# Where to find Blue Jacks (in Ga)



## Torpedo (Jan 23, 2006)

Blue Jack Dempseys, that is. 


Anyone know a LFS that keeps them in stock? at a reasonable price??

The cheapest ive found so far is Animart in Douglasville. $65

The only other place ive seen them is The Fish Store in Buckhead and they want $85. 

anybody have some leads?


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

A 2 1/2" blue dempsey is $30.00 from Jeff Rapps in New Jersey, before shipping. He is THE source. Directly or indirectly, the one's in your fish shop probably came from him. $65.00 or even $85.00 is not bad considering. You're probably not going to find one much cheaper. They are a KNOCKOUT fish.


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## Torpedo (Jan 23, 2006)

ya. ive decided to get a pair of them for the 30g once the regular jacks move into the bigger tank. theyre a bit smaller and grow pretty slow, so theyll be ok in there until i can figure something else out.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Are you planning to attempt to breed them?


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## rywill (Nov 22, 2005)

i would love to have a couple blue dempseys in the near future. Would a 75 gallon be sufficient size for breeding. and how are they similar/different than regualar JD's?


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Blue's are very difficult to breed. That's why the price is so high. I don't know anyone, or know OF anyone that has been successful. Blues are a mutant form of a regular JD, but are much more sensitive to water conditions and much harder to get to spawn. The formula for getting blue dempsey involves mating a blue female with a normal male ( or maybe the other way around, I don't remember ). The resulting babys will all appear to be regular jd's. You then need to raise that batch until they are sexable. Pick out a female and breed back to a normal male. That batch will contain a small number of blues. It would be an interesting project and you could make some money.


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## rywill (Nov 22, 2005)

Hmm, sounds like it could be fun and time consuming. My lfs has only one and im not sure if it is male or female. So are they as aggressive as normal JD's, like would i be able to have 2 blue and 2 regular in a 75 and they all get along alright or would they need their own tank?


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Let me say first of all. I have never kept blues, so nothing I say is from personal experience. You can learn a lot more with a google search. But to summarize... Blues are less aggressive and more delicate. They might be harrassed by the regulars. That's part of the breeding problem. The blue partner gets beat up by the normal jd.


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## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

Torpedo said:


> The cheapest ive found so far is Animart in Douglasville. $65


where is this? i live midly close to d-ville, but im not familiar with this store... is it a good store in general? lots of different pets?


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## rywill (Nov 22, 2005)

alright thanks again ron for your advice


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## Torpedo (Jan 23, 2006)

leveldrummer said:


> where is this? i live midly close to d-ville, but im not familiar with this store... is it a good store in general? lots of different pets?


its actually in Austell, really close to D-ville. get on 20 headed to Atlanta and get off on the Thornton Rd exit and turn left. go about 5-6 miles and turn right on Bankhead Hwy. Once you get into Austell it will be on your right in a old timey shopping center behind an old service center. I think the name of the road that you turn on is Spring St, but i dont know for sure. i know theres a stop light where youre suppose to turn. 

Sorry im not much of a help.

But its a great store. Not a _huge_ selection of fish, but the owner is pretty knowledgeable. He has a bit of an accent so hes tough to understand, but he has a great personality and once you get to know him he'll keep you laughing. They have everything from a Macaw to the biggest Albino Python i have ever seen in my life. This thing is huge. he and his wife take in a lot of unwanted pets. Thats where the Macaw came from. They also have a couple of Green Parrots - cant remember what kind. when you walk in they'll greet you with "Whatcha Doin'?" or the bigger one will say "Whats uuuuuuup?"

Elvis is the Macaw... ask him to show you his muscle. its pretty cute.


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## Torpedo (Jan 23, 2006)

a lot of good info about Blues-
http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_dempsey.php

They say on there that they arent a hybrid... i dont really know what to believe as thats about the furthest ive researched it. i have my two regular Jacks that are doing really well and i would love to breed the blues.


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## Georgia Peach (Sep 23, 2005)

Torpedo, there is a LFS on the Hartley Bridge Road Exit - Noah's Ark - 788-9787
They are very good about ordering what you want - check with them and see if they can get them..


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## Torpedo (Jan 23, 2006)

Georgia Peach said:


> Torpedo, there is a LFS on the Hartley Bridge Road Exit - Noah's Ark - 788-9787
> They are very good about ordering what you want - check with them and see if they can get them..


Ya, i talked to him Monday. Im actually suppose to call him back today to check on it. He said he doesnt get the Blues in very often and i was the first person to ask about one in quite a while... actually, everywhere ive gone has told me that.


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## Georgia Peach (Sep 23, 2005)

yeah, when I called asking about keyholes they said they carry very few cichlids anyhow. Said they were too hard to sell.. LOL


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## Matt_1313 (Feb 2, 2006)

I just looked up that formula for blues...
You take A blue male and a regular female, then take the females from that normal looking brood and mate them with the origoinal blue male.


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## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

Matt_1313 said:


> I just looked up that formula for blues...
> You take A blue male and a regular female, then take the females from that normal looking brood and mate them with the origoinal blue male.


careful with that formula, thats inbreeding, we use to do it alot with reptiles. and you have the best way to do it (daughter/father) but depending on the complexity of an animal, you really cant inbreed that often, and if the blues you have are already inbred 5 of 6 generations, you could have some problems. most of the snakes can be inbred around 7 or 8 generations, but beyond that its trouble, with most albinos, they tend to have many problems, like poor respiratory systems, poor immune systems, and lots of other things. check it out, and make sure your not gonna breed blinky from the simpsons.


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## Matt_1313 (Feb 2, 2006)

I realize that.. and sadly it happens a lot with rare types such as blue dempseys. You dont necessarily have to use the same blue, just a blue male i suppose. they sure are beautiful fish though..


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## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

the problem with using a blue male, these "rare" traits are some times wild mutations, they dont survive well in the wild (thanks to darwin) so when one is caught, they inbreed that one fish, till they have enough to sell, or inbreed the young, (thats the generations i refer to) can you imagine how hard it would be to find a albino snake in the wild? they are the easiest targets for predators. so when one if found, shortly after, many are available in the pet trade for super bucks. slowly they are passed around, and slowly more and more and born, but they are usually decendants of the original, i wont get into the differnces of possible hets for certain genes and such, but all that is risky buisness, if there are an amundant source of blue jacks (which i dont know, im just talkin inbreeding here) if there are alot, you shouldnt worry, but if these are all descendants of one fish, a mutant, caught and bred. be careful.


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## Torpedo (Jan 23, 2006)

Heres a good page about the Blue Jacks. It says the Blue Jack is definitely *NOT* a hybrid.


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## Georgia Peach (Sep 23, 2005)

WOW! I just checked out that site - I have NEVER seen one of those! they are gorgeous!


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## Torpedo (Jan 23, 2006)

Yes they are! Theyre even prettier in real life. If youre ever in Atlanta, stop by The Fish Store in Buckhead. They have a mature male in their show tank. They only keep one juvenile in stock at a time, though.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Torpedo said:


> the Blue Jack is definitely *NOT* a hybrid.


OK. You have made that point a couple of times. Is anyone disputing that?? I didn't go back and re-read the whole thread, but I don't remember anyone saying the blue is a hybrid.


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## Torpedo (Jan 23, 2006)

it was a personal dispute with myself.


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## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

just one more time and ill leave it, a hybrid is a cross of species, the blue definatly is not a hybrid, but read my past remarks, and ask if they are inbreeding them... just so you know, its probably fine, but i wouldnt do it to much yourself. (if your succesful)


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## Torpedo (Jan 23, 2006)

eh... breeding would be a cool sidenote. in other words, its cool if it happens, but its not my goal.


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