Electric Blue Jack Dempsey Breeding Project (photos)

[CTC]

Hi,
If I posted this in the wrong area of the forum please let me know. Im fairly new (I still cant even figure out how to change my profile pic).

Here are some photos of my male electric blue jack dempsey (6ish inches) and 6 of the female blue gene jack dempsey in his tank (currently attempting to pair him with one of them). I have had no success yet, though one female turned the black breeding coat with another male in the past (the male passed away before spawning). Any advice is appreciated


The male:







The largest female (4ish inches) that I would like him to pair with (she has turned black for a different male in the past) unrelated to the other 5 females:






The pale female is the unrelated female (from above), the darker fish are the other 5 females (about one inch shorter and still early to sex, though I can tell two are female for sure):







If anyone has advice on how to get this male to pair off with one of them please let me know (he is a bit feisty). Thanks!

 

[YankeeJack]

Wow! Great pics!

Are you sure the EB is a male?

Let's say it is a male --- when I want to entice a spawn ... I'll throw in a smaller male. Gotcha watch em closely though, b/c the smaller male will really get beat up. I think that the competition gets the hormones stirred up.

What camera set up do you have? The pics are GREAT!

 

[CTC]

Thank you! The fish were pretty calm and it was easy to get pics. I just used an iPhone camera on “portrait” mode.

The blue jack is a male for sure. Of the 6 blue gene fish 3 are for sure females, 1 is a male, and the other two it is still too early to tell.

maybe the younger male/males are too young to make him competitive?

Wow! Great pics!

Are you sure the EB is a male?

Let's say it is a male --- when I want to entice a spawn ... I'll throw in a smaller male. Gotcha watch em closely though, b/c the smaller male will really get beat up. I think that the competition gets the hormones stirred up.

What camera set up do you have? The pics are GREAT!

 

[Ozzie73]

Just hurry up and wait...lol. A pair should form eventually. I've triggered spawns before taking down the water 10% and topping off with straight cold. That could possibly jumpstart something. I actually got a pile of ebjd's a while back and a bunch of blue gene females. The females grew way faster. None of the eb's made it to that 3" safety zone so I eventually gave up. I never got a chance to try, but I believe if you can get to blue gene carriers to spawn, a small percentage will come out ebjd. Unfortunately that's what I heard and wasn't able to provide proof myself.

 

[CTC]

Just hurry up and wait...lol. A pair should form eventually. I've triggered spawns before taking down the water 10% and topping off with straight cold. That could possibly jumpstart something. I actually got a pile of ebjd's a while back and a bunch of blue gene females. The females grew way faster. None of the eb's made it to that 3" safety zone so I eventually gave up. I never got a chance to try, but I believe if you can get to blue gene carriers to spawn, a small percentage will come out ebjd. Unfortunately that's what I heard and wasn't able to provide proof myself.

Ive found that if feeding bloodworms I cannot grow them past 3 inches. They die of internal parasite (which they are more susceptible to). It is also due to a week genetic line in most cases sadly. I have been lucky enough to find a good bloodline.

Having the blue gene spawn is one of my concerns. I want the electric blue male to be involved. If two blue gene spawn (it follows simple Mendelian inheritance) then 25% will be ebjd. If an ebjd and a blue gene spawn it is roughly 50% ebjd offspring and 50% blue gene carrying offspring.

Crossing my fingers!

 

[Ozzie73]

It'll happen! Just have that turkey baster locked and loaded to get those light colored fry away from the killers...lol

 

[Hybridfish7]

There's always alot of these ebjd logs in the breeding section but I love all of them

 

[CTC]

Heres an update:

The male chose the female that I wanted him to. Pretty lucky! I removed the other fish about 5 days ago. The female has turned black. She looks to be carrying eggs and they have been digging pits/cleaning a pot for spawning. All seems to be going well. Breeding tubes are showing (I think). Im surprised they have not spawned yet, I expected them to a day or two ago. Hopefully they will lay the eggs today!!

This is my first spawn so any advice on how to take care of fry is appreciated.

Heres some pics of the pair. They look AMAZING





Fingers crossed for eggs soon.

 

[YankeeJack]

Great pics! She sure does look to be in spawning mode.

This is usually how I time things:
1. Eggs take 3 days to hatch
2. Wigglers remain in wiggler stage for about 3 days
3. Once they are free swimming you need to be ready with Baby Brine Shrimp (BBS)
4. You can leave the fry with the parents. Might be a good idea, since this is a first spawn for you.
5. You'll need to feed BBS twice a day at least, more if possible. They'll grow fast with BBS. Feed them until you see their bellies full.
6. You may want to go more frequent water changes, but smaller amounts, so that you aren't stirring up the water too much, while the fry are small. The more frequent feedings are going to foul the water.

I like to remove the fry at the wiggler stage and move them to a substrate-free tank. Makes it easier to keep up with the tank maintenance and water changes. Feeding BBS gets messy.

Good luck! Hopefully they'll have spawned for you by now!

Happy Halloween!

 

[CTC]

Great pics! She sure does look to be in spawning mode.

This is usually how I time things:
1. Eggs take 3 days to hatch
2. Wigglers remain in wiggler stage for about 3 days
3. Once they are free swimming you need to be ready with Baby Brine Shrimp (BBS)
4. You can leave the fry with the parents. Might be a good idea, since this is a first spawn for you.
5. You'll need to feed BBS twice a day at least, more if possible. They'll grow fast with BBS. Feed them until you see their bellies full.
6. You may want to go more frequent water changes, but smaller amounts, so that you aren't stirring up the water too much, while the fry are small. The more frequent feedings are going to foul the water.

I like to remove the fry at the wiggler stage and move them to a substrate-free tank. Makes it easier to keep up with the tank maintenance and water changes. Feeding BBS gets messy.

Good luck! Hopefully they'll have spawned for you by now!

Happy Halloween!

They had eggs! I was away for the weekend and it looks like most of the eggs are white. From what I’ve read this means they are dead. Is the whole clutch going to turn white? Would I have had to remove the white eggs?