Pretty much as the title says. I have two male dovii which are two years old obtained from Ken Davis (FishFarm order). One is 14" and the other is 10". I also have a 3 year old Rapps female which is about 9.5".
Originally the males were ordered to find a mate for the female. She actually paired off with the fish that is now 10". I kept them in a 120g until recently when it became apparent that that tank was not big enough even for a smaller pair...the 10" male beat her within an inch of her life one day. So I moved her to a "community" 90g tank with some RD growouts.
I spent today moving fish around and decided to devote my 230g to my 14" male dovii. I've put the female in with him with some egg crate. There is a truce right now as long as she doesn't come across the half way mark of the 230g which the male has decided is his territorial border. The problem I anticipate is that he will soon realize the whole tank is his for the taking and the female will be toast in an eyeblink, especially since she hasn't yet clued into how the egg crate works for her. Also, despite the fact that she used to be an egg-laying machine (which is why she is on the small size), she hasn't spawned in quite some time with the other male. I'm not sure if this is a permanent situation or not. But I do think it will add to the problem when the 14" male wants to breed and she is not ready.
So my question is has anyone had any luck pairing up an older male dovii in this size range? I can't see it working with anything much smaller than the female in with him now, but I'm open to suggestions. It would be nice to have a breeding pair if I am going to devote an entire 230g tank to one fish. Thanks for any advise.
Originally the males were ordered to find a mate for the female. She actually paired off with the fish that is now 10". I kept them in a 120g until recently when it became apparent that that tank was not big enough even for a smaller pair...the 10" male beat her within an inch of her life one day. So I moved her to a "community" 90g tank with some RD growouts.
I spent today moving fish around and decided to devote my 230g to my 14" male dovii. I've put the female in with him with some egg crate. There is a truce right now as long as she doesn't come across the half way mark of the 230g which the male has decided is his territorial border. The problem I anticipate is that he will soon realize the whole tank is his for the taking and the female will be toast in an eyeblink, especially since she hasn't yet clued into how the egg crate works for her. Also, despite the fact that she used to be an egg-laying machine (which is why she is on the small size), she hasn't spawned in quite some time with the other male. I'm not sure if this is a permanent situation or not. But I do think it will add to the problem when the 14" male wants to breed and she is not ready.
So my question is has anyone had any luck pairing up an older male dovii in this size range? I can't see it working with anything much smaller than the female in with him now, but I'm open to suggestions. It would be nice to have a breeding pair if I am going to devote an entire 230g tank to one fish. Thanks for any advise.
). Hopefully he still has good potential. 14" at 24 months seems to be pretty normal based on what I have read here.