do well if provided with adequate space and compatible tankmates. It likes a tank bottom of fine sand, plenty of hiding places among rocks and wood, and a cover of floating plants. They do burrow and will eat the plants. They are one of the easiest cichlids to get to spawn, though when kept in pairs they can become territorial, intolerant, and biters. The Jack Dempsey is easiest to keep either singly or in large groups. For more Information on keeping this fish see:
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| Geographic Distribution Cichlasoma octofasciatum |
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| Data provided by FishBase.org |
Distribution:
The Jack Dempsey was described by Regan in 1903. They are found in North and Central America; Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Yucatan, and Honduras. They inhabit bogs and other slow moving, swampy warm waters, living among weedy areas with sandy or muddy bottoms. They feed on worms, crustaceans, insects and fish.
Status:
This species is not listed on the IUCN Red List.
Description:
The body of the Jack Dempsey is stocky and compact. Adults are striking colored having a dark purple-gray background contrasted with brilliant iridescent blue, green, and gold flecks. Males develop long pointed dorsal and anal fins and may also have a round black spot in the center of the
body and at the base of the tail. Juveniles are less brilliant, having light gray or tan background with faint turquoise flecks. If stressed or moody these fish can exhibit great color change in the aquarium, and also with age. Stressed fish will be lighter and their spots will be less striking.
Size - Weight:
These fish get up to 8 inches (20 cm).
Care and feeding:
Since they are omnivorous,
the Jack Dempsey will generally eat all kinds of live, fresh, and flake
or pelleted foods. They get quite large so they should be fed a high quality
pelleted food and large chunk foods such as meat or fish.
A minimum 50 gallon aquarium is suggested for a a single fish, though a larger tank would be needed if keeping more. They need good water movement along with strong and efficient filtration.
Provide a bottom of fine sand and plenty of hiding
places among rocks and wood. Plants are appreciated but should be hardy, such as Sagittaria. Place the plants around the inside perimeter
leaving an open area in the center for swimming. The plants should be
potted to protect the roots.
The Jack Dempsey is a rewarding specimen for the aquarist as it is moderately easy to keep as long as the aquarium is maintained. They are subject to infections as well as other diseases that ail all freshwater fish. To help prevent the notorious 'Hole-in-the-Head' disease (HLLE - Head and Lateral Line Disease) that large cichlids are prone to, do water changes of 20 to 25% a week, depending on bio load
Water Region: Top, Middle, Bottom:
These fish will swim in all areas of the aquarium.
Acceptable Water Conditions:
Although the Jack Dempsey can tolerate a fairly wide range of conditions, it has been suggested that warmer temperatures lead to more aggression in this fish. Many aquarists will keep the maximum aquarium temperature below 78° F (26° C) to help reduce antagonism.
Hardness: 8-12° dGH
Ph: 6.5-7.0
Temperature: 72 - 86° F (22 - 30° C)
Social Behaviors:
The Jack Dempsey is not considered a good community fish as they get territorial, especially against its own kind and similar species. They also can get more territorial
as they get older and so may need to be kept individually in a species tank.
If keeping more than one, it is easier and safer for them to keep them
in large groups rather than in pairs.
Sexual Differences:
The male has a longer and more pointed dorsal fin than the
female. The male may also have a round black spot in the center of the
body and at the base of the tail. The female has fewer spots than the
male.
Breeding/Reproduction:
Jack Dempsey's are egg layers. The female will lay 500-800
eggs on carefully cleaned rocks. They form a nuclear family. The fry are
kept in pits and are guarded by both the male and female in the manner
of "monogamous cichlid" breeders. See the description of how
to breed these fish in Breeding
Freshwater Fish.
Availability:
The Jack Dempsey is readily available available both online and in fish stores and are inexpensive, starting at about $4.00 USD.
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| Latest Comments |
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| When I bought my JD's I only got them because I always heard about them. I put them in a 50 gal tank with some pleco's and a mixed variation of other cichlids. I bought 2 because I didn't want to just get one. Didn't know anything about JD's. But I noticed from the time I had gotten them that they never split up. Very calm and peacefull fish. They never did any mating rituals or anything like that. And one morning I woke up and they laid over 200 eggs on top and wrapped around a skull that I put inside the tank. I'd say about 50 of the eggs got all fuzzy and nothing came out, but the rest of them were wiggling around and now they are all swimming high and all around the tank freely. Dempsey's are a awesome fish to watch raise their fry. They won;t even eat, they just put everything in a stockpile for their young. The female always tries to come at me when I'm scooping out the youngins but when I put my hand in the tank she lets me touch her. Very awesome feeling. As a first time breeder. I still have about 120 babies swimming around the tank. I feed them baby brine shrimp and crushed flakes. Coors are turning out awesome. Although I must say I was never planning on breeding but now I can't take my eyes off the tank.
2008-07-16 |
| I have 4 jD's in a 100 gallon tank and they all started to breed. I was surprised at how fast they breed, I got them a month ago. I really hadn't planned on getting them but when i saw them i just had to buy them. My mom was excited to see i had a new hobby instead of breeding gerbils and she now wants to buy 2 more, so we are getting a bigger tank. I told her that my jd's layed a massacre of eggs and now she has a 55 gallon in her living room with 2 of my jD's and about 200 eggs. I am not going to let her have my to best ones so she got the ones i didn't favor, but i love them all the same. Now i have so many fry it looks like a cloud is following the female.
2007-11-25 |
| I got 2 JD's for my birthday last year, about 2''. I loved their colors. They grew pretty fast, I never knew much about these fish. About 2 months ago I saw my male with something stuck in his mouth, it was an albino Cory catfish. He couldn't swallow it or spit it out either. He didn't seem to mind me holding him while I took some tweezers and pulled the cory out. Well about a month later he did the same thing again. It seemed like he knew what to do because he sorta swam over to me and waited for me to hold him and pulled out the cory again. Both catfish are still alive and well. I didn't really think about it, but the corys are the same color as the rosys that I feed the JD's, so I moved them to a different tank. I've seen them digging out a hole in the gravel and the female hiding in a vase the last couple weeks. Well Sunday I was changing my filters and found baby JD's in the filter water. So now I'm a new Grandad and waiting to see if any other little guys start to appear!
2007-09-28 |
| I have a Jack Dempsey and he is really strange. He will pick up rocks from the bottom of the tank and spit them out on the other side of the tank or at the Pleco that's in there with him. I would really like to find out why and if there's something I could do for him so he will stop this behavior.
2007-09-25 |
| I am on my second breeding pair of Dempseys. I found that if your female is larger than your male, she doesn't get beat up at all. She laid on Thursday and by Sunday I had wigglers. Since then they've moved the fry to one of SEVERAL pits dug up on the bottom. I've also found that the best way to curb aggression is space and minimal tank mates. My Demps are about 4" (F) and 3" (M) and live in a 30 gallon tank with a firemouth and pleco. The firemouth gets the unfortunate job of being the Demps common enemy, but there's enough tank space that he not only stays out of the way, but has one side pretty much to himself. I have only plastic plants in the tank, as the Demps WILL rearrange everything at the bottom, especially when spawning. They are fun to watch, and about as personable as a fish can get. They watch me as much as I watch them, I'm pretty sure. They are great fish!!
2007-07-16 |
| Some of the coolest comments: |
| I really love Amphilophus (Cichlasoma) octofasciatum commonly know as the Jack Dempsey. My aquatic hobbyist activities usually focus on Angelfish breeding which can become tedious at times. Many years ago a friend gave me a few Jacks he had raised from fry in his tanks as a diversion from the frustrations of breeding Angelfish.
Wow, these fish are as rewarding and easy to breed fish as Guppies. They have fantastic coloration that changes with their mood. They are large enough to enjoy visually from a across the room or directly in front of the tank. I wish Angelfish had as much coloration. They do tend to lazily hide in the background or other hiding places such as caves but put on a heck of a show at feeding time.
It is important to provide caves if you want to breed them but they are not nearly as fussy about water quality as Angelfish. They do their own tank arranging. They tend to create depressions in the substrate all the way to the bottom of the tank and for this reason I suggest avoiding under gravel filtration. The only down side to keeping Jacks is they are not very live plant friendly and only get along well with a limited number of tank mates.
2007-02-25 |
| I purchased a two inch a pair of Jacks from the local pet shop. At first they got along well until one began growing significantly larger than the other. I was pretty sure they were a pair when I bought them. The larger one began his mating dance, shuddering and shaking around her, but she was playing hard to get. Finally he began chasing her to the point that one day she was just laying beaten and battered, fins missing on the top of the tank behind the heater. I took her out and nursed her back to health in a small two and a half gallon hospital tank for about a month. I then placed her tank directly in front of his thirty gallon. They saw each other and began following each other back and forth. I let this go on for two weeks. One day I put a piece of paper between the tanks blocking his view of her. He got very upset and was obvoiusly looking for her. After two days I put her in his tank and he began mating behavior again. By the third day he began chasing her around the tank, so I took her out and placed her in the small tank within his view again for a week. Then I reintroduced them. Five days later she laid several hundred eggs on top of and inside of a flower pot and the two of them now swim side by side when she's not fanning and guarding the eggs. I'm not sure when they will hatch, but it has been a real fun adventure to say the least. I have had FW, SW and reef tanks for forty years, but this is the first time I intentially manipulated breeding. Can't wait for the sequel. 2006-06-26 |
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