Dovii Diet Discussion Thread

[calicichlid]

I try feeding my dovii a variety of foods the base being hai feng. Anything from nightcrawlers (from Walmart) market shrimp, wax worms, bloodwormsshrimp pelletsand even flaked foods. I was power feeding him for awhile but that got old quick too many water changes. I also garlic liquid mix on shrimp and night crawlers, try it.

 

[balton777]

defrosted whole fish is the best along with the pellets

My Dovii won't even look twice at whole fish.

I might be late to the thread but I have another case of a picky dovii over 12"

Mine seems to like certain things but gets tired of them. Case in point he wolfed down massivore and night crawlers for a while until he just seemed to lose interest. Ok, then I ran out of massivore and its freaking expensive!

I know of a few members that feed their large cichlids live feeders every few weeks. Is it possible that a treat like that combined with varied food offerings and competition get them on a healthy and sustainable diet?

All I want is a 20"+ Dovii, how am I supposed to realize my dreams when he is so picky and wont eat!

Me too and I'm worried about his diet since he's become so picky. Maybe it's just a phase but I don't want him dying from malnutrition. I know NLS is much much healthier so I'm still thinking about depriving him of Massivore until he'll take NLS again.

 

[cchhcc]

IMO you shouldn't be feeding your large dovii much of anything except two or three times a week. Are you feeding daily?

 

[balton777]

He takes about 12-15 or so Massivore pellets about every other evening. He won't eat every day even if I try to feed him. I feed the Datnoids daily and he will ignore the pellets sometimes even two days in a row.

So it sounds like this is normal cchhcc? I appreciate the advice....this is my first Dovii and want him to grow large and in charge.

 

[greenterra]

I forgot to say in my post that my guy has always been fed every 2nd day.It has been the only way to keep him interested on a regular cycle.
I wouldn't be too worried if I was you ,12-15 Massivore pellets every other evening sounds more than enough. Unless he stops eating altogether there is nothing to worry about IMO. When fish have competition for food in a tank they do eat more but most of the food consumed is far from needed. Take that competition away and a lot of fish will only eat what they need.

 

[Chaitika]

At this point, I'm feeding every day. From what I have been told, there is a 2 year window to get most of the growth out of a Dovii before it starts to really slow down. If the fish is willing to eat every day, and isn't porking out, I'm not sure I understand the reasoning. I've always seen appetite as a sign of good health.

 

[cchhcc]

So it sounds like this is normal cchhcc? I appreciate the advice....this is my first Dovii and want him to grow large and in charge.

The larger mine have gotten in the past the more picky they became at feeding time. You definitely want to feed small specimens everyday, but larger ones do better with a few large meals a week.

Think of how they would progress in the wild. As young fish, they'd eat anything and everything they could find -- mostly grazing on a wide variety of small foods. The larger they grow, the more they'd transition to a largely piscivorous diet. Fish mixed with a large invert here and there(crawfish types) would be the norm after a while. A fully grown dovii would eventually consume fairly large fish, and those fish would hold them over for a while as they digested.

Most of my dovii have been in mixed tanks, and I generally have target fed big specimens a few times a week with market shrimp and large veggie wafers (Omega). After a couple of weeks, they kind of learn the routine, so they (and the other fish!) know when "dovii food" is coming. The rest of the inhabitants are fed daily with fairly small foods (small pellets and small inverts like mysis), so if the dovii are interested they can graze too, but it rarely happens with the really big dovii.

Incidentally, I follow the same sort of routine with even the small piscivores like grammodes.

 

[balton777]

My small fish eat every day but the Dovii has chosen by his own will not to. I just got fininished feeding the other fish and tested him by dropping in a Massivore pellet but he ignored it. He lets me know when he's ready to eat by coming to the top and begging for food when I open the lid to feed the others. When I come to the tank, it's easy to see the difference between him wanting to attack me and wanting to eat. And I want to clarify when I said he wouldn't eat a whole fish, I meant a whole dead fish. He's tries to eat the filament barbs but they're too quick. He's damaged them a few times but never caught one.

 

[timeneverfreezes]

Hey Balton, any updates on the Dovii? Is he still taking the same amount of Massivore every other day or has he decreased?

Compared to that pellet count it feels like I have mine on a starvation diet. He eats 3 silversides and a few baby Madagascar hissing cockroaches every day like clockwork (just don't ask those bastards were overrunning my house, but they cant keep up with the Dovii )

I've been thinking about getting Massivore but just haven't yet.

Other plans in the works for better Dovii nutrition include shrimp and talapia, which he hates and de-dorsaled live bluegill which I have not tried yet.

 

[balton777]

Hey Balton, any updates on the Dovii? Is he still taking the same amount of Massivore every other day or has he decreased?

Compared to that pellet count it feels like I have mine on a starvation diet. He eats 3 silversides and a few baby Madagascar hissing cockroaches every day like clockwork (just don't ask those bastards were overrunning my house, but they cant keep up with the Dovii )

I've been thinking about getting Massivore but just haven't yet.

Other plans in the works for better Dovii nutrition include shrimp and talapia, which he hates and de-dorsaled live bluegill which I have not tried yet.

He'll eat a few Hikari Foodsticks in the a.m. with the barbs and SD's now and then. He's been in a phase for a couple of weeks now of wanting about 6-10 Massivore pellets every day. He's been extremely energetic lately.

btw I like your avatar