Jack Dempsey

[Ocean]

What do you have to look at to identify stunted cichlids and has anyone got a stunted fish to resume their growth somehow?

I have a JD which I think is stunted as it is around 4" and according to the previous owner, is 1.5 years old and "full grown", was kept in a 1'x1' square tank, was fed guppies as the only diet and went from 3.5" to 4" in one year and hasn't grown since.

I've had him for 2 months in a 80g with,
1 Firemouth (3.5")
1 Pink Convict (3.5")
1 Featherfin catfish (3")
3 Green Terrors (2.5"-3")

I got the JD and GTs from a classified advertisements website and they were all kept in poor conditions but bought them because of their rarity.
If the GTs aren't stunted, I plan to remove two of them.
and If the JD isn't stunted, I would remove everything else except the convict.

I need to know if the JD is stunted and what I can do to help his growth. I am doing 25% weekly water changes and the only fish with noticeable growth are FM, Convict and the Synodontis.

http://f.cl.ly/items/3D1B0Y1e0R3N3O150T0X/Mauler.jpg

[lipadj46]

I don't know if it's stunted but its a nice looking fish. I would do larger weekly changes, you are already doing the changes so increasing the volume should not be much more work. Feeding a good quality food is the other piece of the growth puzzle.

sent from an undisclosed location using morse code

[Ocean]

Are the black bars supposed to be stress bars?

Here's another picture:
http://cl.ly/image/3o2X1C0j3h28/IMG_1029.JPG

[plecocicho]

Black bars on cichlids act in their behaviorul interaction. Different attenuation of pattern mean different mood. Itactsjn the same way as our facial expressions. Term stress bars comes from higly atenuated mood bars, which stresseddiscus show, but its also a sign for nondominance, probably to act as a protection against dominant subjects, which could further stressor even damage sickling individual.

[Tazalanche]

I got the JD and GTs from a classified advertisements website and they were all kept in poor conditions but bought them because of their rarity.I've discovered in the past year that some of the fish I kept in the 1990's (zebra plecs & blue-eyed plecs) are now rare due to environmental issues in the wild, but was not aware that jack dempsey & green terrors were now rare.

When did this happen & what caused it?

[Ryan]

^ They're not, really. Wild Jacks are rarely imported (Jeff Rapps brought some in last year but before that it hadn't been done on a commercial level in years) but tank-bred Jacks are one of the staples in the cichlid hobby. You can get them at most any chain store or online vendor. Green terrors are the same, unless you're talking about "true" green terrors, Andinoacara stalsbergi, which are more rare but still out there if you look hard enough.

[Ocean]

I've discovered in the past year that some of the fish I kept in the 1990's (zebra plecs & blue-eyed plecs) are now rare due to environmental issues in the wild, but was not aware that jack dempsey & green terrors were now rare.

When did this happen & what caused it?

I live in Sri Lanka which is far far away from the US

[Elliots]

Hi Ocean, most comments on this site refer to the US market. If people post from other locations they say so in their post or in their caption under their name. Why don't you post Sri Lanka? I do not believe you are the only SD member from that country. That way people from your country may PM or telephone you as a local friend.

[Ocean]

Black bars on cichlids act in their behaviorul interaction. Different attenuation of pattern mean different mood. Itactsjn the same way as our facial expressions. Term stress bars comes from higly atenuated mood bars, which stresseddiscus show, but its also a sign for nondominance, probably to act as a protection against dominant subjects, which could further stressor even damage sickling individual.

Would he feel safer if he was the only cichlid in the tank and had some dither fish?

[Disgirl]

I have a young Electric Blue JD, about 3" long, in a tank alone. He was quite scared and hid a lot when I got him. So I put into his tank about 12 small Endlers Livebearers, related to guppies, and he is now out all the time. The dithers worked, but I know when he gets bigger he will be eating his friends.
Barb

[LizStreithorst]

I can't believe that he hasn't already eaten them. Poor guy must have been very lonely.