Our first ever dovii was kindly donated by Ron Garcia of Tampa Bay, FL, male, around 12", nicknamed Big Bad. Here is the arrival video on Dec 19, 2019:
But it couldn't stay in the 4500 gal. I was counting on its attitude to save it from the temensis but I was proved all wrong. Soon after I removed the nets out of the tank, which were placed in there to make the old residents uneasy and suppress their predatory moods and give time for the dovii to come to its senses, the 30" temensis pbass came to his old self and started hunting the dovii, managed to bite it a few times. It felt unreal, like in a dream or in a NatGeo documentary when cheetah is chasing down a gazelle in slow motion except everything was going on lightning quick... Just in the nick of time and praise the Lord, my wife was accidentally passing by the 4500 gal and saw the hunt and shrieked and I was able to pull the dovii out and into its own 240 gal off it went (with two adult 20" pleco for housekeeping).
It's done well there, all healed up (just scales and some bits of dorsal / adipose were missing). A moody fish. Sometimes it only wants his NLS pellets. Other times - thawed fish. Lately it's been only fish. One can read the disappointment in his face when I throw in the pellets and the way he spits them out is almost indicative of indignation. If he could, he wouldn't hesitate to spit them out in my face.
Ron says he couldn't keep any other fish with him in a 125 gal. In our 240 gal, he sometimes challenges the pleco, puffs up, postures, and charges and pushes with his mouth but pleco show no damage and aren't too afraid of these advances, so I think it's ok for now. He of course sees cichlids in the neighboring 240 gal tanks, oscars, green texas, especially midas, and postures with them and charges at them as long as the walls allow and obviously passionately desires to possess at least a few pieces of each of them for his collection.
Feb 29, 2020, 18:35 minutes:
