Parachromis dovii

Cichlidae

Tempisquito, Costa Rica

Male: 75 cm SL, female: 50 cm SL.

The Wolf Cichlid or Dovii Cichlid is a beautiful deep bodied muscular fish. It has a large mouth and big teeth indicating this is a veracious predator. The mature male has a rich golden yellow to silvery background colour speckled with blue, black, and purple. It has green and red on the head and the base of the dorsal fin. Its fins and tail are blue-green. The females are almost all yellow with less blue green hues. They have large eyes with a bronze iris. The juveniles are silver with a horizontal black stripe through the body.  As they grow their horizontal black stripe becomes thicker and their main colour turns to a golden yellow. Colouration may greatly vary among fish collected at different locations.

Populations of P. dovii in L. Nicaragua and the Rio Puerto Viejo on the Atlantic slope of Costa Rica include orange-red individuals, often marked with irregular black blotches on the body and fins.This is considered to be the oligomelanic form.  Pacific slope Costa Rican populations differ from Atlantic slope populations in several details of finnage and colour pattem.

Females tend to be smaller than males but in some cases can grow just as big or bigger than spawning partners. The gold/yellow colouration is more prominent in the females, especially during courtship, breeding and raising fry. The males' dorsal and ventral fins are also much more elongated than these of the females. Males on the whole have more spots and a more prominent blue colouration. On the females the mid-lateral blotches are fused forming what appears to be a thick line. Females lack the iridescent colouration on the body and fins.

Both Atlantic and Pacific slopes of Costa Rica, Atlantic slope from the Rio San Juan basin of Nicaragua, including the Great lakes northward into eastern Honduras (Miller, 1966, 1976).

7.2-8.0

26° - 29° C

Slight to moderate alkaline, medium to hard (or even very hard) water. The dovii's natural habitat is clear water biotopes over firm bottoms in lakes or in rivers. P. dovii tends to prefer lacustrine habitats. Adults are commonly found around submerged brush piles or waterlogged tree trunks whilst juveniles collect around aquatic plants (Meral, 1973). Found to depths of 10 m in L. Jiloa, a crater lake in Nicaragua.
   

Large size pellets for cichlids, some vegetable matter, will eat almost everything offered to it.

Better left alone. Really aggressive when spawning, it will kill smaller tankmates. Highly territorial at all times may be provoked by anything and attack to kill. Male aggression has been observed even against the female in well established pairs.

None. The fish, when fully grown up may turn unexpectedly against any tankmate and kill it on the spot. Extremely large and aggressive cichlids like the Hericthys umbriferum will not give in to them but still they need an extremely large tank of 3000 L or more (4 or more meters in length).

1000 L for a grown up pair, 750 L for a single fish, more than 3000 L for a community of large cichlids. In this case, an overall length of 4 meters or longer is highly recommended.

Extremely aggressive even when not protecting fry or its spawning site. When provoked it will become furious and will kill the offender. Anything could constitute provocation for a dovii, even the existance of a well established tankmate in the tank.  A cruise predator, with extremely powerful jaws and dentition and the character to match, the dovii will eradicate any tankmate it choses to. See also Living with the Parachromis Giants .