Are these fish dovii?

[danny2875]

Doesnt look like dovii at all. More like Loiselli.

 

[terd ferguson]

I didnt DENY it was a yellowish color, merely stated the males werent as yellow as the females. I just didnt know there were color experts willing to nit pic my statements down to the closest particle color when I made my first blanket statement regarding the differences between the males and females...but thanks for proving my point. That ivory colored male is nowhere near the yellows of females Ive had or were represented in the pics jacob linked to.

Dude, I was joking. Just trying to lighten the mood a little, lol.

Same dovii six months later, still very golden...

Here is that same fish 1 1/2 years after the original "ivory" pic. Doesn't look very yellow, he's in a dark spot. But when he swims in the sweet spot under the eight 4' T5's, he is in fact still very golden...

Now compare that to the yellowest of yellow of the Parachromis, the female loiselli. This is true yellow...

Now that said, these are my fishes. My dovii is F1 and now well over one foot. When considering color range of a species (in this case dovii), we as collectors have a tiny representation of offspring of maybe three different races whose parents were collected from less than a dozen different locations. This species' territory spans through three countries in Central America along with now well established wild colonies in Florida. This is a giant geographical area. What I'm trying to say is that we as fishkeepers have a relatively TINY representation of all possible variations that exist undiscovered in the wild.

I have seen yellower male dovii than mine here on MFK. But none to approach the true yellow of female loiselli. Female dovii come closer, but still not truly yellow. Descriptions of fishes from retailers are to generate excitement and a willingness to buy their product. Everybody had seen the blue/green/purple dovii that was well established in the hobby. When the newish "yellow" dovii came to market, it did generate a lot of excitement. Its merely clever subterfuge and semantics.

In my opinion, this is all from the wild collectors who just went to a new spot in CA. We have a "new" fish that in reality has always been there, just "undiscovered". Maybe they meet a new guide next year that takes them to a new lagoon where a newly undiscovered race exists. I'd almost bet my tank there's other dovii color variations in the wild. Just like the wildly popular "la ceibas". Considered by Paul Loiselle to be a variant of friedrichsthalii, they are as different from all the freddies I've seen as to almost be another seperate undescribed Parachromis species.

In other words, there are large swaths of undiscovered lakes, lagoons, rivers, and streams containing vast quatities of fishes and variations of fishes we could only dream of seeing. To say there is no yellow dovii in the hobby is one thing. To say they don't exist at all is another. There was a time when the only managuense available was the white/gold/purple. Check out the yellow jags some big names show off here from time to time. As much as the innnernetzz has made the world smaller, we haven't even begun to discover what's out there in these jungles..




Now, of course, all of that jibber jabber is way off topic. So to get back on track, I still say the fishes in the original pic are jag x loiselli.

 

[Mel O]

Don't forget about the elusive red dovii. The very first dovii in the hobby was red and as far as I know the last. I almost obtained one a couple years back but it didn't happen. I have been looking for over 35 years....

 

[terd ferguson]

Don't forget about the elusive red dovii. The very first dovii in the hobby was red and as far as I know the last. I almost obtained one a couple years back but it didn't happen. I have been looking for over 35 years....

I remember seeing a pic of this fish a long time ago. That's the part of the point I was trying to make. With so many lakes, lagoons, pools, streams and rivers, there can be incredibly isolated populations that evolve into seperate races. It's still the same fish, but they may have different characteristics and behavior based on their local enviornment and diet. For instance, a dovii from the Pacific side may have a majority of their diet being different prey than on the Atlantic side. Different foods can mean different colors, or a preponderance of certain colors vs. others. Same with local enviornments. Deeper lakes and lagoons vs. shallower streams and rivers have given us different shaped dovii (longer and slender vs. high bodied).

While resale collectors have brought us vast quantities of once rare species, no way they've even begun to crack the surface of what's truly out there.

I'm sure if there was one red dovii, and if their habitat hasn't been destroyed by progress, there's more. Somebody just has to find them.


And I'd still be willing to bet the fishes in the original post are jag x loiselli.



The infamous and one and only "red dovii". According to legend (and what I've read aquamojo post a long time ago), this fish was caught in Costa Rica although I can't remember the specific location. It now exists as a speciman in a jar at the University of Costa Rica. Others have been seen, but not brought back successfully. And yes, this is a real photo. These were the days before easy photoshop, besides, it comes from very reputable sources...