My Dovii experience

[9000rpm]

Great site, learned a lot from it.
I have 4 dovii in a 240g (8x2x2). The plan is to get a breeding pair. Purchased 6 of them @ 1.5" from Jeff Rapps 11/09. 2 died within a month (not enough hiding spots I'm thinking). Two of them have paired off, male is pushing 9", female maybe 5". The other two are small and hide almost always, and I plan on taking them out soon.
The pair have attempted to spawn twice, but the eggs disappear after a few days.
The fish are looking great and eating fine( frozen tilapia and frozen shrimp). I was feeding Hikari sinking pellets which they seemed to like, but what a mess. Reminded me of how oscars eat. Pellet "crumbs" everywhere.
Water changes -about 90 gallons a week.
Here's the issue. They seem to be very timid and hide almost everytime I approach the tank. I have read that they are skittish when young, maybe I need to be more patient, give them time to mature.
Has anybody had a similar experience? Any Dovii out there 12" or bigger that hide constantly? I was hoping for a little more interaction with these fish.
Lots of open swimming space in tank. Small Slate rock piles on each end of the tank is where they hide. Can't attach pic now, as I'm at work.
Any insight greatly appreciaited!

 

[9000rpm]

Correction- fish purchased 11/08.

 

[gnuisance]

Eventually your male dovii will be very interactive. Just be patient. He will also probably kill that female at some point. Be prepared. Also large dither fish might be helpful. Silver dollars, Tinfoil barbs, large loaches maybe....

 

[gobucks1]

Agreed, your male should be getting near the size that you should have a psycho.

Also, you may want to try toning down the lights a little if they're bright. I've never kept Dovii, but i've kept most other Parachromis, and dimmer lights seem to make them a little less skittish.

 

[Davey_8313]

My male is the same way. They even have fry right now, but he backs off. The female will ram the glass though...

 

[blinkmaster]

.. my male use to be very shy and hide all the time till I add a female. Now he will ram the glass if im near it. probally just wait a little longer and it would be fine.

 

[GTS]

I have kept many dovii and thus I can tell you that there is no guarantee that your dovii will ever become owner responsive. Dovii are not always like umbee or midas when it comes to owner interaction. I have had plenty of large ones that would hide if I got too close to their tank, yet they would murder anything I tried to place with them.

 

[Freshwaterpredators]

Any pics? How is the pair together? I bought mine from rapps the same time, my male Nic is 8.5" and i bought a female costa rican in jan or feb and grew her out in seperate tank with a couple other costa ricans. I bought 4 nics in nov and kept in 180 till march then i pulled smallest 3 and put them with female to pair and she killed them. so i threw her in with the big male and they hit it off and are now inseperable. they havent bred yet but have been bonded since april or may.
I would remove the others into another tank incase you need them for a backup mate and throw tinfoils or silver dollars in with them. convicts work good too. good luck.

 

[9000rpm]

Trying to attach pix

These pix are a few months old.

Thx to all advice and info. Looks like a little more patience will be needed.
The lights are not that bright as I am trying to control cyanobacteria ( main reason I stopped the pellets, too much left overs)

 

[oakes]

Does your male stay whited out like that most of the time? I just got a 10" nic who was from jeff rapps and he stays whited out a lot, I'm still trying to figure out how to change that, haha