A Tough Fish of Many Names
by Ted Guglielmo
May 2003 The Underwater News, a publication of the Pioneer Valley Aquarium
Society
Aquarticles
The fish I want to talk about is the Jack Dempsey. I can hear most of you now:
"not them again they are out of fashion, mean and can't be sold for any amount of
money at auctions." Well let me tell you they are still one of the most
beautiful fish you will ever find, especially when breeding. If only to see this beauty,
go back to your fish roots and try them.
First let me give the reason for the title of this piece. As I understand it an
ichthyologist named Sven Kullander a few years back broke up the genus Cichlasoma
using the Genus name only for the so called "port cichlids" which number about
10 species. The specific name of the Dempsey is octofasciatum. Depending on the
source you consult the generic name varies between Nandopsis, Archocentrus, Herichthys
and Cichlasoma (for those who do not agree with Kullander). Personally I prefer
Jack Dempsey.
Dempseys range from Mexico to Belize and live in water usually of 6.5-7.5 pH (in the
aquarium I have bred them in 8.0 and 6.0). They like the temperature between 78-82 degrees
F, but will survive happily as low as 68.
Dempseys are a beautiful fish that grow to 6-8" in females and 8-10" in
males. I have heard of larger. I have seen the electric blue variety that goes for large
sums of money. I am happy with the originals. The fish have a yellowish tan ground color
with many turquoise spangles on the breast and head. Depending on mood they also may turn
a black color. There is a thin red line present at the top of the dorsal fin. The fins of
the males are more pronounced and sharp-edged and the red line is more pronounced.
I purchased a group of ten fry at the Hartford auction. They were placed in a 20-gallon
long aquarium with shells rocks and some plastic plants. They were left in there for some
time. I had acquired a 40-gallon breeder and placed them in this with a breeding pair of Archocentrus
septemfasciatum. I sold off four of them at our auction in February and a pair formed
from the rest (which unfortunately were quickly dispatched [see murder]). The pair set up
shop on the right side of the tank and the "seps" took the other side. A large
rock in the middle of the tank was a sort of barrier neither species would cross. They eat
absolutely anything including dried dog food and table scraps.
One morning I awoke to an almost solid black female guarding a ceramic pipe with
probably 150 eggs (the male was about 5", the female 3" at the time). These
hatched two days later. The fish fanned the eggs and guarded the fry very well. I am sure
some strayed and were picked off by the "seps". At about 10 days the fry were
swimming and at about 20 days I took them and put them into a 5-gallon tank with water
from the parents tank. The reason for this is that the parents were not able to control
the fry any more and had started eating them. You can feed them on ground flake food and
shaved frozen food. They grow well. The tough part is getting rid of them as the parents
continue to breed. This can be accomplished by selling them at auction (don't expect
much), feeding to other fish-eating fish or leaving them with the parents where maybe 1 or
2 survive.
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