# Does Anyone Know About Breeding Jack Dempseys?



## dakid1821 (Jan 18, 2013)

hey guys I have a 125 gallon tank with 9 red bellies 2Jack's and a red devil.. without me even trying or realizing I had a female one if my jacks breeded. my lfs told me that the jacks breed the easiest.... with that being said I took up as much of the fry as I could and put them in a bucket with an air pump they just hatched today...... what is my next move..... ? never anticipated this.... wasnt and am not ready for this....


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

Best bet is prob throw away the batch in the bucket... the temp change will kill most of em. Do a water change on the parent tank using cool water to drop the temp a few degrees and it will trigger another breeding.

Next time, you will want a small tank ready with a sponge filter... I used 10 gal tanks. Using your siphon hose, remove all the fry once they have hatched and are just free swimming. You will want to fill the smaller tank completely with water from the parent tank. Plug in the air pump for your sponge filter, heater to keep the temp stable, and wait. I had a big chunk of moss and no gravel in my fry tanks to make cleaning easy.

After the egg sack is gone, you can start feeding solid foods. I used hikari cichlid pellets that i put into a food processor to make dust out of them and make the food small enough.

refill the parent tank with cool water, and start it all again. Never combine batches of fry, the larger ones will eat the smaller ones.


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## dakid1821 (Jan 18, 2013)

ok I got u... but I dont even know wut triggered the first breeding... the piranhas dont let them eat and I didnt realize that one was pregnant until I seen the batch swimming around today... the only reason I took em out was because I saw one of the dempseys eating them... I didnt even know they can breed so young they are no where near full size yet...


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

Sometimes the females will hide the fry in their mouth if theres a threat... it gives them the option to swallow them and "recycle" the fry vs letting a predator eat them.

The males will also kill the fry, to get the female into breeding again.

Good luck!


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## dakid1821 (Jan 18, 2013)

would it be a good idea to take the parents out and put them in a seperate tank even with the fry


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

It would be good to get them a dedicated tank possibly... depends on how aggressive they are towards the other fish during breeding. I have seen convicts attack anything, including one of my bigger rhoms. 
.

The real question is do you want to raise the fry, or do you not care about them? If you leave them with the parents, odds are only a few will make it mostly because the male will eat them... after they are born, they really only need the parents to protect them from predators. If you want to be successful in raising fry, siphon them the second the are wigglers or free swimming and isolate them in their own tank.

In the sump of my 120 is a pair of jack/convict hybrids... as the fry become free swiming they take a trip through the return pump and end up in the display, where they grow and my rhom snacks on them. Some make it, some get eaten by the parents first.


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## dakid1821 (Jan 18, 2013)

today is the third day and I'm still pulling fry out of my tank.... remarkably they are still alive even the first batch I pulled out. I will eventually put silk the fry into a ten gallon tank and let them grow out. my question is at what point do I start feeding them? I still have them in my bucket with an air pump blowing bubbles.. my lfs said to wait about a week or so thrn put them in the tank with the filter and put a cushion arond the intake tube andstart feeding them flaked food crushed up. I will leave the parents in their original tank as they were. I really dont care about them breeding anymore cause I wasnt tryin to breed in the first place but I will care for the fry I already have. im more interested in my red bellies breeding. I dont even know how the jacks breeded when I was told they were too young to tell if they were male or female, I took for granted that they were too young to breed. my red brllies are 5 months and about 5-6 inches in length and its 9 of them. will they start breeding too? what are the chances the red bellies might breed with the female jack? is that even possible?


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## dakid1821 (Jan 18, 2013)

when I put them in thr 10 gallon tank with the parents water. should I use a heater and if so wuts the temperature parameters?


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

yes, use a heater... you want it to match the parents tank as close as possible and then after some time you can slowly raise it a few deg to help growth. If you use a HOB filter, make sure its small as possible. even with a sponge over the intake its possible for fry to be sucked up.

Start feeding when the egg sack or yolk is gone, which can be a week or 10 days.

Your reds will take longer to mature prob, but will likely eventually breed (assuming you have a pair and not all males or females)...


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## dakid1821 (Jan 18, 2013)

im unclear as to what a hob filter is.... as for the egg sack or yolk is concerned im taking them out as I see them swimming in bunches looking like tad poles.. its just too many of them throughout the day I see a bunch swimming right around where the eggs are beung hatched im thinking their coming out looking for food. thats when I take out as much as I can scoop up. and put them in a bucket with the air pump. after today I cant keep watching the tank I have to work 8 sometimes 16 hr shifts. what ever happens, happens after this point...im only prepared to deal with the hundred or so I scooped out.... sorry if I sound harsh but the rest of the fry will become food for the parents, red bellies,red devil, and plecos and cat fish. by the way I keep the temps at 80-85. thats not too warm for fry?


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

80 should be fine. HOB filter is a hang on back, like most aquarium filters (not canister filters)

Totally understand about the work thing... raising fry can become a job in itself.


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