So I have around a 7-8 inch dovii that used to have the quintessential dovii personality, very reactive to me and would kill anything I put in the tank with him. Around 1.5 months ago he jumped out of the tank during a tank cleaning, and ever since then he's been a total wuss. He went from following me around the room and eating from my hand to darting under a rock the entire time I'm by the tank. He has lost all aggressiveness and is completely fine with tank mates right now. How do I get him back to being his old self?
Shy Dovii
- Thread starter Doviikeeper
- Start date
Ethically debatable I'd guess, and just my .02c.. but after allowing a reasonable period for any musculo-skeletal injury to recover (sounds like you have) you might try cutting back on feeding. Not recommending withholding food completely obviously but I had a similar issue with an Umbee.
Mine didn't jump but I'm almost certain I got a "bad" piece of Malaysian driftwood on ebay. Soaked it for a couple weeks in hot water in the tub like I always do but I put the new piece of wood in the tank and by morning the fish turned dark, labored breathing, etc. Nothing had changed except the new decor. Did a 60% wc, left it for another day, looked the same or worse so I yanked the wood and did another big wc. The breathing and colors got better but overnight he'd (pretty sure it's a he) turned into a big puss. The convicts (target fish) cohabitants were also affected but returned to their normal selves almost immediately after the 2nd wc. The umbee would come out to eat but then return to hiding and bolt to cover whenever I passed near the tank. This behavior continued for about two weeks.
After that 2wks, and over the course of another 4 or 5 days, I made sure the more assertive convicts got food but when the Umbee finally felt comfortable poking his head out I'd drop maybe a couple more pellets or whatever I was feeding then cut it off early. By day 3 the fish that was the only reason that tank was even in my house was out hunting again (I generally don't do 200+ gallon tanks for convicts) lol. Gave this technique a couple more days to be sure and once I was certain it had re-associated me with food it's been business as usual. Your call, but as long as your sure it isn't still physically injured hunger can be a real motivating force in these animals.
Bottom line, it learned "a thing". Dovii are about as smart as they get. Kept a couple myself. Gotta give it time and find a way to learn it a new thing.
Mine didn't jump but I'm almost certain I got a "bad" piece of Malaysian driftwood on ebay. Soaked it for a couple weeks in hot water in the tub like I always do but I put the new piece of wood in the tank and by morning the fish turned dark, labored breathing, etc. Nothing had changed except the new decor. Did a 60% wc, left it for another day, looked the same or worse so I yanked the wood and did another big wc. The breathing and colors got better but overnight he'd (pretty sure it's a he) turned into a big puss. The convicts (target fish) cohabitants were also affected but returned to their normal selves almost immediately after the 2nd wc. The umbee would come out to eat but then return to hiding and bolt to cover whenever I passed near the tank. This behavior continued for about two weeks.
After that 2wks, and over the course of another 4 or 5 days, I made sure the more assertive convicts got food but when the Umbee finally felt comfortable poking his head out I'd drop maybe a couple more pellets or whatever I was feeding then cut it off early. By day 3 the fish that was the only reason that tank was even in my house was out hunting again (I generally don't do 200+ gallon tanks for convicts) lol. Gave this technique a couple more days to be sure and once I was certain it had re-associated me with food it's been business as usual. Your call, but as long as your sure it isn't still physically injured hunger can be a real motivating force in these animals.
Bottom line, it learned "a thing". Dovii are about as smart as they get. Kept a couple myself. Gotta give it time and find a way to learn it a new thing.