# Dovii personality change



## CichlidAddict (Jul 1, 2005)

So I've had my male dovii for about 5 months now. He has always been very aggressive toward other fish, but never toward me. (He hates my wife but that's another story) He would eat shrimp out of my hand and would shy away from me when I stuck my hand in the tank to redecorate or gravel vac.
Then about a week ago he just snapped. Now he's acting like a midas - he flares at me and attacks the glass when I come near. When I go to feed him he tries to attack my hand and bangs the tank tops (luckily they're acrylic) and splashes water all over the place. I'm actually scared to stick my hand in there now because he has some teeth on him!

Do you think it just took him this long to get used to his tank?
How am I going to gavel vac during the next water change?


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## Z♠NGT♥KER (Dec 27, 2005)

CichlidAddict said:


> So I've had my male dovii for about 5 months now. He has always been very aggressive toward other fish, but never toward me. (He hates my wife but that's another story) He would eat shrimp out of my hand and would shy away from me when I stuck my hand in the tank to redecorate or gravel vac.
> Then about a week ago he just snapped. Now he's acting like a midas - he flares at me and attacks the glass when I come near. When I go to feed him he tries to attack my hand and bangs the tank tops (luckily they're acrylic) and splashes water all over the place. I'm actually scared to stick my hand in there now because he has some teeth on him!
> 
> Do you think it just took him this long to get used to his tank?
> How am I going to gavel vac during the next water change?


DOVII go crazy and mean ass hell at like 8"-10"..........so if he that big that why......


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## oscared15 (Feb 3, 2006)

you have to expect that stuff, with fish like dovii


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## CichlidAddict (Jul 1, 2005)

I'm actually happy about it. He's living up to the all the hype I heard about dovii before I got him.
It's just going to make water changes a pain in the ass now and I don't want him to hurt himself banging into the tank tops.


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## oscar119 (Nov 26, 2005)

This gives me hope.. Mine is 3" now and finally doesn't hide all day and started swimming a bit.. He also sits in the plant like a torpedo looking at the top waiting for the food to hit the water.. How big is yours again?


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## CichlidAddict (Jul 1, 2005)

oscar119 said:


> This gives me hope.. Mine is 3" now and finally doesn't hide all day and started swimming a bit.. He also sits in the plant like a torpedo looking at the top waiting for the food to hit the water.. How big is yours again?


He's 13", but I've only had him for 5 months. Previously he was in a pond.


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

CichlidAddict said:


> This gives me hope.. Mine is 3" now and finally doesn't hide all day and started swimming a bit.. He also sits in the plant like a torpedo looking at the top waiting for the food to hit the water.. How big is yours again?


He's 13", but I've only had him for 5 months. Previously he was in a pond.
[/quote]

He's finally decided that your tank is home,now he's defending it from all comers.







Get a long tube for water changes because you're in his world now.


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

Sounds awsome, I hear these things yet I still cannot imagine such a fish. My aggressive fish are being limited to my pike cichlid and my belonesox. I've been thinking about getting a Wimple Piranha thru my work.

Cichlid addict, where abouts in MN do you live?


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## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

> How am I going to gavel vac during the next water change?


I have this problem with my 15" managuense. He takes viscious hits on my hand when I gravel vac and leaves me bleeding. Basically I just deal with it by flicking him on the nose when he gets near my hand. It makes him back off for a few seconds, but then he's right back. I've come to accept a marred up hand when I do gravel vacs.
Fortunately, my slightly larger dovii leaves my hand alone when I gravel vac. He'll try to take one good hit, then leaves me alone. Just alot of gill flaring and body wagging. But then again he has more room than the managuense. The bottom line: Ya gotta watch and be ready for the hit!


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## Omnius (Mar 20, 2006)

Dovii, three feet of pure intelligent agression!


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

Omnius said:


> Dovii, three feet of pure intelligent agression!


While the intelligent aggression is true, where did the three feet come from?

The biggest ive ever seen was a wild caught male that was pushing 30". Thats VERY large for a Dovii. In tanks males rarely get past 18", in the wild very rarely over 24".

Either way, they certainly are cool aggressive fish


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## Omnius (Mar 20, 2006)

I though they got three feet 32 inches yes? 30 inches is pretty close.


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

Omnius said:


> I though they got three feet 32 inches yes? 30 inches is pretty close.


From all that I know, they hardly reach much over 24" in the wild. But some large males, possibly. The biggest I have ever seen was a fisherman with a 30" male that he caught, it was by a ruler. Something like that is nearly a mutant.

In tanks, however, if you get one to top 20", he's a beast.


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## Omnius (Mar 20, 2006)

I have never seen fish of any large type reach full size which is weird and disappointing


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

Omnius said:


> I have never seen fish of any large type reach full size which is weird and disappointing


Yeah I was wondering that too. Even under near perfect care and large tanks the fish never reach full size

Oscars-18" wild, 14" tank

Silver Arro-40" wild, 24" tank

Lima shovel-18" wild, 10" tank

Fahaka puffer-18" wild, 14" tank

and so on and so forth...


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## oscar119 (Nov 26, 2005)

Tibs said:


> Silver Arro-40" wild, 24" tank


Actually I've seen many silver arrows over that 24".. there are two 29"ers?? for sale in the for sale section now. But will agree they too don't get as big as in the wild.

I don't know why though that some fish don't reach what their wild max size is supposed to be. But then I've never seen a 50 ft anaconda either.. So maybe max sizes listed everywhere are just "fish stories"??


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## Omnius (Mar 20, 2006)

for the anacondas yes, for other fish though I am unsure.


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## CichlidAddict (Jul 1, 2005)

Yeah, it's true most fish don't reach their listed "max size" in the home aquarium. I'll be very happy if my dovii eventually reaches 18". At that size he could really do some damage to my hand.


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

oscar119 said:


> Actually I've seen many silver arrows over that 24".. there are two 29"ers?? for sale in the for sale section now. But will agree they too don't get as big as in the wild.


I have too seen a large silver arrow that was at a public aquarium. It was about 30". For the most part, however, they don't get much larger then 24". I really wish that Altum angels could live up to their wild glory, 22" tall. You would need near constant water changes and a tank at least 30" tall.


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## divinelawyer625 (Dec 12, 2005)

Post a vid, i wanna see how a crazy dovii looks like.


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