New Dovii
- Thread starter ddot82
- Start date
The Dovii in your second picis a male....
BTW...congrats on the buy...they are awesome fishes and great glass bangers...
You might have to add more hiding spaces....they will get nippy first and then go all the way to fight till they hurt one another seriously...
Hope you have thought about having only one established pair on the long run !!
Nice set up and all the best !!
Thanks for the advice! Right now there are 6 flower pots in there, 2 but strawberry pots and 4 smaller pots along with that fake bamboo stuff that I let float at the top(the big male loves that). I have 6 in there right now with tinfoil barbs as dithers. The tank is a 8 ft long, 3 deep, 2 tall 360 gal. I have 6 and am hoping for a pair. Looks like I have one but am waiting to be sure. When it's confirmed the other 4 will be rehomed and the pair will get the tank to themselves. I also have the materials to make a divider so 2 feet of the tank will only be accessible to the female. Glass bangers are what I'm hoping for. Can't wait til they're bigger!
I hope those materials are kevlar lol. OK, a bit of a stretch but from my experience with an young adult pair so far their is only one word to describe them, "Destructive". Those heaters will need protecting & those big flower pots would make me nervous so make sure they are secure as well as any powerheads. Any plastic plants you have will be decimated so don't expect a nice little garden in there. i still have lots of plastic plants in my tank, they just happen to be floating around the surface & i have added to them with lots of other old plastic plants i had. It actually looks good & the fish seem to appreciate it as well as it gives them some cover & it's cool to watch them move it around. Basically what u have is a demolition team in your tank so be prepared.
Totally prepared. The plants were put in for cover while they're young, along with the pots. The pots are coming out when the other 4 are rehomed. If the plants get destroyed I don't mind. The heaters are in the overflows where the fish can't reach them. The strawberry pots are pretty big, about 2 feet long and 5/8 inch or so thick. One is coming out when the other fish do to allow more open swimming space. The other will stay in as a cave for the time being. As for when the fish get bigger I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. If it's not used as a cave I'll take it out, if it is still used I'll secure it to a large flat rock I have. The divider will be made out of acrylic with 8 small suction cups on each side to secure it. I've seen it done successfully. Even tho I have the materials to make it, I may also go with a tube or something that only the female can get in. I'm still going back and forth on that. My main concern is the tank lid. They're 1/8 inch lexan. Not sure how to secure them. I'm leaning towards clips but am still not sure how they'll work since the lexan is so flexible. Even with the clips a strong impact could flex it enough to it out. I have time to figure that out still tho. If anything I can get a couple nice finished pieces of oak, stain them black, and pin the lids down. The tank has a feeding port so the only time the lids come off is for cleaning so it wouldn't be a big pain to do it that way. Thanks for the advice! If there's anything you think I'm missing please tell me. Beyond the financial investment this is a huge time investment. It would break my heart if I lost one of them due to negligence on my part.
I had the missus make up 6 rock bags, think wheat bags except full of gravel & so far they seem to be doing a good job keeping the lids in place. As far as dividers go I personally wouldn't bother as it just seems to be more hassle than it's worth & your just restricting swimming room for both fish. Use some pvc for the female to hide in when she needs it & when she nears full size get a fancy ornamental piece of pipe that only she fits into & it won't look so ugly in your tank. Another thing I thing to consider is the lighting setup. I have a 4' led set up at the far end of my 6' tank with an awesome hollowed out log that has been cut in half length ways so it sits nice and flat sitting at the opposite end of the tank & its gives them a dim area to hang out in. I can't be bothered to post pics but it really does ad atmosphere to the tank & in my opinion it looks great & the fish love it. I'm not sure if you read my pond raised Dovii thread but this setup with the floating plastic plants has really helped my fish get over their shyness & they spend a lot more time swimming around since I set the tank up this way & when my male Dovii sits atop his log in the shadows he just looks sinister. Love this setup.
Think I just figured out how to post a photo so here it is. I will post more if it works out as this is just a quick photo.
I think I will go with the pipe or something. I've never been a big fan of dividers. I got some regular black abs before and it floated. I'll get some PVC this time. Thanks!
This is the tank as it stands now. On the right I have the fake floating plants too. My big male and a unconfirmed female love the floating plants, they're always in there.
The other pic is the lids. You can see the thickness of them in the feeding port, it's extremely flexible. So I'm a little worried about putting too much weight on it. It will bow quite a bit if I put enough weight in there to keep them from knocking it off. That's why I was thinking some long decorative wood. It'll look nice, but most importantly the weight will be on the tank itself, pinning the flimsy lids down in the process.
This is the tank as it stands now. On the right I have the fake floating plants too. My big male and a unconfirmed female love the floating plants, they're always in there.
The other pic is the lids. You can see the thickness of them in the feeding port, it's extremely flexible. So I'm a little worried about putting too much weight on it. It will bow quite a bit if I put enough weight in there to keep them from knocking it off. That's why I was thinking some long decorative wood. It'll look nice, but most importantly the weight will be on the tank itself, pinning the flimsy lids down in the process.
You're right. I like the look of the log in the shadows. Much more natural looking than a pot too, which is a big bonus for me. If you end up posting another pic of you tank include a close up of your dovii.
Just spent 30min trying to get a decent photo of him but it's not easy especially using an Crapple iPad Air 2, the camera on this thing is ****e. Anyway between the iPad, floating plants and him being camera shy this is all I could manage. I swear he's sitting in the open right now just taunting me but as soon as I lift the iPad he sleeks into his log, which by the way he keeps moving. I have never had a fish like these guys before & although after 4wks of being pampered they still don't really trust me but I get the feeling that when they do they are gonna be a real handful. Anyway, gotta check my powerhead now as I think it's choking on a bit of floating plant lol, It's not the best set up but I think it's really the only way to have some greenery in there.
