Jack Dempsey Fin Breaks

[morpheus]

I have not been able to put a finger on exactly why this is happening yet. I have always owned dempseys, but havent seen this before and wanted to throw it out for ideas. This fish is alone in a 10 gal until i can move him to my 56 gal with the big boys.

For some reason, only his dorsal fin looks like he has been through a war with another fish. The fin is jagged instead of the normal smooth curve with red accent. No signs of bacteria or infection on other fins/body.

I havent formally tested the water yet, but being the only fish in there and water changes every 2 weeks, the toxins cant be high. He only eats once a day (like 1-2 cichlid sticks) and the water is clear.

What could be causing it? He has plenty of room being only about 3 inches long. I may start to do more frequents water changes, but water changes really freak him out for some reason.

[troy tucker]

With out knowing any numbers on the water. I would guess stres from being cramped. JD.s Like room to move.

[mistahoo]

With out knowing any numbers on the water. I would guess stres from being cramped. JD.s Like room to move.

This ^. A 10gal is far too small

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[morpheus]

Thanks for the ideas. The 10 gal is just the short term and like I said I just want him to get a little bigger before moving in with the bigger cichlids. This is just all I have available to keep him in right now (my 29 gal is all tetras and he would terrorize that tank). Might just have to take the chance and move him, there are lots of hiding spots in the big tank.

[ScorpiosWife]

I inherited 2 JDs a few months ago. One has a break in his top fin. It's solid, solid, solid, missing V shape, solid, solid, solid.
At first I thought it was fin rot, some type of fungus, etc. Turns out he's just a jerk and the other JD knocked his block off, lol.

[morpheus]

I moved the small JD into the big tank on Saturday. He is still alive so thats a plus and eating readily. Getting chased by some of the others, but he is holding his own. I will keep looking to see if the fins heal up.