Great fish and tanks! Thanks for posting those pics!!!!!
EBJD Pair
- Thread starter ShadowP
- Start date
Update >>> Cleopatra was only 3" when she spawned with Pride at his 8.5". She looked great then, but still would not let me get good pics of her, so here's one taken the "hard' way (actually quite easy)... She was still a juvenile and has since colored up considerably if you can belive that!!! Her fins are georgeous as ever, but lookie here at the rest of the story at only 4.25".
And the result at 9 weeks
(I need a new camera cuz these have lousy white balance)
And I do apologize for most of the little (absolutely georgeous) buggers being a bit blurred. They never stop but only for a split second. No joke!!! I deleted over a hundred wasted shots just to get these somewhat acceptable ones.
And thank you everyone for your comments and hopes.
I only have one question... Has anyone ever seen a female dempsey with that well defined a coloring and pattern?
I think I may have a new color morph, but in any event, the juvies from her and Pride are spectacular and I fed over 600 of them to my puffers and dwarf neon rainbows in the 1st 4 weeks
Correction... Pride was 7.5" when they spawned on Mother's Day (9:40 pm EST - 12:30 am) >>> hatched late afternoon, following Wed. He's 9" now, and Cleopatra is 4.5 and gaining... btw... they're getting a place cleaned for another spawn... NO PUFFER TREATS THIS TIME!!! Of the 40ish fry I kept, I found only one minor deformity... a slightly high bump on the forehead - but far too much too early for standard jack form and a minus for competition judging.
Update >>> K-Mart permanently closing another store; this one at Hilltop Plaza in Virginia Beach (final day is Sunday 26 July). Everything "up to" 60% off. I couldn't find the cameras 2 weeks ago in the remnant of the electronics department. I stumbled on them yesterday in the women's jewelry dept securely locked in the display cases. Lucky me... 2 weeks made for another 20% in savings... Nothing spectacular, but picked up a 16 Megapixel Fujifilm FinePix sumthin' hundred IS digital w/ 36x zoom and 25mm lens. Original retail $199.99 and purchased for $84.80 w/ tax. BLOWS My 3.2 Mp tablet cam away. I still need to invest in something with dedicated manual focusing and better depth of field. Never realized how much of a pain in the butt a fish can be when it is so small and skittish that you can't get a camera anywhere near it. Suggestions for something not too expensive (under 300 if possible) would be greatly appreciated.
Anywho... here's a few fry pics at 9.5 weeks... enjoy.
This below is the blue spangling they are all getting on their sides and fins (far as I can tell). It started showing up on the largest fry at 7 weeks and is now beginning to show up on the smallest fry at 9.5 weeks. (Note their size compared to #2 gravel and larger fry if nearby).
The only explanation I have for this is the following:
I think Cleopatra is displaying the male JD colors and patterning as a recessive color morph for a female JD. It is the only viable reason I can think of as to why the juvenile blue gene fry do not look like wild type fry and why a totally recessive electric blue is georgeously manifesting on the juveniles as tiny scattered clusters on the bodies and fins of ALL OF THEM (well... the 40 some I kept) - Spawn #2 will tell the entire color morph story.
This displayed intensity of color (far as I know) should not be showing up until about a minimum of 4 to 8 months of age.
Comments please... I am not an expert with any particular species and these are my first attempts with Jack Dempseys. I Do have a lot of experience though, and learned very early on to be extremely meticulous when purchasing fish (regardless of the species) and I know a good fish when I see one... so, it's not all luck after all.
A kernel of hominy makes for fine nibbling.
And this last one is Pride & Cleopatra all cozied up under some driftwood for another round, flash intensity set to -2/3.
[/QUOTE]
Update >>> K-Mart permanently closing another store; this one at Hilltop Plaza in Virginia Beach (final day is Sunday 26 July). Everything "up to" 60% off. I couldn't find the cameras 2 weeks ago in the remnant of the electronics department. I stumbled on them yesterday in the women's jewelry dept securely locked in the display cases. Lucky me... 2 weeks made for another 20% in savings... Nothing spectacular, but picked up a 16 Megapixel Fujifilm FinePix sumthin' hundred IS digital w/ 36x zoom and 25mm lens. Original retail $199.99 and purchased for $84.80 w/ tax. BLOWS My 3.2 Mp tablet cam away. I still need to invest in something with dedicated manual focusing and better depth of field. Never realized how much of a pain in the butt a fish can be when it is so small and skittish that you can't get a camera anywhere near it. Suggestions for something not too expensive (under 300 if possible) would be greatly appreciated.
Anywho... here's a few fry pics at 9.5 weeks... enjoy.
This below is the blue spangling they are all getting on their sides and fins (far as I can tell). It started showing up on the largest fry at 7 weeks and is now beginning to show up on the smallest fry at 9.5 weeks. (Note their size compared to #2 gravel and larger fry if nearby).
The only explanation I have for this is the following:
I think Cleopatra is displaying the male JD colors and patterning as a recessive color morph for a female JD. It is the only viable reason I can think of as to why the juvenile blue gene fry do not look like wild type fry and why a totally recessive electric blue is georgeously manifesting on the juveniles as tiny scattered clusters on the bodies and fins of ALL OF THEM (well... the 40 some I kept) - Spawn #2 will tell the entire color morph story.
This displayed intensity of color (far as I know) should not be showing up until about a minimum of 4 to 8 months of age.
Comments please... I am not an expert with any particular species and these are my first attempts with Jack Dempseys. I Do have a lot of experience though, and learned very early on to be extremely meticulous when purchasing fish (regardless of the species) and I know a good fish when I see one... so, it's not all luck after all.
A kernel of hominy makes for fine nibbling.
And this last one is Pride & Cleopatra all cozied up under some driftwood for another round, flash intensity set to -2/3.
[/QUOTE]
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Very nice pair ! What are the water parameters and conditions of the tank? Because I've never been able to hold ...
I treat them with less kid gloves than most but extremely varied foods is essential to aid in developing a strong immune system (or don't try this at home).
Water at Ph 6.8 - 7.0... driftwood and/or plants causes slow drift more acidic and softening effect as minerals are absorbed.... no buffers ever utilized. Hardness quite soft actually, 50 - 80 ppm. About the same time I need to add water for evaporate replacement (tank 10% low), I might remove 5% total tank volume... this depending on the look of the plants mainly... (they are my barometer, so to speak). The fish always look healthy... its the plants that will really tell you if something is missing in the water. New water straight from the tap, treated with Prime at half strength unless young fry present (then normal strength).
The minimal and temporary (hour or two at most) levels of chlorine has a topical effect on all bacteria but healthy bacteria levels are so prevalent that they rebound quickly. May seem counterproductive at first, but the slight die off becomes primary food source for protozoans and other microbes. These are the primary food source for my young fry. I provide only supplimental feedings as little as once per day most of the time. This next hatch she is sitting on may require 3 per day to augment their continuous grazing due to the number involved if even 90% hatch as I intend to find out as much as possible on these color morphs ratios and otherwise. Some (very few) are even mostly a light powder gold overall with very light metallic green spangles).
Replenishment water is always about 10 degrees cooler than tank water and neutral to 7.2, regardless of tank Ph which hardly ever drops to 6.4.
Far as I'm concerned, this simulates inflow to their waters much like a heavy downpour would, and helps stimulate the immune system also, besides being a great precurser to spawning as the temp returns to normal. There is also about a 6 degree swing in temperature between day and night accomplished with no tank heaters, but rather room ac on a timer and currently at 61 and runs all night but off during the day. Tanks drop from 85 - 87F depending on how hot the day was, down to 76 - 78 pending how cool the night is. Heaters used to maintain 85F once eggs are laid, and also utilized in late autumn to mid spring but only to keep above 73. I'm not worried about fluctuations above that (unless eggs to hatch).
Fungicide Pimafix as prophylaxis once every 2 wks for 2 days at normal strength unless breeding eminent, then withold til 1 hour after spawning, then dose daily at half strength til hatched. Unfertilized eggs or unviable eggs take about 5 days to fungus over when doing so, but should hatch in < 3 if things go right.
and of course water changes after meds... even with the fry present... just more and lesser amounts. Heaters are turned off after fry hatch... Cooler water at night suppresses their appetites and allows the food they've already eaten to be digested more slowly so they need not be fed at night (I sleep well), and the steadily rising temperature throughout the day stimulates their appetite and causes them to be most active foraging just before "bedtime". They don't seem to mind, and neither do I.
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Thank you for all the details!
Only the dark side tank photo is mine and what little you can see of portions of my 29G.
Blue Fish was happy to show his babies off here also (can't say I blame him) though it might have been more appropriate under his own thread.
No complaint, just an observation for you for clarity sake.