|
|
Keeping EBJDs  Scientific name: Rocio octofasciata Distribution: Central America; Guatemala, Belize, Yucatan, Honduras Habitat: Slow-moving waters Temperament: Typical Central American cichlid. Aggressively territorial Size: Up to 20cm Life span: 10 years plus Tank size: 36" should be considered the minimum tank length for an adult pair Water parameters: pH 6.5-8.5, 24-28oC, hard water Filtration: External canister filter Tank decor: Sand/ gravel, caves/ plant pots. Planting: Floating plants (Indian fern/ duckweed/ Salvinia), java fern (tied to bogwood), amazon swords (planted in terracotta plant pots full of gravel/ planting substrate to prevent uprooting) Tank mates: Single adult EBJDs, or multiple young EBJDs, can be kept with anything that is a) too big to fit in their mouths; and b) not too aggressive. Tiger barbs are good. Always watch tank mates carefully to make sure they aren't bullying your EBJD. Breeding pairs should, in general, be kept on their own. Feeding: Cockles, chopped mussel, chopped prawn, mysis shrimp, bloodworm, blanched spinach and peas, chopped meat, cichlid pellets. Anything that fits in their mouth basically. Make sure your filter can cope with the mess!
Randy Sorenson (Ormed) has helpfully written a bare bone basics guide to keeping EBJDs, which he initially posted in the EBJD forum. I think it's excellent, so I have reproduced it here word for word. Enjoy! "For those who have just recently been introduce to the beautiful Electric Blue Jack Dempsey (EBJD), here’s a brief introduction to the fish that was first introduced into the hobby in 1985 by Hector Luzardo from Argentina.
EBJDs are a color variant of the “regular” Jack Dempseys (JD) we’ve seen in the trade for decades. Regular Jack Dempseys are usually as aggressive as they are beautiful, with their spangled blue scales spattered on what is usually a gray-brown body. The EBJD isn’t as aggressive and its body is almost solid electric/metallic blue with spangles of black, and sometimes hues of gold or green. The aberrant hues of green and gold fade and the blue intensify with the fish’s age.
It’s generally excepted that this color morph has a genetic propensity towards health problems. These problems seem to manifest when they are younger. Under ideal conditions, meaning high water quality, good food, low competition they do well. They are most stressed when set up in a new tank. They are susceptible to internal parasites and poor water quality. Once they become established in their tank, after about 2 months, they seem to thrive and are as hardy as many other fish.
The blue color (Phenotype) is a recessive trait, which makes it rare, but it does occur in nature. Because the blue variant is also weaker than its regular JD and Blue Gene (Genotype) spawnmates, they rarely if ever survive more than a few weeks. This means that in nature the blue variant is nearly always carried by and passed on through what in the hobby we call Blue Gene Jack Dempseys (BGJD). BGJDs carry the gene for blue (Genotype), but because the gene is recessive, the BGJDs have the same appearance (Phenotype) as regular JD.
I’ve personally observed this natural selection process while breeding and rearing EBJDs myself. If the EBJDs are not separated from the BGJDs by about 4-5 weeks old, about 95% of the EBJD fry will fail to thrive and quickly be out competed for food and begin dying in mass by about week 7-8. The 5% EBJDs that seem to be able to compete with their BGJD spawnmates, about ½ thrive at about the middle of the spawn, as far as size and aggressiveness goes and the other ½ will gradually be out competed and likely eventually die if not given extra attention.
If you want to try to your hand at producing this beautiful Dempsey, you need to know a little bit about how to produce a recessive, blue phenotype fish (EBJD), from a regular JD. If you can skip any of the steps along the way you will save more than 1 year per step.
To begin, you have to get an EBJD and raise it to adulthood, about 12-14 months. You also need a regular JD of the opposite sex. There seems to be a much higher ratio of male EBJDs to females. Anyway, you need to spawn these two fish in order to get BGJDs, remember these are the fish that carry the gene for blue. 100% of the fry from this spawn will be BGJDs.
Next, you raise these BGJDs to adulthood, another 12-14 months. Once you’ve produced your adult BGJD, you breed it to an EBJD. Of the resultant spawn 50% will be BGJDs and 50% will be EBJDs. If you start with the average sized EBJD found at your local fish store (LFS) or the size found online, which is about 1 ½”, it will take about 2 ½ years for you to produce your own batch of 1 ½” EBJDs.
I’d like to note that to this date, nobody has produced viable free-swimming fry from EBJD x EBJD (this statement is no longer true - Ed). If it were to occur, the spawn would be 100% EBJD. I have heard second hand reports and personally know of two individuals who have had this EBJD x EBJD cross that produced eggs and one who saw the eggs hatch and survive for 6 days, which is 1 day short of when the wigglers normally become free swimming. I am still hopeful that someone will produce viable fry from this combo. If this were to become the norm, then all you would have to do to produce EBJDs would be to breed two together just like most other species of fish. But for now the best we can do is 50% EBJDs by following the instructions I’ve shared here.
Randy Sorenson
FYI... I myself have successfully spawned these fish several times producing thousands of EBJDs. I have gone through each step outlined here and beleive that to date, have been the most prolific breeder of the EBJDs in the US. I have also freely shared all of my experience gained through this process in the hopes of establishing this fish as a familiar site in the hobby. Since they require patience to produce, I think they will always remain relatively high priced. Though I have sold a very few BGJDs, I support those who refuse to sell BGJDs into the hobby. If you really love the fish, take the time to get to know it and produce your own strain.  " |
|
|