The Blue Dempsey is a beautiful blue variant of the normally rather dark colored Rocio octofasciata (formerly: Cichlasoma or Nandopsis octofasciatum). In the youth Blue Dempsey still have relatively many black color parts, the extremely intensive, then almost solid blue coloration develops only with increasing age.
Presumably the animals are descendants of a mutant, which originated in Argentina (however, the fish is not native there, the ancestors of the Blue Dempsey were commercial aquarium fish) and was stabilized by backcrossing to “normal” Rocio octofasciata.
According to various keepers, the animals also seem to be significantly less aggressive than the wild form, which makes them particularly valuable for the aquarist. They do not make special demands on the water chemistry, according to their final size of about 20 cm the aquariums should not be chosen too small.
For our customers: the animals have code 657021 (2-3 cm) and 657022 (3-4 cm) on our stocklist. Please note that we supply exclusively to wholesalers.
Photos: Frank Schäfer, Text: Klaus Diehl
