# Tragedy at my house, Looking for new fish. Dovii questions



## shocker45 (Jun 23, 2005)

Alright, well in a recent tragedy i had all my piranhas die on me. all 10 of them. well now i am re-cycling my tank, and come time in 3-4 weeks im going to look into getting something new.

i have kind of been eyeing up Dovii for a while, i want a fish that just looks badass and has more personality than a red belly piranha, instead of hiding in the corner when u walk by i would like to see more of an aggressive behavior including during feedings.

My buddy sent me a video where his would literally attack the net as soon as he put it in the water, and would chase his hand back and fourth constantly. he would walk in a room it would stare at him, and as he moved around the room it would follow him in the tank. is his just a sav or are lots like this?

my tank is 72x22x22, 150 gallon. would it be enough for 2 dovii? i dont want a solo tank, so if i cant have 2, would i be able to combine some green terror's or other aggressive cichlids?

let me know what you guys think? or if i should just stick to piranhas?


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## furious piranha (Mar 22, 2005)

i think it will be fine for a pair, but im not 100% sure. THe male will stay under 20in uinless its a real monster and the female smaller, so i dont see why noit. You should really wait til some real experts respond tho. and you def should move to cichlids from piranhas they are alot more personable and fun


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## oscared15 (Feb 3, 2006)

for a pair of dovii, go with a tank like a 240 or bigger

dovii are amazing fish and well worth the money to buy a tank like that :nod:


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## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

In my opinion you can easily get away with a mated dovii pair in a 150g. I bred my 16 inch male and a 7inch female in a 125g with no problems. And they had plenty of room after I removed all decor. Some cichlid fanatics wouldn't reccomend anything less than a 300g. I'm done breeding and I sold the female so now the male has the run of the tank. As far as dovii and tank mates...in a 150g you could possibly get away certain other things as tank mates, but ultimately, it's up to the dovii as to what he will tolerate. It's a guessing game. He may not get along with anything. There's alot of varying factors, like tank size and choice of tank mates. One dovii I had in a 110g was very tolerant of other fish until he hit the 10 inch mark, then he turned into a real bastard! Dovii at any size hate their own kind, including other guapotes like managuense.


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## shocker45 (Jun 23, 2005)

so a pair would be okay? they wouldnt kill eachother?
and also, my buddies is nuts, like he opens the lid, it sits right there, drops the net in. and he attacks it instantly. are most dovii highly aggressive like this? like it wasnt even comparible to piranhas.

i think im either going 1 dovii and some cichlids, or 2 dovii, or 6 caribe. still unsure on what i really want or what is best suited for me.


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## oscar119 (Nov 26, 2005)

shocker45 said:


> i think im either going 1 dovii and some cichlids, or 2 dovii, or 6 caribe.


IMO for 150g tank it's either one dovii, one male/one female dovii, or the 6 caribe.. I would * not * mix any other cichlids in a 150g tank with a dovii.. Just asking for trouble. And any cichlid less aggressive(pretty much everything is when you're talking larger dovii) will probably eventually end up dead or badly injured. Just my .02..

Another thing to consider is (Serrapygo can vouch for this) eventually if you get your male/female dovii to breed you'll get fry, getting rid of a couple first batches might not be an issue but eventually they will become harder to get rid of unless you know some place that moves dovii fry like hotcakes.

(Note: I know there are fish that are sometimes just as aggressive as a dovii, such as some flowerhorn, midas, jags, etc but I still wouldn't put any of them in a 150g with a dovii)


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

youll have a lot more fun with 2 doviis then you ever did with 10 natts. in my opinion at least. i believe a 150+ could house a dovii pair to some extent, but to really see them thrive i would go with a 200+ gallon tank. this way youll also be able to comfortably add decor to really make the tank stand out.


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## sicklid-holic (Mar 25, 2005)

I would highly recommend a male dovii, but Im hoping you get a personable one and mean at the same time. So you dont have to wait months for the dovii to come from its shell. 
Sometimes a very shy dovii wont be mean till they hit certain size between 7" to 12". Even then some can still be not mean till around 15".

However there are alway exception out there, Each fish is different. For instance I bought this male dovii at 2", then at around 3" alone in a 20gallon long. It wont stop attacking you through the glass. Slamming itself, bitting when you get close to the tank. At this early age, it is not common.
But the best way, is to keep it solo, and at juvi size to train.
Like I spend a few minutes a day, sticking my face in the tank till the 3" dovii comes forward, so I move back. I keep doing this making the dovii feel like its in charge, when he gets close, I move back. Making faces, moving you face back and forth teasing it. Eventually he will start to nodge at first, then few days later hitting the glass, followed by bitting and slamming. Honestly I only took a few days of training. 
(But remember this 2" dovii was not shy at all, to begin with and has the best personality I have seen in a fish at such a small size.)
Once they hit this aggressive stage, youve got to careful you move your have or face away before they slam at it, bec. it can damage there face/teeth from all the raming.

Im telling you once you get a crazy mean dovii, there is no comparison. Imagine my 3" fish with this attitude at 18"!!! With some blue or green lighting to enhanced its colors.!!!


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

yep, pound for pound cichlids are just better than piranha. doviis in general seem to be the poster child for this example. regardless of breeding, a dovii, even one, will be an amazing fish to watch. i always recommend convicts for small tank owners who want something more than typical tropical fish like mollies and swordtails. they all share like characteristics, and your dovii is about as cool of a fish as youll find for a tank.


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## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

> Another thing to consider is (Serrapygo can vouch for this) eventually if you get your male/female dovii to breed you'll get fry, getting rid of a couple first batches might not be an issue but eventually they will become harder to get rid of unless you know some place that moves dovii fry like hotcakes.


Definitely! I got overrun by fry. I stocked all the stores in my area (that wanted any), sold locally, shipped, and I still have about 40 left over. An easy solution would be to feed them off to the managuense but I don't have the heart. They aren't as 'in demand' as I thought!


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## piranha_guy_dan (Oct 4, 2004)

dude get more p's


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## shocker45 (Jun 23, 2005)

yea im not liking the idea of having 1 fish to a tank, unless i was guarnteed he is going to be a nut job. but ive seen some caribe that attack the glass when u go buy, so maybe ill get lucky.

i think im gunna go with 6 or 7 caribe.


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## oscar119 (Nov 26, 2005)

shocker45 said:


> yea im not liking the idea of having 1 fish to a tank, unless i was guarnteed he is going to be a nut job. but ive seen some caribe that attack the glass when u go buy, so maybe ill get lucky.
> 
> i think im gunna go with 6 or 7 caribe.


I think every dovii is a nut job to an extent, it just depends on when he gets comfortable in his home(tank). But if you want alot of action alot of fish would be best. I don't know sh$t about caribe so I don't know whether they're aggressive enough to want to protect their territory or not. If you just wanted alot of action(not so much glass smacking) and had some $$ to burn I'd suggest africans...


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## shocker45 (Jun 23, 2005)

i was at my lfs today and he had a nice tank setup with by far the most nuts of a fish ive ever seen. he called it an African Tiger. Looked like a baracuda with huge teeth. was about 8" long and he said will grow to 15-20" he dropped in 6 feeders. all 6 were gone in probabaly 10 seconds. and 3 of them hid







as soon as they went in he had one. like blink an eye. and he was just ripping it apart. WAY cooler than ive ever seen my piranhas eat.

So what im thinkin, go with an arrowana for the surface fish, this African tiger for the middle. and a stingray for the bottom. so i get 3 cool things. im not big on the arrowana but they look cool when they are big.


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## oscar119 (Nov 26, 2005)

I don't think the ATF will work with the arrowana/stingray, but I'll let someone who knows for sure answer. The stingray/arrowana should work together though. Your tank is a little small for the arrow but I guess it could work.


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## shocker45 (Jun 23, 2005)

it does work, i just saw it with my own eyes.







arrowana was at top, ATF was in middle, stringray was on bottom never picked on eachother once.


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## studmuffin992 (Feb 27, 2006)

go with the 6 caribe and shot afew RBPs in there and say 2 piraya


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## shocker45 (Jun 23, 2005)

thats way to much fish for my tank, 6 caribe is enough.
but i want this african tiger fish now. im in love with it. lol


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## Ender (Oct 5, 2005)

IMO w/ a 150g I'd go w/ a Jag pair over a Dovii pair. Just a thought. Jags are badasses too.


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## shocker45 (Jun 23, 2005)

whats a jag pair?


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## Ender (Oct 5, 2005)

http://www.aquamojo.com/managuense.html


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

if you want what you had just start a P tank again. not every fish is worth having if your looking for a nutjob behavior. cichlids are just in my opinion more active and interesting then piranha are per fish. i think the most impressive fish hands down is an adult rhomb, but the most interesting fish to watch are big american cichlids like the dovii, oscars, GTs and RDs. youll find much enjoyment in them.


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