Juvenile dovii breeding pair bullied by...juvi red devil's?

[Malcontentcichlidae]

I am new to the monster fish world and wanted an ultimate adult scenario with breeding pair of dovii, a breeding pair of jaguars, and two male peacock bass. One enormous impossible tank I know. Alternatively id separate them as necessary as time passed and I saw personalities develop. So I got the two sets of jags and dovi...Beautiful dovii. Gat them all around an inch and a half. And put them in a 40 gallon breeder. My two other tanks are an African, a mixed batch of oddball ornamentals baby sa's and loaches. I am beginning to need a mid aggression/smaller size sa tank for convicts green terrors red devil's blue acaras firemouth jd's etc blah blah. Had success with them all together over the years and am starting new community
I began adding them initially to the baby monster tank. It would all seem fine but over time I lost several more peaceable firemouths jd's convicts several green terrors. Never saw him but the male dovi was clearly asserting himself as they were not eaten just mailed to death.

We reached a workable community for several months with two unusally assertive blue acaras, two blue loaches (love em lol) the two jags, two jds, two firemouths, and two....Most recent...Very healthy lively red devil's. All the same size except the fires and jds which where itty bitty. Then he did an about face and started randomly killing one off every week or so of the smaller guys and the male jag . Ended up I decided time to move out the potential next victims. So i moved the acaras to the random tank for now, the loaches and a lone firemouth with them. Left were the two rds the lone jag and the dovi. Then everything changed. My normally brooding stalking 4 inch dovii started hiding not to stalk but to hide. It took me while and then I saw the smaller rds beating up on the female dovi. Anf lunging and squaring off with the make They dug holes and watched them, ate everything, and circled the dovi and we're just relentless. Now I think they have been the source of all the unrest and killings. I immediately took them out and put them in time out in a feeder tank til I decide what to do. They are the most lively and healthy red devil's I have ever had. But I am serious about the remaining big guys and want them for the long haul. I hate to give up on a fish and never have. Should I reintroduce under mutual stress like tank cleaning ( they all hddle and forgive sins during that) or keep them apart til I get the new tank to put them
Or are they trouble and need to go. I need someone to just tell me what to do. Ha! Sorry for the length. Thanks in advance.

 

[dan518]

No offence but what did you expect, dovii, rd's, jags are all extremely aggressive. Rd's are going to mature quicker then dovii and probably kill them, if not the dovii will hit maturity and kill rd's. Unless your tank is 1000's of gallons it's a unworkable stock.

 

[MP_cichlid]

dan is right. the problem with people buying young dovii is that they often are surprised when another cichlid of same size will bully it and then say "but i thought dovii were super aggressive?!?!?". However the misconception is that dovii are assumed to be the same age as the other cichlid at its size. Dovii reach massive sizes, much larger than any amphilophus obviously, and at, say 5 inches, a dovii is still very young and hasn't even begun to mature, while something like a red devil is already a young adult and has matured to the point of hormone production. That is also why people successfully keep dovii in community tanks when young. people will say that "oh my 10 inch dovii does fine with other fish, obviously he isn't that aggressive", well that is about the size where a dovii will hit sexual maturity, and thats when the massacres happen overnight.

 

[Gourami Swami]

The problem is the tank size here, It is a 40 gallon, correct? And these fish are all 4"? That's a whole lot of mean cichlid for a 40 gallon. Do you have tanks planned for these guys down the road? You would need something ridiculous to house the dovii, jaguars, and red devils together for the long haul

 

[robham777]

I keep my midevil in a 100 gallon by itself, my dovii was in a 125 g growout by itself, my 5" jag is in a 75 with only a striped raphael that is larger than it and very well armored. Even grow outs of highly aggressive species will stake out an entire 4' tank as their own. I would not attempt growing out that mix even in my 210 without using dividers. I think you should just keep the red devils, they will require an upgrade sooner than later, but not as much of one. They are also more interactive from a younger age.

 

[Fish on Fire]

Yeah, you were asking for a disaster trying to pull off multiple pairs in a 40 breeder. Add 2 more 0's to that gallonage, then you'll have enough room to attempt it.

 

[Malcontentcichlidae]

No offence but what did you expect, dovii, rd's, jags are all extremely aggressive. Rd's are going to mature quicker then dovii and probably kill them, if not the dovii will hit maturity and kill rd's. Unless your tank is 1000's of gallons it's a unworkable stock.

 

[Malcontentcichlidae]

No offence but what did you expect, dovii, rd's, jags are all extremely aggressive. Rd's are going to mature quicker then dovii and probably kill them, if not the dovii will hit maturity and kill rd's. Unless your tank is 1000's of gallons it's a unworkable stock.

I think my real problem is my ratchet jawed voluminous post! I wrote this is just a temporary living situation until we build the bigger tanks and accommodate for them at least two likely 220 + tanks one for the adult dovii pair and either one or two male peacocks. Until then I don't plan to hit skid row buying enormous tanks for each baby or pair of baby monsters, seperate less enormous mid level aggressives, another for a pair of bullies.
etc. Tempo-rary

 

[Malcontentcichlidae]

Yeah, you were asking for a disaster trying to pull off multiple pairs in a 40 breeder. Add 2 more 0's to that gallonage, then you'll have enough room to attempt it.

Again I asked for it to be skimmed. The post was exhausting to read I know I apologize

 

[dan518]

I am not saying you have to grow them out in a huge tank but ultimately you are going to need one, and a 220 really is the bare minimum for a dovii pair on there own. As for the situation your in at the min the dovii and rd's probably need there own 40 gal tanks. It might be a temporary but if you don't sought it out there are going to be more deaths or stressed, stunted fish.