before being brought to my friend at the
local fish store. But sure enough, there
was a massive batch of wiggling fry at the
bottom of the pot within about five days
post-hatch.
Iggy Tavares
Again, still having worries, I constantly
monitored the tank; with fry present, the
aggression levels of both the male and
female tend to be elevated. To my relief,
the parents were not overly aggressive with
one another while the free-swimming fry
were in the tank. The male was constantly
patrolling the tank and watching the
inhabitants of the nearby 240-gallon tank
as the female stayed busy with fry that were
swimming off, grabbing them in her mouth
and spitting them back out near the main
cluster of fry. To my utter astonishment,
the two P. dovii had been acting as if they
were a mated pair for years, exhibiting such
great parental care. I decided to remove the
fry and place them into multiple grow-out
tanks. With all of the strong filtration in
the 125-gallon tank, I noticed that some
fry were being sucked into filter intakes.
Within four weeks of removing the fry, the
pair of P. dovii spawned again in identical
fashion without causing any visible harm
to one another, aside from some missing
flesh on both specimens’ lips from their
A female Parachromis dovii guards her plaque of eggs on a rock.
Parachromis dovii, young male and fry.
how the male allowed the female to push
him around at times. Aside from some
occasional lip-locking, the two P. dovii
were not harming one another in any
considerable manner.
For the remaining pictus catfishes and
pleco in the tank, it was another story; in
less than 12 hours, the two P. dovii were
working together, digging in the gravel and
staking out their territory, which meant
the aggression was directed towards the
remaining inhabitants. Still skeptical about
the situation, I was constantly checking on
the tank while at home only to see the two
large P. dovii staring right back at me from
within their pot, side by side with no visible
damage on either fish. On the fourth day after
the male had been added to the tank, I did a
50-percent water change and fed the pair cut
fish fillets to bulk up the skinny male.
Surprise Spawning
I awoke the next morning, and when I
turned on the light I noticed that the male
had been kicked out of the flowerpot by the
female, and she was flaring her gills at me
as I looked into the tank. She was acting so
defensive because she had laid what I could
estimate to be nearly 1000 eggs! How could
this happen so suddenly? Being as skeptical
as ever, I was thinking that the male had
most likely not fertilized the eggs—the
female was not even allowing him to come
near the opening of the pot. I also began to
ponder the fertility of the male, as he was
quite skinny and possibly malnourished
Conclusions
Iggy Tavares
My experience deviates from what a
hobbyist or breeder would typically
encounter in the behaviors of P. dovii.
I honestly consider myself to be lucky
to have come across such an unusual
situation with this particular cichlid, as
it has such a tough reputation when it
comes to breeding. I am still keeping my
divider on hand though, as there is always
the chance that the pair could turn on one
another. I need to be prepared for that
situation if it arises—after all, as I write this
article, the pair has been housed together
for only about 10 to 12 weeks.
As a final note, I do not want readers to
be under the assumption that they will have
the same, or even similar, experience as
mine with P. dovii. Predicting the behaviors
of your large cichlid does not guarantee
a concrete outcome; depending on the
situation, there may be behavior deviations
that can be a pleasant surprise, while other
times there may be disastrous results. As
always, it is best to research and prepare
as much as possible before housing or
attempting to breed any large cichlid. D
