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The Jack Dempsey Cichlid comes from North and Central America; Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Yucatan, and Honduras.They inhabit bogs and other slow moving, swampy warm waters, living among weedy areas with sandy or muddy bottoms. They feed on worms, crustaceans, insects and fish.

The Jack Dempsey is a stocky, compact oval disk shaped fish with pointed anal and dorsal fins. These are good sized cichlids that can reach between 20 – 25cm in length and tend to live between 10 – 15 years.

Jack Dempsey adults have striking colouring with a dark purple-gray background contrasted with brilliant iridescent blue, green, and gold flecks. Males develop long pointed dorsal and anal fins edged by a red band and may also have a round black spot in the center of the body and at the base of the tail. Females have fewer of the colour flecks in the overall body colouration and can have a dark spot on the dorsal fin and another small spot on the lower edge of the gill cover. Juveniles are less brilliant, having a ight gray or tan background with faint turquoise flecks.

If stressed or moody these fish can exhibit great colour change in the aquarium and can also change with age. Stressed fish will be lighter and their spots will be less striking.

The Jack Dempsey is an easy fish to care for and a great cichlid starter fish for beginners. They are not demanding when it comes to water conditions and will readily eat a variety of commercially prepared foods. They will do well with other South American cichlids when they are young, but will tend to become aggressive and intolerant of other fish as they age and will likely need to be moved to their own tank.

Since they are omnivorous, the Jack Dempsey will generally eat all kinds of live, fresh, and flake or pelleted foods. They get quite large so they should be fed a high quality pelleted food and large chunk foods such as meat or fish. Be careful to not overfeed warm blooded meat (such as beef and poultry) as the types of amounts of proteins and fats in these foods can be harmful to fish if they are overfeed. Feed such foods, such as the commonly fed beef heart, sparingly and only as an occasional treat.

 

  • Species – Rocio octofasciata
  • Common Name – Jack Dempsey
  • Origin – Southern Mexico and Guatemala in lakes and creeks
  • Diet – Omnivores
  • PH Range – 6 – 7
  • Temperature – Tropical 24°c – 30°c
  • Breed Type – Egg Layer
  • Current Size – approximately 5cm (Grows to approximately 25cm)
  • Sex – Un-sexed

Jack Dempsey Cichlid

AU$35.00 Regular Price
AU$31.50Sale Price
Out of Stock
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