# GT vs JD: Which one Looks better?



## piranha45

I think that while GTs ARE beautiful fish themselves, they still don't measure up to a male JD in terms of beauty.


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## lemmywinks

its close so far


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## lemmywinks

http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/gterrorm.html i found this pic of a nice green terror


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## piranha45

and thats a damned nice jack dempsey 
http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/gjack.html


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## sweet lu

GT all the way for me man


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## crazyklown89

Having kept both I'd say in the looks department GT's kill JD's in looks. But for real life JD's kill GT's...two cases in my tank.

Overall the better fish is a JD. They're beautiful,, aggressive, and pretty damn funny. GT's are too bitchy but are beautiful...I sort of consider them the mean goldfish of CA cichlids lol.


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## lemmywinks

crazyklown89 said:


> Having kept both I'd say in the looks department GT's kill JD's in looks. But for real life JD's kill GT's...two cases in my tank.
> 
> Overall the better fish is a JD. They're beautiful,, aggressive, and pretty damn funny. GT's are too bitchy but are beautiful...I sort of consider them the mean goldfish of CA cichlids lol.


 you must of had a female green terror. both female jack dempseys and green terrors are not very agressive. but if you had males... the GT would have made your dempsey his BITCH


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## piranha45

lemmywinks said:


> you must of had a female green terror. both female jack dempseys and green terrors are not very agressive. but if you had males... the GT would have made your dempsey his BITCH :laugh:


 naaaah... its a toss up, but i think in terms of sheer capability id lean on a male JD whooping an equal-sized male GT.


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## lemmywinks

i was talkin bout adult sizes. im sure a full grown, only 8" dempsey, could take on an adolescent 8" green terror. but if it was an adult 8" dempsey VS an adult 12" green terror, the green terror would win.


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## piranha45

yeah...


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## Kory

Male GT's


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## crazyklown89

lemmywinks said:


> i was talkin bout adult sizes. im sure a full grown, only 8" dempsey, could take on an adolescent 8" green terror. but if it was an adult 8" dempsey VS an adult 12" green terror, the green terror would win.


 Dempsey's get larger than 8".....some 10" and the rare 12" and above.


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## lemmywinks

green terrors can get bigger that 12" too, but i was just saying their average adult sizes.


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## piranha45

I'm pretty skeptical about any JD exceeding 10". A 9" JD is at a damned monstrous size itself... There have certainly been "allegations" of 10+" JDs, but honestly I think they are all talk and no substance. Either that, or the person probably measured the jd by TL and not SL. I HATE aquarists who measure their things in TL and dont tell anyone about it. a 12" TL JD is only 9-10" SL.


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## lemmywinks

i measure everything in total length


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## piranha45

*smack! smack!* god damn you get your measurement system straight








its people like you who come up with these 14" midas and 12" JDs and assorted crap


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## crazyklown89

Yeah man....body is the only thing to go by....fins don't count!

That's so stupid though when people measure NW cichlids in TL.....these cichlids are almost always massive and bulky...they look big enough.


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## lemmywinks

piranha45 said:


> *smack! smack!* god damn you get your measurement system straight
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> its people like you who come up with these 14" midas and 12" JDs and assorted crap










i have never seen a 12" jack dempsey 'TL' in my life. thats a bit big...


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## lemmywinks

crazyklown89 said:


> Yeah man....body is the only thing to go by....fins don't count!
> 
> That's so stupid though when people measure NW cichlids in TL.....these cichlids are almost always massive and bulky...they look big enough.


so you are trying to tell me that there are 12" jack dempseys measured in body length....







. the biggest i have ever seen was probly 7". from now on i will use body length.... since i dont like to get slapped


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## crazyklown89

Maybe not 12" I was wrong and mistaken by saying that, my fault. But there are dempsey's larger than 8" BL.


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## Lonald

my female green terror kicks my male jd's ass everytime they go at it... most of the time the jd just runs and hides


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## piranha45

how big are they and how big's the tank?


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## Raptor

Electric blue. But what is the dempsey mixed with?


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## piranha45

Raptor said:


> Electric blue. But what is the dempsey mixed with?


 nothing. Its a pure-breed animal, just a rare colormorph. It is 100% dempsey. I believe you asked this question already in a previous thread...


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## Lonald

piranha45 said:


> how big are they and how big's the tank?


 they are both about 5 inches and its a 90 gallon


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## Poseidon X

nice poll and tought question. While the JD definately can have a more impressive color display, i would have to say that because the male GT has the potential to develope a much more beutiful stocky body.. i would have to go with the GT. A fish i woiuld love to own is a GT with a nice size hump.

Also on the EBD, while its perfectly true that indeed its a pure colormorph, they are still man made just like hybrids.. i.e. they would have never survived natural selection.


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## lemmywinks

ya it is a long story how a blue dempsey is made. i guess you cant breed 2 blues so you have to breed a blue with a reg, then the hybrid w/ a blue, and so on until you get a high quality fish.


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## Raptor

lemmywinks said:


> ya it is a long story how a blue dempsey is made. i guess you cant breed 2 blues so you have to breed a blue with a reg, then the hybrid w/ a blue, and so on until you get a high quality fish.


Ok, Now thats what i was reading somewhere. I coulden't remember that though, And kept thinking they are bred with another species. Has anybody seen one grown? The biggest pic i could find was about the same size as the one i posted.

EDIT: Isn't the flowerhorn a man made fish too?


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## lemmywinks

flowerhorn is definatly a man made fish


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## con man

jd all the way gts r ugly cuz there pttern is exactly that a pattern whiel jds r interesting and dont remind me of checkerboards









a jd will kick the crap out of a matched gt any day any time any tank


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## aaron07_20

I couldnt really make up my mind..but I said the hell with it and voted for Jack dempseys. Green terrors really are not tough though, at all. I used to have one and my female 1 inch pink convict kicked her butt everyday so I had to get rid of the green terror. I like Jack Dempseys alot more, im not sure which one is prettier.


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## Birdman

i think the gt with humps are nice lookin


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## Lonald

IMO jack dempseys are not tuff fish... I dont know why people say they are sooo meen


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## piranha45

they are certainly unworthy of their name


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## Raptor

They should be named picasso's, Because of their like painted on color.
But in toughness i think it is no really indicator on what one is meaner.
They all got their asses handed to them by my melanochromis auratus (African) No matter how much bigger they were. They were only 4-5 inches. I threw the demp. and terror into their own tank because they were getting the crap beat out of them by a fish half their size.


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## piranha45

Raptor said:


> They should be named picasso's, Because of their like painted on color.
> But in toughness i think it is no really indicator on what one is meaner.
> They all got their asses handed to them by my melanochromis auratus (African) No matter how much bigger they were. They were only 4-5 inches. I threw the demp. and terror into their own tank because they were getting the crap beat out of them by a fish half their size.


there's definitely been a number people who've had that happen in their tanks :nod: People have had red devils and other similarly aggressive fish get thrashed by melanochromis mbuna as well.


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## crazyklown89

Lonald said:


> IMO jack dempseys are not tuff fish... I dont know why people say they are sooo meen


 They aren't at all. However on the rare occasion you happen on one they're some of the most aggro fish.


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## piranha45

they wiped out duffman's GTs


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## crazyklown89

True however I was lucky enough to get those "rare occasions"


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## 14_blast

I like the good ol' fashioned Jack Dempsey. With that said, I would take the GT over the Blue Dempsey, though.

P45,
Sorry for digressing, if I didn't mention it before, that's a nice Red Terror (avitar), not going to say a festae is better...just different.


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## piranha45

14_blast said:


> I like the good ol' fashioned Jack Dempsey. With that said, I would take the GT over the Blue Dempsey, though.
> 
> P45,
> Sorry for digressing, if I didn't mention it before, that's a nice Red Terror (avitar), not going to say a festae is better...just different.


 Glad we agree on the JD









That's a False Red Terror in my avatar, though...


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## CichlidAddict

piranha45 said:


> I'm pretty skeptical about any JD exceeding 10". A 9" JD is at a damned monstrous size itself... There have certainly been "allegations" of 10+" JDs, but honestly I think they are all talk and no substance. Either that, or the person probably measured the jd by TL and not SL. I HATE aquarists who measure their things in TL and dont tell anyone about it. a 12" TL JD is only 9-10" SL.


I never measured him out of water, but my JD was pushing 12" total length.


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## The Predator

YEAH JDs are better imo


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## freakgasolinefightaccident

I voted towards GT but they're both very beautiful fish in my opinion. I decided to keep both,i have a little 1.5" gt and 2" jd and i really think they look better together than separated. The color scheme is similar so they make very pretty tankmates.


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## Puff

im going with GTs. i have a young one, and he gets more brilliant every week.

i saw some of his aggression when he was really small, but now he just lives with my leopard pleco, and they get along really good.

GTs are absolutely stunning. somebody should post a pic of ElTwitchos GT. that thing is one of the coolest ive seen.


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## furious piranha

gts are much better lokin tahn jds...idk y this is evn a contest


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## Fishjunky

furious piranha said:


> gts are much better lokin tahn jds...idk y this is evn a contest


I had a F1 green terror male it was one of the best looking fish I have ever seen. He had the red outline and everything. However there is nothing like a full grown male dempsey. I couldn't help you on looks. but as far as being pound for pound a tougher fish the dempsy will spank the Terror every time if they are close in size. But I have noticed that Jacks seem to not mind other tank mates as much. unless those tank mates are jags, Dovii, or umbees. I have noticed that jacks seem to seek these fish out to find out whos going to be staying or leaving. this is only what I have found. I hope this helps


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## acestro

Not sure why, but JDs never did it for me. GTs are very impressive, are 'taller' fish with a lot of personality too. There is also the nuchal hump, which might count against it depending on your tastes.


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## EZmoney

GTs all the way!


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## DeadIrishD

GT's no question about it.


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## MRNIMO.

Gotta b GT's, had two JD's and my Oscar would run them off any time, yes a OSCAR.
OSCAR's RULE.


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## Puff

i just bought a little 1 inch female dempsey.

she paired up with my really crazy looking male convict...lol.

my GT looks brilliant, but he is a complete wimp. i put him in a larger, nicer tank. and all he did was hide all day every day for over a week. he didnt eat, and just tried to hide, totally stressed out. he couldnt handle it.

he's become good buddies with my para pleco.lol. but he will only function in one of my tanks, he's crazy!lol.


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## altimaser

piranha45 said:


> and thats a damned nice jack dempsey
> http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/gjack.html


That is a very nice lookin J.D. in the picture link


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## face2006

my exp. with GT's as of late is that there r very skittish and harder to maintain than a JD but GT's r very beautiful when they get bigger ..i would like to get some in the near future ifi ever get another tank..


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## SERRAPYGO

OLD THREAD ALERT!


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## BlackSunshine

Heres my take. 
JD's can vary from FUGLY FUGLY horrible colored fish. to extremely awesome coloring. 
Where as with GT's you are less likley to come across one with poor coloring. Most I have seen are generally equal in color with some exceling above. But never have I seen a GT that looks anywhere near as bad as the worst JD that I've seen.

So on average IMO GT are a better looking fish.

I know this may be an old thread. But I will share my opinion anyhow.


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## 94NDTA

Had both. JD's are hit or miss as far as looks go, GT's always look good, but when you get a REALLY nice looking JD, no GT can compare IMO.


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## AKSkirmish

lemmywinks said:


> crazyklown89 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah man....body is the only thing to go by....fins don't count!
> 
> That's so stupid though when people measure NW cichlids in TL.....these cichlids are almost always massive and bulky...they look big enough.
> 
> 
> 
> so you are trying to tell me that there are 12" jack dempseys measured in body length....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> . the biggest i have ever seen was probly 7". from now on i will use body length.... since i dont like to get slapped :laugh:
Click to expand...

Yes sir-I have one-Plenty of pics around to look at as well-I have measured him-He is a solid 10 inches without the tail-A good 12 to 13 with thetail!!!!


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## svtcontour

Here is my dempsey. This was when he was around 6.5" long. He's closer to 8" right now


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## mike123

MRNIMO. said:


> Gotta b GT's, had two JD's and my Oscar would run them off any time, yes a OSCAR.
> OSCAR's RULE.


i had an oscar and a jd in the same tank, the oscar was about 8" and the jd was about 6" and the jd killed the oscar.

btw, i think gts look better.


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## werdna

green terror


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## AKSkirmish




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## bigboi

:nod:







I have always like dempsey's


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## gar~spaz

Dempseys all the way.


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## steelhead

Hard one there Terror wins for me


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## Lifer374

I voted GT.
Seen some amazing GT's and I've seen crappy GT's too. Same with JD's. Every JD I've ever owned ended up being too skittish and after a few months I'd get rid of em and buy another. I know if I would of stuck it out after a year or two they would of grown more brave but I didn't have the patience. First GT I got was the complete opposite at the day I got him at 2''. Been a Green Terror man ever since.


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## steelhead

[quote sorry thats not a GT


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## maddyfish

Poseidon X said:


> nice poll and tought question. While the JD definately can have a more impressive color display, i would have to say that because the male GT has the potential to develope a much more beutiful stocky body.. i would have to go with the GT. A fish i woiuld love to own is a GT with a nice size hump.
> 
> Also on the EBD, while its perfectly true that indeed its a pure colormorph, they are still man made just like hybrids.. i.e. they would have never survived natural selection.


I little different than a HYbrid, color morphs are one thing, mis-bread mixed species are another.

I like JDs. I don't know SL or TL what those mean, but mine was 9 1/2" from nose to end of tail last week when I moved him.


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## polomax24

maddyfish said:


> I don't know SL or TL what those mean, but mine was 9 1/2" from nose to end of tail last week when I moved him.


TL = Total length: measurement of a fish from tip of the tail to the nose
SL = Standard length: measurement does not include tail


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## gar~spaz

never owned a gt but my jd looks great, so they got my vote!


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## The Predator

when JDs have competition (say another male cichlid like a texas) he brings out his color. Same with green terrors. depends on the fish but in general i like JDs


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## Devon Amazon

Terrors


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## hoosier101

jd all the way


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## mike123

does anyone have a pic of a full grown gt?


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## AKSkirmish

mike123 said:


> does anyone have a pic of a full grown gt?


Where you at twitch!!!!


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## face2006

yeah post a pic!


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## redbellyman21

This is my best Pics of my JD, and GT look good when juvy's I think JD have a nice look throughout but I am biosed as a proud owner


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## fishloaf666

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-9lKYGh1cs...feature=related electric blue dempseys are sweet



fishloaf666 said:


> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-9lKYGh1cs...feature=related electric blue dempseys are sweet


how do you embed jewtube vids?


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## khmerboiRED

PRetty tough for me cause i like em both. But i say JD.


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## andymellon4

I Think the Jack Dempseys are amazing and they get my vote


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