Intro and Dovii Question

[Jesse Lee]

Hello all, a couple months ago I purchased a male CR Dovii. He's currently 4-5 inches and sharing a 125 gallon tank with my gorgeous Honduran Jag (same size). They both hide all day and avoid each other, things are very peaceful in the tank. I know this will eventually change and I'm currently shopping for a new permanent solo tank for the Dovii.

Here's where I need some expert advice....

I'm close to pulling the trigger on a new acrylic tank 96x24x20 for the Dovii.
Do you think the 24 inch width is good for life? What about the 20 inch height? I want the fish to be comfy and live a long healthy life.

I'm not worried about spending the extra money if need be on a larger tank, BUT if this tank will provide a good home I'm going to buy it.

Thanks in advance for your help/advice. I'm new to this site and just got back into the hobby. Jumped in head first and love it! I'll share some pics of my fish room and my other cichlid tanks soon. Thanks again!

Jesse

 

[tlindsey]

Hello all, a couple months ago I purchased a male CR Dovii. He's currently 4-5 inches and sharing a 125 gallon tank with my gorgeous Honduran Jag (same size). They both hide all day and avoid each other, things are very peaceful in the tank. I know this will eventually change and I'm currently shopping for a new permanent solo tank for the Dovii.

Here's where I need some expert advice....

I'm close to pulling the trigger on a new acrylic tank 96x24x20 for the Dovii.
Do you think the 24 inch width is good for life? What about the 20 inch height? I want the fish to be comfy and live a long healthy life.

I'm not worried about spending the extra money if need be on a larger tank, BUT if this tank will provide a good home I'm going to buy it.

Thanks in advance for your help/advice. I'm new to this site and just got back into the hobby. Jumped in head first and love it! I'll share some pics of my fish room and my other cichlid tanks soon. Thanks again!

Jesse

Welcome
You are going to get mixed reviews but tbh the largest possible aquarium especially for a mature male Dovii these fish come from lakes so the territory for a Male is huge. Here is a old link until others chime in.https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...he-minimum-tank-size-for-a-male-dovii.315032/

 

[Kelly_Aquatics]

personal I would do nothing less than a 8'x3' ideally a 8'x4 because in the wild they are open water predators that are used to protecting a huge territory could a dovii live in that size tank sure but it would be like a human living in a car the quality of life would not be great and depending on filtration the water will foul quickly
I would maybe use it for a pair of jags still a great parachromis!!

according to the world record fishing association the world record is 13lbs 26 inchs not sure how up to date this is because I know that their are some threads on here about possible 30+ inchers!!! here's one!

30" DOVII AT PUBLIC AQUARIUM!!!

Has anybody been yo the national zoo in washington DC lately? They have the amazonia exhibit with the arapaima, pacu, TSN, RTCs rays etc. but new this year they added MASSIVE dovii!!! There are like at least 26 of them and multiple pairs... And they have the biggest "fang" i have ever seen...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[newworld]

Others will say the size of lake Nicaragua some will say a 55, both are ridiculous , for a male dovii I would say minimum 300, female I would say 100, these are just my thoughts for a solo fish, obviously bigger is always better, I kept and bred them many times great fish but they are big and need a big tank...

 

[dan518]

Personally I would wait or get another temporary 125 gal tank. Putting a 4 inch fish in a 300 gal plus tank will get very boring waiting for it to fill the tank. Get it up to 12 inch or more then upgrade.

 

[Gourami Swami]

I agree with waiting a bit to put it in the large tank.
I think if you have the means to get a wider tank it would be better, 8x3'+ would be ideal. Since you are buying the tank brand new it's going to be pricey as hell either way, I'd go with the wider tank. If you were to find a super cheap 8x2', I'd say it would be better than many Dovii get and probably OK. But if you have the option, go bigger.

 

[Jesse Lee]

8×3 are $2500
8×2 are $1800

I just can't help but wonder if a 8x2 would be wide enough considering most male dovii in captivity don't get over 20 inches correct?

 

[dan518]

Most dovii in captivity aren't kept long enough generally to hit these sizes. I know a 7 year old dovii that's still growing about 1 to 2 inch a year. If house correctly and kept long enough you should plan on 24 inch plus.