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I am not an expert on the subject, but I think it is just one of those traits that can be more or less pronounced. It may depend on the catch location of the ancestors, or some recessive gene. For me it's the deep blue and greens that make the fish look so impressive, but those colors often don't translate well in photographs. Your impression is certainly more important and reliable than mine since you have the actual fish to look at. Here are a couple of pics of the first male I had which never showed any pronounced horizontal bar, just faded and broken patches.
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Do you have a picture of your other male with the unbroken lines
 
I am not an expert on the subject, but I think it is just one of those traits that can be more or less pronounced. It may depend on the catch location of the ancestors, or some recessive gene. For me it's the deep blue and greens that make the fish look so impressive, but those colors often don't translate well in photographs. Your impression is certainly more important and reliable than mine since you have the actual fish to look at. Here are a couple of pics of the first male I had which never showed any pronounced horizontal bar, just faded and broken patches.
13361677053_b4f2a6001b_b.jpg

31463625191_7e6ab9dcb9_b.jpg

30355702291_30bd877dc4_b.jpg
Do you have a picture of your other male with the unbroken lines?
 
Ime males start loseing the horizontal bar at around 8-10". Maybe it's confidence or possibly just changing to adult colours. The look great if the bar fades out completely imo.
 
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Ime males start loseing the horizontal bar at around 8-10". Maybe it's confidence or possibly just changing to adult colours. The look great if the bar fades out completely imo.
Here is a recent pic of him since he has calmed down some. His vertical line is showing but often fades out a lot. It’s hard to tell in this pic but he has more blue on his fins then the other dovii. I also notice his head looked to have a little more blueish darker tint to it than the others

AF1D5A13-7B4D-4262-BFD5-3A59AC2ADE3B.jpeg
 
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This is the male I have now. I ordered four fish and got one male with three females, so there was no issue with choosing.
42729069184_cd5ea1cf53_b.jpg
 
This is the male I have now. I ordered four fish and got one male with three females, so there was no issue with choosing.
42729069184_cd5ea1cf53_b.jpg
Lucky! I bought three fishes from imperial tropicals and tried to get at least one female out of it and they all ended up males
 
Lucky! I bought three fishes from imperial tropicals and tried to get at least one female out of it and they all ended up males
I live on the Alabama coast, if you are anywhere close you are welcome to a female. I also have 14 1" fry growing out.
 
I live on the Alabama coast, if you are anywhere close you are welcome to a female. I also have 14 1" fry growing out.
Man I would love to have a female but sadly I live in Kentucky and would only be able to do shipping. Do you know if your dovii is a Nicaraguan or Costa Rican?
 
Man I would love to have a female but sadly I live in Kentucky and would only be able to do shipping. Do you know if your dovii is a Nicaraguan or Costa Rican?
They are Nicaraguan from Cichlids of the Americas. It would probably be way cheaper to order several more from imperial tropicals because of their super low shipping rate than it would be for me to send you a single fish. I had a pair form in just a couple of days, but I have separated them now because I felt the spawning was having a pretty negative impact on both their growth rates. I should have separated them after the first spawn since my goal is a large male specimen, and a breeding pair was just a bonus. He is a great parent, but she seems to have a tendency to eat her children.
 
They are Nicaraguan from Cichlids of the Americas. It would probably be way cheaper to order several more from imperial tropicals because of their super low shipping rate than it would be for me to send you a single fish. I had a pair form in just a couple of days, but I have separated them now because I felt the spawning was having a pretty negative impact on both their growth rates. I should have separated them after the first spawn since my goal is a large male specimen, and a breeding pair was just a bonus. He is a great parent, but she seems to have a tendency to eat her children.
Yeah I talked to the imperial people and they said there guessing that their doviis come from the Costa Rican Origin. How big would you say your smaller male is. It has a lot more color than mine does. Mine is around 4 inches
 
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