Man........ Oh nevermind.....
Anyway, I've had several dovii in community situations. The first catalyst to trouble is the presence of a female. Another is the presence of a "competitor" -- i.e. another Parachromis of similar species. The third catalyst is an attempt to put a specimen that has been isolated most of its life into a community situation.
Ultimately, it all comes down to tank/pond size. As I've noted before, I recently gave away a huge specimen that got along just fine in a 1500 pond with 30 or 40 other cichlids of all types and sizes. That fish was part of a breeding pair (the female was much smaller) that spent most of their time protecting their brood. In a body of water that size, they were able to satisfy themselves that they didn't have to stalk and kill everythng else in the pond. In fact, I saw very little difference in the behavior of the other fish in the tank when the dovii pair bred. The dovii were absolutely psychotic toward me though! Feeding time was quite an adventure.
Keep in mind the two reason a dovii is aggressive: 1. To secure an appropriate feeding territory (from which they will expell all other piscivores if they can). 2. To secure and defend a breeding territory. Outside of that, anything that isn't seen as food is often pretty safe..... in the wild.
In an aquarium, though, we see a lot of pathological behavior from our cichlids. This is the result of isolation and a stimulus poor environment. So, the better you can replicate a healthy environment, the more natural the behavior of your fish.
Right now I have two females and a male (just medium sized fish for now) in a 10' x 4' outdoor tank with a couple of dozen other cichlids. All they do all day is work the water hyacinth and parrot feather for moaquito fish snacks!
Basically, if you have enough water (1000+ in the case of a large specimen), you can do just about anything. Just make sure his tankmates aren't seen as food or competitors.
Anyway, I've had several dovii in community situations. The first catalyst to trouble is the presence of a female. Another is the presence of a "competitor" -- i.e. another Parachromis of similar species. The third catalyst is an attempt to put a specimen that has been isolated most of its life into a community situation.
Ultimately, it all comes down to tank/pond size. As I've noted before, I recently gave away a huge specimen that got along just fine in a 1500 pond with 30 or 40 other cichlids of all types and sizes. That fish was part of a breeding pair (the female was much smaller) that spent most of their time protecting their brood. In a body of water that size, they were able to satisfy themselves that they didn't have to stalk and kill everythng else in the pond. In fact, I saw very little difference in the behavior of the other fish in the tank when the dovii pair bred. The dovii were absolutely psychotic toward me though! Feeding time was quite an adventure.
Keep in mind the two reason a dovii is aggressive: 1. To secure an appropriate feeding territory (from which they will expell all other piscivores if they can). 2. To secure and defend a breeding territory. Outside of that, anything that isn't seen as food is often pretty safe..... in the wild.
In an aquarium, though, we see a lot of pathological behavior from our cichlids. This is the result of isolation and a stimulus poor environment. So, the better you can replicate a healthy environment, the more natural the behavior of your fish.
Right now I have two females and a male (just medium sized fish for now) in a 10' x 4' outdoor tank with a couple of dozen other cichlids. All they do all day is work the water hyacinth and parrot feather for moaquito fish snacks!
Basically, if you have enough water (1000+ in the case of a large specimen), you can do just about anything. Just make sure his tankmates aren't seen as food or competitors.
