well, I bought 2 male dovii's at a LFS, both the most dominant, had them in the 55 for about a week, then bought 1 jack dempsey thats literally half there size and the little jack is beating them up, dovii's are 3 inches, jack dempsey 1.5? Is this normal I had dovii's before these guys, and they were all pretty peaceful, it's not bad, it's just odd how everyone is judging the dovii for being a mean nasty fish? I cant believe a little jack is chasing them?. They will all be going to a 200 gallon..maybe with a butti.
Why are my dovii's so scared of a jack dempsey??
- Thread starter PredatoryFishRocks
- Start date
I've heard of people having jd's that were not afraid of dovii. Not really aggressive toward them but wouldn't back down from a fight. JD's are a lot tougher than people give them credit for. Then again I had a large one that got its but kicked regularly from a jag.
This is where people make the wrong assessment of dovii and many other fish. They judge them on their juvenile stage. Dovii are quite easy to keep in a community under 12" and are often shy while small. Add another 15" to your fish and I bet you would be singing a complete different tune.
Well said. You can't always judge the life-long behavior of a fish based on its juvenile stage. I assure you that a full grown Dovii will not continue to allow a JD to confront it. People say the same thing about juvenile Red Devils and Jags. They read about how tough and aggressive they are but are surprised to see them at 2" running away from Tiger Barbs. Then 4 months later things sway the other way. Fish are wired to behave certain ways when younger and smaller to insure that they survive to adulthood. Your Dovii will be fine. Just make sure that at their current small size that they are not injured by bigger tankmates.greenterra;4649326;4649326 said:
Dude its only 3in. Once that guy reaches over 10in maybe 8in that dempsey will be history. A lot of fish start off shy when juvie.
danny2875;4649794; said:
Not always true,it depends on the individual fish,some fish will be calm their whole lives and some will be crazy(thats all species)i know a few people with large dovvii(over 12 inches)that still run from smaller fish and will confront big fish and vice versa. I had a 4 inch black belt kill an 10 inch dovii,so i know from experience thats not always true about size,the same blackbelt also killed a 7 inch midas,but turned around and got put in his place by a 12 inch pearsei
,so its not what kind of fish it is really just the temperment and heart of the fish.(the bully on the play ground is not always the toughest kid on the play ground)i started this hobby because a petco worker sold me two oscars for my 5 gallon, when i learned more, i got a 55
once i added the oscar to the 55 he was getting harassed by a goldfish that came with the tank
once he got some time to grow and get confident in the tank, i came home from school to a goldfish missing most of its scales and fins and an oscar confident and keeping everything out of its way
and thats with an oscar
wait a month and your dovii will be running ****
once i added the oscar to the 55 he was getting harassed by a goldfish that came with the tank
once he got some time to grow and get confident in the tank, i came home from school to a goldfish missing most of its scales and fins and an oscar confident and keeping everything out of its way
and thats with an oscar
wait a month and your dovii will be running ****
Well the tank is alot calmer but all my dovii's do is flare their gills at the dempsey then the dempsey will open its mouth and shut both of the dovii's mouth close. then the dovii would run off to find food. I geuss they aren't that mean. I've had a butti for 12 years, and I got him when he was and inch, and he would pound red devils and jag's that were 3-4 inches. My butti was always aggressive, never backed down, though he died 3 months ago.
Again, you are judging the future behavior of your fish based on their juvenile actions. A Jack Dempsey is not going to be able to close the mouth of a full grown Dovii. If by some rare chance that you have not only one placid Dovii but two, be thankful. At least you'll be able to keep them with tankmates as many others cannot. I still do not believe that this is the case. Your fish are still really young. Some fish start off pretty aggressive while others become more assertive as they mature. One day you may have nothing left but your Dovii, if they start exhibiting the aggressive behavior that you want.PredatoryFishRocks;4652998;4652998 said:
PredatoryFishRocks;4649253;4649253 said:
Sorry to hear about your Butti dying three months ago. You still mention another Butti possibly going into your final set up. Are you going to buy another juvenile andgrow it out or are you going to add an adult Butti to your mix? Your wish for an aggressive tank may happen if you do add one.