17" Dovii - is he done growing?

[harraj128]

So I've got a 17" male dovii which I feed once per day now and maybe miss one or two days a week to ensure he gets a proper digestive clear out. He's mainly pellet fed with 99% of diet being hikari cichlid gold large and northfin jumbo fish.

I do huge water changes (80%+) each week and happy with water parameters with current feeding.

My question is this. Should I be feeding him more often per day, and fasting him less? My thoughts are he's grown so much now and he's obviously older so he's not as veracious as his younger self and he's defo mellowed out so he expends less energy trying to kill everything these days. I don't want him to become fat and he's got a good shape to him.

Let me know your thoughts!

And yes that's a silver arowana who's lived with him for over a year lol.

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

So I've got a 17" male dovii which I feed once per day now and maybe miss one or two days a week to ensure he gets a proper digestive clear out. He's mainly pellet fed with 99% of diet being hikari cichlid gold large and northfin jumbo fish.

I do huge water changes (80%+) each week and happy with water parameters with current feeding.

My question is this. Should I be feeding him more often per day, and fasting him less? My thoughts are he's grown so much now and he's obviously older so he's not as veracious as his younger self and he's defo mellowed out so he expends less energy trying to kill everything these days. I don't want him to become fat and he's got a good shape to him.

Let me know your thoughts!

And yes that's a silver arowana who's lived with him for over a year lol. View attachment 1536551

I think you should tone back the food, he is not at his maximum size by any count. They tend to max out at a little bit past 2 feet, but that's assuming he's a male, which you said it was.

Maybe feed every other day, that's what I do for my fish. Keep doing the water changes, that is definitely an important part of keeping him healthy and continuously growing. Also, make sure he doesn't hurt the arowana, and that you have a backup plan for it just in case your Dovii becomes a wolf lol.

Hope this helps!

 

[harraj128]

I think you should tone back the food, he is not at his maximum size by any count. They tend to max out at a little bit past 2 feet, but that's assuming he's a male, which you said it was.

Maybe feed every other day, that's what I do for my fish. Keep doing the water changes, that is definitely an important part of keeping him healthy and continuously growing. Also, make sure he doesn't hurt the arowana, and that you have a backup plan for it just in case your Dovii becomes a wolf lol.

Hope this helps!

Yeah every other day seems sensible, so basic 3/4 times a week max. Do you think I should try feed him more frozen food or stick to pellet?

And yes haha dw I always check the arowana, but touch wood they get along but yeah have a backup plan if for whatever reason that changes!

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

Yeah every other day seems sensible, so basic 3/4 times a week max. Do you think I should try feed him more frozen food or stick to pellet?

And yes haha dw I always check the arowana, but touch wood they get along but yeah have a backup plan if for whatever reason that changes!

I think whatever he prefers in this case would be best.

 

[Hybridfish7]

How old is he? 17" is nowhere near full grown even by aquarium standards, and bear in mind dovii can live up to like 30-40 years. Also with regard to the silver aro, dovii are the kind of fish that stalk what they plan to kill, there will be no warning, one day it'll be "time" and the aro will be dead.

 

[Kevin@TUIC]

17" is actually fairly average when compared to the average size of wild caught dovii.

According to IGFA the average sized 'rainbow bass' Parachromis dovii, caught are between 5-10 lbs, but the first IGFA world record guapote was actually caught in Costa Rica in 1991 @ 12 lbs 9 oz, only then was broken in 1999 by an angler in Southern Nicaragua @ 15 lb 0 oz. Next largest (recorded) since then was in 2008 @ 13lbs 80z. ALL of the world record fish were well under 30" being closer to 24" to 26". Two Alleged 26lb & 31lb both @ 32" monsters were 'said' to have been caught. Both however, by unknown method, and no photo or physical proof, or name of the fisherman was ever provided. so it is considered hearsay and a fishermans tale. Possible? maybe.. however dovii is a VERY popular sport and food fish in Nicaragua and Costa Rica so considering the documented records on a fish is 10+ lbs less and quite a bit shorter in size than the proven fish, on a fish that is commonly fished for I would take the two that are are undocumented off the table.
can a 30" exist? I would think probably. if the 3 known world records are 12, 13, & 15 lbs all 3 near 26" I could see a possible 18lber @ 30" being probable. however, none have yet to be caught or seen so we wait. as for the alleged 31lb, 32" tale... man that would be a sight to behold!!
Keep in mind as mentioned above, these is a very commonly fished species for food source. In fact they are prohibited for collection and export in Nicaragua(why we have no wild ones in the hobby anymore) from the big lakes(river populations are ok), it is certainly plausible that the locals fishing for food have caught larger. They just go undocumented and are eaten.

 

[EricTheRed]

Great thread, a 15 pound, 26 inch Dovii with a bad attitude, that can live for 40 years is a LOT of responsibility for an aquarist…

 

[jjohnwm]

...it is certainly plausible that the locals fishing for food have caught larger. They just go undocumented and are eaten.

For many years, maybe even to this day, the world-record for Largemouth Bass was a fish caught by a local fellow in Florida who just wanted to eat it. Somebody else, who recognized it as a true monster, talked him into taking it to the general store and having it weighed on certified scales, which is the only reason anybody has ever heard of it, but the angler couldn't have cared less. He just wanted to get home and cook the fish.

I wonder how many times in history that has happened without somebody around who thought to document a huge fish?

 

[Kevin@TUIC]

yes the George Perry LM bass from 1932!(it was in GA) A record that amazingly still stands. Though a bass was caught in Lake Biwa, Japan and while it was controversial the weight stands as 1oz larger. It need to be 2 oz or more to beat the official record so it is considered a tie. Then of course we have 'Dotty' from California that would have beat the record if she had not passed