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Originally Posted by btlee
Sound like interesting fish you are talking about.
But is it Jack Dempsey you are talking about.
I was trying to look for some literature on this fish.
Can you direct me to a source?
Cheers!
BT Lee
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Hey Mr.Lee,
The fish in discussion here is the Blue Dempsey. It is an "Aquarium Strain" and this species is not found in the wild. Its not a work of mother nature but rather an accidental occurence. This species or genus was first bred in Argentina. The breeder had a pair of Jack Dempseys a.k.a Nandopsis Octafasciatus which spawned. When the fries were free swimming he noticed there was some offsprings that were different. He seperated both clutches and noticed that the offsprings of what is now known as Blue Dempsey to be weak and fragile, nevertheless he managed to raise them. He tried to breed them to see if the line could be maintained but it was reported that the offsprings was rather weak and could not be raised. Thus, he try to outcross the Blue Dempsey wif the original Jack Dempsey and the results were a 50-50 ratio, with the offsprings of the Blue Dempsey much stronger. This was the story that was told. This strain caused a lot of interests within Cichlid hobbyists and when I first laid eyes on them in Singapore it was sold at a staggering price of SG110 for a 2" fish. Many attempts have been carried out in trying to spawn this fish, but many have failed. Some have claimed that this could be a hybridized fish (a no no for the cichlid purists) but no claims were ascertained until today. Of recent Taiwan breeders have sucessfully bred some, but due to the lack of culling a lot of poor quality blue dempseys have been passed out, i.e offsprings that resembled more of the Jack Dempseys were being sold as Blue Dempseys. The difference in pricing for both species is still rather wide. A juvenile Jack Dempsey would only cost RM3 to RM5 whereas a juvenile Blue Dempsey would command up to RM70 to RM100. The difference is quite easily ascertained to the seasoned cichlid keeper as the irridiscent spots in juvenile Jack Dempseys are prominent, whereas the Blue Dempseys have a blue sheen altogether with black speckles. It's a nice little fish I would say as the colors are really stunning but breeding it is surely a challenge even for any advance cichlid keepers.