Jack Dempsey Cichlid is inactive

[viejafish]

JDs go through personality change with age. JDs are outgoing and aggressive at juvenile to subadult age, then mellow down at maturity and age. I had one 10-year old JD that was so mellow that he wouldn't touch guppies. He liked to hide behind rock, only came out quickly to feed and returned. Your JD at 8-9" is near maturity and may add another inch and bulk. I have never seen JD exceed 10".

I no longer keep JD but experienced similar personalty change with large peaceful Vieja species I keep. My juvenile Vieja were outgoing and always swam in the front to beg for food. Now full grown and aging, they stay inactive at the corners often facing away. They are cautious and tentative, only came out to feed after seeing other fish began feeding. I have to approach the tank slowly or else they will be startled and jump up with a loud splash noise.

 

[dan518]

JDs go through personality change with age. JDs are outgoing and aggressive at juvenile to subadult age, then mellow down at maturity and age. I had one 10-year old JD that was so mellow that he wouldn't touch guppies. He liked to hide behind rock, only came out quickly to feed and returned. Your JD at 8-9" is near maturity and may add another inch and bulk. I have never seen JD exceed 10".

I no longer keep JD but experienced similar personalty change with large peaceful Vieja species I keep. My juvenile Vieja were outgoing and always swam in the front to beg for food. Now full grown and aging, they stay inactive at the corners often facing away. They are cautious and tentative, only came out to feed after seeing other fish began feeding. I have to approach the tank slowly or else they will be startled and jump up with a loud splash noise.

Found my vieja the opposite, skittish when small, in your face and bolshy when large.

 

[duanes]

One other thing about JDs in nature.
When they are the only cichlid in an area, they seem to thrive.
When other cichlids are present, their population density and even overall appearance seems to suffer, compared to the other cichlids they share habitat with.
When you compare my first video of Eden, where JDs are almost the only cichlid, with the cenote in the video below, which is only a few hundred yards away, the difference in JD population density to uropthalmus is quite significant. click to run video

 

[viejafish]

What species of Veija do you have. There is a wide range of personality among Vieja species from timid Melanura to bold Agentea. Mine are Melanura and Hartwegi. When they were small, they were timid and intimidated by larger tankmates until they reach comparable size. Even though they get bolder at larger size, they remain skittish throughout their life and don't like to be startled. Mine never grown out of the shyness and get worse at old age when they are too big to hide or as eager for food as younsters. JD iin IME behaves the same.

 

[dan518]

I have bifasciatus now, the male is 12 inch and completely unflappable

 

[dan518]

Had zonatus in the past

 

[Dylan Miller]

A

JD are naturally shy fish, and there is a reason why JD is never kept as a solitary pet fish. Juvenile JDs is more out going because hunger trumps the shyness. As JD gets older, they are less hungry, less aggressive and less active. JD is best to be kept in a community cichlid tank with competitors to challenge him.

When mine was younger he was kept with hoplo cats and giant danios to shake his shyness. He has since killed all of them and he does lounge, but he comes out to "see me" whenever I approach his tank. Maybe I'll try dither fish again when I move him to his new 75, but even now he attacks the bristlenose whenever he can that has stayed in with him. What cichlid tankmates would you recommend?

 

[tiger15]

Cichlid dither are more effective in bringing out his shyness, but then you have to manage the aggression or else you may be substituting one problem with another. Depending on what other cichlid you like, you can choose a number of medium size cichlid such as Rainbow, Blue Acara, convict or African cichlid that won't grow bigger and more powerful than him, yet tough enough to withstand his bossing. Introduce 3 to 5 fish at one time to diffuse his aggression. The appropriate size should be about 1/3 his size, not too big that he sees as a threat, but not too small to be eaten.