Anyone here ever breed cichlids? jack dempseys in particular..

[Yooformula]

I got a bunch a few months ago that bred like crazy and now I have one that imo appears to be knocked up(belly is HUGE). Just wondering if I should move this one to a separate tank or would an environment change cause harm at this point?

[Holeshot]

If you can Isolate with in the tank that would be the best. Dempsy's are tuff fish and should probably be the alpha fish in your tank unless you have Oscars that are bigger. The fry need a good place to hide.

[jimez1]

Jacks are egg layers. If the female has a belly full of eggs, she is waiting on a male to become ready to spwan with her. Adult Jacks will do this every month or so unless they are caring for fry already. You cannot isolate the female by her self or she will not drop the eggs, she will over time just absorb the protiens from them for herself. You will have to wait for her to lay her eggs on a flat rock in the tank so the male can fertilize them. After that happens you can pull the rock out carefully to another tank with the water from the exsisting tank and raise them that way.

[Yooformula]

Jacks are egg layers. If the female has a belly full of eggs, she is waiting on a male to become ready to spwan with her. Adult Jacks will do this every month or so unless they are caring for fry already. You cannot isolate the female by her self or she will not drop the eggs, she will over time just absorb the protiens from them for herself. You will have to wait for her to lay her eggs on a flat rock in the tank so the male can fertilize them. After that happens you can pull the rock out carefully to another tank with the water from the exsisting tank and raise them that way.

thank you! should I worry about the others eating the eggs before I can remove them? side question but have you ever seen them have their bellies turn red?

[jimez1]

A felmale Jack will guard her eggs as much as she can. Jacks are pretty good at warding off other fish. However, if she chases one fish off to the other side of the tank, another fish could come in and start to eat them before she gets back to the clutch of eggs. If there is too many fish trying to push her off the nest then she will eat all the eggs herself. It goes back to pure instict of denying the pretator food when in turn a small sacrifice will make you stronger than the aggressor. As far as the belly turing red, Cichlids will change color as thier mood changes. The red belly if most likly on the female, as this shows the male that she is in "season". If you really want them to spawn, and if you have it, tape a mirror to the out side of the tank away from the flat rock or spawning surface. The male will try to attack his own image. In response the female will court him and shortly after they should engage in a lip lock. That is the start of the spawning process.

[jimez1]

I knew Jacks were popular but, did not realize they were popular enough for thier own web site. I was wrong. Found this after I posted my previous. This should help you with whatever you may need. jackdempseycichlid.com

[Yooformula]

kickass! thank you so much and I will be reading up on that site. It always helps to hear from someone that has first hand knowledge and can give an answer right away. Thanks again!

[jimez1]

No problem. Once you get started breeding fish, it will slowly start growing on you. Next thing you know you will have 12 tanks going in your house breeding all kinds of different fish. At least it did me. 12 tanks and wanting at least 12 more.

[Yooformula]

cant wait to see how this turns out. I never noticed anything different about the fish until today and already tonight she has been moving mounds of gravel along the tank wall blocking in her spongebob house...lol I put a mirror on the side of the tank and no less than 6 of the 20 JD began charging at it!

[jimez1]

I am currently breeding German Blue Rams. They laid eggs for me last night. I have to take the eggs away from them cause thier parenting skills suck.. As soon as the fry hatch they eat them.. So here I am as a surragate father.

[05caddyext]

Just keep an eye on the fish when it has the babies. I had a fish have babies in my 55 gallon tank and it was so small it got sucked into the filter a few times.

Side note: I had a hermit crab living in my filter for about 3 months, thought he was just always hiding under the rocks. Scared the holy crap out of my when I took the lid off the filter haha

[Yooformula]

she laid her eggs on the roof side of the spongebob house! cant tell if they have been impregnated yet though and the batch was small. we'll see what happens in the next few days.

[Korndogg]

How would you like if someone was staring at you trying to make babies in your spongebob house... pervs

[jimez1]

After about three days they should hatch. As long as the eggs are not white, and look sort of clear, they are fertile. Ather they hatch, the fry will be able to survive on the yolk sac attched to the. after that though you will need to feed them very and i stress very fine food for the first week or so. good luck with them. I am heading out to Guam on friday, but I want to hear what happens to them!