[Toby_H]

As some of you may know… I’ve been in attempts to breed Blue Dempseys for quite some time. I’m being extra anal to grow out groups of Blues to get my breeders… I have been very selective as to what standard JD’s I spawn to make Blue Genes… I’ve been very careful when selecting the Blue Genes I will use to spawn… I’m being as cautious as possible to avoid inbreeding and am working with as many ‘lines’ as possible…

So after two years of all of this...

I finally have a pair that will produce hardy Blues!!!

I have spawned Blue x Blue in the past… which did produce baby Blues… but they didn’t survive long (10 days). I’m very excited to have finally put my first pair together…

Yea me!

...and of course pictures...

Both Parents & Fry

Ormed #2 line (aka Hollywood) male

Rapps male x My Best Female = BG mother w/ Fry

Their tank (Blue male is at the top left of the overflow)

A lucky close up of the Blue male

 

[Nighthawk]

Congratulations Toby!!!!

I'm hoping you'll save me a few....please.

 

[Bluekiller82]

Good Job Toby, you have an great looking Male Dempsey, I wish mine looked like him!!

 

[Big Vine]

Wow, this is exciting stuff---congrats! :dancing:
BV

 

[xXGrEeNxTeRrOrXx]

Excellent work. And kudos to you for the attempts to make the lines strong. Exactly what this 'morph' needs. Strong lines, not inbreeding.

AWESOME!

 

[renegade545]

Looks like your hard work and patience has paid off. Congrats. :thumb:

 

[Toby_H]

Looks like your hard work and patience has paid off. Congrats. :thumb:

Not really... now I have to learn how to keep the fry alive..

Thanks a lot guys. It's been a long rocky road getting this far but I've enjoyed the hobby more since I've started working with Blue Dempseys than I have before...

 

[Bluekiller82]

If you get these to sellable size let me know Id be interested.

 

[stuckinthemiddle]

Is this blue gene naturally occurring in the wild or a "man made"? these are going for $35 at my LFS...too rich for my blood for a 1.5 inch juvie

Good looking fish!

 

[Toby_H]

Is this blue gene naturally occurring in the wild or a "man made"?

The story is that a man received a wild caught pair of normal looking Dempseys... and that pair produced a small percentage of Blue Dempseys in each spawn... These babies were kept alive and from them we now have our Blue Dempseys...

Some people do not trust this story and assume they are hybrids...

A fair amount of scientific research has been done and no trace of hybridization could be found... yet not all possibilities were tested (as the possibilities are nearly unlimited and the testing gets costly)...

So the bulk of the evidence shows that most likely these fish are a "natural occurring color morph" comparable to albinism (and is genetically passed the same way)...

It is true that to date no one has ever spotted (or caught) a Blue Dempsey in the wild... it is just as true that the morph could exist in the wild for decades by normal looking fish with the recessive gene breeding together and further producing more normal looking fish with the recessive gene...

But anyway... there are several threads with elaborations of this concept as well as many other peoples positions. Use the site's search feature for Blue Dempsey or EBJD and you'll find several threads on the topic...

They are a bit costly… which is because breeding them is such an involved process. We must first create “Blue Geneâ€

 

[AU Chief]

I definitely want int on some of these fry. That's one of the best looking blues I've ever seen!

 

[Toby_H]

It’s easy to get a good looking little one… but to keep a good looking one to 9+â€

 

[swamptrout]

Those fish look sensational!

I am a bit confused :-? how do you know a blue gene fish is what it is??

do both parents need to be Blue Gene or only one of the parents??

blue gene dempseys are the normal color aren't they?

 

[Toby_H]

Blue Gene Dempseys look exactly like Standard Dempseys...

To make Blue Dempseys:

Blue x Blue = 100% Blue... to date Blue x Blue fry all die and have a high % of deformities...
Blue x Blue Gene = 50% Blue / 50% Blue Gene...
Blue Gene x Blue Gene = 25% Blue / 50% Blue Gene / 25% Standard...

The way I know my Blue Genes are Blue Genes is because I made them

The only way to know you have Blue genes is to make your own

Anytime you buy or trade for them you are gambling on the honesty of the seller. When I first started this process 2 years ago I tried to buy some Blue genes. I couldn't blame anyone for doing the same. But at this point I'm glad I did it the long way as not only do I have Blue Genes, but I am very confident in the quality of Blue Genes I have.

I would suspect that the Blue Genes that we see on for sale on sites like Aquabid are the lower quality Blue Genes that people felt were unsuitable for their breeding projects... and of course there is the risk of buying Standard Dempseys from a dishonest seller...

 

[swamptrout]

Toby,
How did you make Blue Genes??

Reason i ask is over here in Aus i bought some blues from a lady who has bred them herself, i asked her where she got the parents and she said that she purchased 2 blue genes from her LFS - to be honest i asked her how did they know and she said she didn't know that either but she just took their word for it. is their like a test they could have done?

In another tank she had normal colour juvies which she had separated. I asked what they were and she said they were 25% normals and 50% blue genes but because she couldn't tell the difference she couldn't sell them as either or.

 

[swamptrout]

sorry toby, one last question.

what is the outcome of
normal x blue = ?
normal x blue gene = ?

 

[Yankeejack]

I would suspect that the Blue Genes that we see on for sale on sites like Aquabid are the lower quality Blue Genes that people felt were unsuitable for their breeding projects...

....from a person with an active auction on Aquabid....I'll strongly disagree with this statement.

 

[Toby_H]

The only way (I know of) to “testâ€

 

[swamptrout]

what are your (& USA) rates for the blue fry?? over here in Australia the lfs are selling them for $150-$250 a juvie and there are only 4 places at that.

i paid my friend $50 each which is still expensive but considering the rarity in Aus and the LFS prices i think i got a bargain.

I also hear that majority of blues turn out male ?!?

 

[Toby_H]

Until recently females were almost unheard of…

In the last year or so a higher number of females have been noticed… I suspect the # of females being born is the same, but the percentage of females surviving past the fry stage is increasing… but that’s just my speculation…

You can watch Aquabid to see the common internet rates… LFS rates vary greatly depending on the area… but $50~100 US Dollars for poorly colored weak specimen @ 2â€