i have a serious question. i know the minimum tank size for a male dovii is 180 gallons. if you were to put this fish in a 75 gallon at 2", and fed him right and did regular water changes would the fish grow at the same rate as it would in a 180? i always heard the fish will grow only to the size of the tank its in. i just want to hear if anyone has done this?
dovvi set up
- Thread starter large_cichlids
- Start date
They grow to the quality of the water primarily, with total space factored in a little. Aquaculture studies show that it is possible to grow to large sizes in close quarters, but those fish are intended to be consumed, not the live years in those conditions.
The reason for the "stunting" myth is due to pollution primarily, but the lack of swimming space also limits the fish's ability to develop normal muscle tone, etc. As a result you often see hunch-backs and other malformations.
Bottom line on this thread though (no way I'm going to read it all) is NO! Even a 180 takes quite a bit of skill to pull off.
The reason for the "stunting" myth is due to pollution primarily, but the lack of swimming space also limits the fish's ability to develop normal muscle tone, etc. As a result you often see hunch-backs and other malformations.
Bottom line on this thread though (no way I'm going to read it all) is NO! Even a 180 takes quite a bit of skill to pull off.
cchhcc;2762984; said:
Hey cchhcc, who was the guy with the dovi, Pablo? He seems to be the first one around with dovis, I bet the tank he was kept in was not 180 gallons.
The LFS I used to frequent in Ft Myers Florida had a big male in a 90 gallon, he was big, blue and healthy.
It seems that in the last 10 years the fad has been these huge tanks, now everybody thinks you need that 450 gallon for everything.
I like my 240 and will get a bigger tank in the next few years but some of these tanks you are seeing pop up on the internet and just not practical for a hobbyist.
Ha ha definitely old school but I agree and want to reinforce cchhcc's advice.
Just sharing experience with my old umbee:
After he past the 14" TL mark, I had to do at least one maybe two 50% water changes a week to keep the nitrates below 20ppm.
This was in a 360 gal with just the umbee and one common pleco with only two feedings a day. When cichlids become large, the waste/pollutants they produce are incredible in such a short amount of time.
Did I mention the nitrates they produce are incredible?!!
Just sharing experience with my old umbee:
After he past the 14" TL mark, I had to do at least one maybe two 50% water changes a week to keep the nitrates below 20ppm.
This was in a 360 gal with just the umbee and one common pleco with only two feedings a day. When cichlids become large, the waste/pollutants they produce are incredible in such a short amount of time.
Did I mention the nitrates they produce are incredible?!!
i have to disagree with alot said about space yes the dovii will need a very large tank when full grown but they dont need the same size tank as a baby as they need when they are grown to reach full size. i worked at the washington dc animal shelter and got to talk to the people at the washington zoo they have huge dovii that they grow them out in stages and work them up in smaller tanks before they get to the big tanks. they had 2 huge males in a amazon exzibit with full grown arapima. i go from small to large raising my fish cause they always seem to feed better in a small area instead of large open water. just they way i did it since i was a kid because the fry never swim out in the open in the wild the stay in small pockets with lots of food until they grow in size. so to answer the ? yes for a while but you will need a large tank like everyone says in the end wich wont be long with dovii.
sorry if my above post seems to be out of know where i was resonding to a earlier post i didnt know it was going to go all the way to the end of the tread.
reverse;2763246; said:
a dovii isn't a practical fish for a starter.
you should know a 20"+ dovii will never fit in a 4'x2'x16" which is by my estimate a 75 gallon tank which large_cichlids wants to put a dovii in.
females need maybe 100 gallons of space.
male dovii get much larger than 16" which is the width of a 75 gallon tank.
you'd need atleast, the bare minimum of a 2' wide tank and if you wanted to grant swimming space, maybe 6-8' for a 20" monster.
180 gallon plus is ideal for a monster dovii.
reverse;2763246; said:
Actually, it may be the FISH you see popping up on the internet that aren't practical for a hobbyist.
Hmmmmmmm..........
