Costa Rican Blue vs Nicaraguan Dovii

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Wildcat157

Plecostomus
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Aug 2, 2019
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This is my third post about this Dovii that I accidentally bought from Pet Land in the "Assorted American cichlids" tank a while ago.
After getting feedback from many knowledgeable members that I in fact have a male Dovii I have another question.
I found a 2014 Dovii video of a gentleman showing off his Huge Dovii. He explains that there are two distinct types based on the region of origin. He States that Costa Rican Doviis are more blue and taller body habitus.
I noticed my Dovii at about 4" seems to have strong blue Hughes in his unpaired fins.
His body habitus at 4" is difficult to discern at this young age.
Can anyone tell me which type I have?

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I think you are referencing madness’s video.

I had asked Jeff Rapps about this a few years ago.
He is of the opinion that with a gun to his head and with several fish of different locales in buckets he would not be able to see a notable difference between locations.
He also said there is variation amongst spawns and that if there is a difference it may simply be between lake and river dwellers- not man made borders .
 
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I wanna know if my dovii cichlid is a Costa Rican blue or Nicaraguan Dovii
from what I know the Costa Rican blue is thick and has a lot of blue whiles the Nicaraguan has a bigger mouth and longer body
please can anybody help me figure this out.17392106-1D47-4151-9D20-2B421D25F4B7.jpeg17392106-1D47-4151-9D20-2B421D25F4B7.jpeg17392106-1D47-4151-9D20-2B421D25F4B7.jpeg17392106-1D47-4151-9D20-2B421D25F4B7.jpeg17392106-1D47-4151-9D20-2B421D25F4B7.jpeg17392106-1D47-4151-9D20-2B421D25F4B7.jpeg17392106-1D47-4151-9D20-2B421D25F4B7.jpegA4896CD9-E56A-4066-A551-CE8242764A2C.jpeg
 
I wanna know if my dovii cichlid is a Costa Rican blue or Nicaraguan Dovii
from what I know the Costa Rican blue is thick and has a lot of blue whiles the Nicaraguan has a bigger mouth and longer body
please can anybody help me figure this out.View attachment 1436919View attachment 1436919View attachment 1436919View attachment 1436919View attachment 1436919View attachment 1436919View attachment 1436919View attachment 1436920

Jeff Rapps was a reputable importer of cichlids (he's retired now), and from his experience, physical appearance won't tell you what you want to know, so without knowing collection point it's pure conjecture on anyone's part. If you are dead set on a certain variation, find an importer to get you what you want, or trace the lineage of your dovii. It's also quite possible you have a mix of Costa Rican and Nicaraguan since some breeders can't tell you the origin of their dovii.


......

I had asked Jeff Rapps about this a few years ago.
He is of the opinion that with a gun to his head and with several fish of different locales in buckets he would not be able to see a notable difference between locations.
He also said there is variation amongst spawns and that if there is a difference it may simply be between lake and river dwellers- not man made borders .
 
IMG_4579.PNG Small adult Costa Rican dovii, La Fortuna. My nephews size 8 foot for comparison.
IMG_3866.JPG Small juvenile dovii, Lake ArenalIMG_3871.JPG
IMG_3874.JPGLarger juvenile CR dovii, Lake Arenal drainage pond, valley side of the dam.
 
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I always thought one small difference is that the nicaraguans tend to be more brown/gold in the base color whereas the Costa ricans have a lighter grey/silver body color. But I have zero evidence to back that up. I was really interested in this when I first got mine, but there doesnt seem to be a lot of hard evidence for there being much difference. Plus as prolific as dovii are at breeding in the hobby, they probably have mixed bloodlines after all these years anyway.
 
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Dovii like most fish can be variable in coloration even from the same geographical area, I have a bunch of lake Nicaragua Dovii pics I caught and I believe one from Costa Rica I have to dig up, a great example of that was meeki from crooked tree, some where your typical firemouths, red undersides, some where orange and some were very pale with just a hint of color, and that was from the same cast net..
 
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