Wolf Cichlid question

JTDillon

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 19, 2018
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Hey everyone, this is a question for anyone who has experience with Parachromis Dovii.

I have a juvenile Wolf Cichlid around the 4" mark...hes perfectly healthy, growing great and has really started developing color these past few weeks. He looks exactly like a PD should, except he has a good amount of red-orange on him.......
His fins are overall blue, except on his dorsal fin there is a tiny red stripe that runs across the very tip of his fin. His anal fin is overwhelmingly blue but it has orange-red spots?? They arent any type of injury or anything, its definitely his coloration. Its not like they are hard to see either, they are very noticeable. It gets even more weird, he has the rows of black dots running parallel to his lateral line just like male Dovii usually do, except the dots below his lateral line are red-orange. On his face he has blues developing all around his eye as he should but next to his gills there is orange developing as well...and white even... Ive seen plenty of photos of mature adult Dovii and in person, I know they can get an awesome pattern on their face but its always been black lines...these appear orange and white.
Whenever he gets scared or stressed he turns dark and all those orange spots on his belly turn black and he looks normal. When hes all colored up he looks awesome, dont get me wrong, its just... I get the feeling he is only half Dovii because I am almost certain Dovii dont have orange..... Ive waited to see if this coloration goes away or turns into black lines but the orange is only getting brighter. IDK his age, but he isnt even 5" yet.


I have seen these "Mini Dovii" before, scientific name is Cichlasoma Grammodes and I am wondering if thats what I was sold which would kinda tick me off.... I didnt buy a 240 gallon tank for a "Mini Dovii"... He doesnt resemble one though...His face is all blue and the shape of his head is that of a Dovii for sure, its just that orange on his gills, and the spots on his stomach/ anal fin remind me of that Mini Dovii....

If youre still with me, thank you very much lol. My question is, has anyone ever raised Dovii and seen orange on them as juveniles?
I tried very hard to take good photos but they turned out horrible. Its funny, I always talked smack under my breath when people would post crappy fish pictures online but when I tried I was eating my words.... I have the Galaxy S9 which is supposed to be an amazing camera but the color is turning out horrible and the photos dont capture the color AT ALL, and I cant seem to figure out how to add a photo? Im new to this forum, I mostly just do reading, but other forums and sites have a simple "browse file" and upload for pictures.... I could find out how to post what I got of him if you think itd help all....


Anyway, thank you to anyone who took the 2 hours of their life to read this.... I sincerely appreciate it!! Thank you thank you thank you!! On a final note before anyone asks- all my water perams are spot on. He has been treated for parasites and 40-50% water changes are done 2 times a week. He is perfectly healthy and has a varied, healthy diet ( no live feeders). No tank mates. 80 degree Fahrenheit water.
 
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tlindsey

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Aug 6, 2011
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Hey everyone, this is a question for anyone who has experience with Parachromis Dovii.

I have a juvenile Wolf Cichlid around the 4" mark...hes perfectly healthy, growing great and has really started developing color these past few weeks. He looks exactly like a PD should, except he has a good amount of red-orange on him.......
His fins are overall blue, except on his dorsal fin there is a tiny red stripe that runs across the very tip of his fin. His anal fin is overwhelmingly blue but it has orange-red spots?? They arent any type of injury or anything, its definitely his coloration. Its not like they are hard to see either, they are very noticeable. It gets even more weird, he has the rows of black dots running parallel to his lateral line just like male Dovii usually do, except the dots below his lateral line are red-orange. On his face he has blues developing all around his eye as he should but next to his gills there is orange developing as well...and white even... Ive seen plenty of photos of mature adult Dovii and in person, I know they can get an awesome pattern on their face but its always been black lines...these appear orange and white.
Whenever he gets scared or stressed he turns dark and all those orange spots on his belly turn black and he looks normal. When hes all colored up he looks awesome, dont get me wrong, its just... I get the feeling he is only half Dovii because I am almost certain Dovii dont have orange..... Ive waited to see if this coloration goes away or turns into black lines but the orange is only getting brighter. IDK his age, but he isnt even 5" yet.


I have seen these "Mini Dovii" before, scientific name is Cichlasoma Grammodes and I am wondering if thats what I was sold which would kinda tick me off.... I didnt buy a 240 gallon tank for a "Mini Dovii"... He doesnt resemble one though...His face is all blue and the shape of his head is that of a Dovii for sure, its just that orange on his gills, and the spots on his stomach/ anal fin remind me of that Mini Dovii....

If youre still with me, thank you very much lol. My question is, has anyone ever raised Dovii and seen orange on them as juveniles?
I tried very hard to take good photos but they turned out horrible. Its funny, I always talked smack under my breath when people would post crappy fish pictures online but when I tried I was eating my words.... I have the Galaxy S9 which is supposed to be an amazing camera but the color is turning out horrible and the photos dont capture the color AT ALL, and I cant seem to figure out how to add a photo? Im new to this forum, I mostly just do reading, but other forums and sites have a simple "browse file" and upload for pictures.... I could find out how to post what I got of him if you think itd help all....


Anyway, thank you to anyone who took the 2 hours of their life to read this.... I sincerely appreciate it!! Thank you thank you thank you!! On a final note before anyone asks- all my water perams are spot on. He has been treated for parasites and 40-50% water changes are done 2 times a week. He is perfectly healthy and has a varied, healthy diet ( no live feeders). No tank mates. 80 degree Fahrenheit water.

Post a pic. Just click on upload a file and choose camera option. We have great experienced Cichlid hobbyist here. They can ID the fish with the pic.
 

JTDillon

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 19, 2018
15
7
3
33
20181015_210733.jpg 20181015_211149.jpg 20181015_211537.jpg
Post a pic. Just click on upload a file and choose camera option. We have great experienced Cichlid hobbyist here. They can ID the fish with the pic.
As I said in my post, these pictures wont do much to help at all....I mentioned that when he gets stressed he turns dark and the stomach dots do as well and when i was taking pictures my phone scared him and he turned dark. that and the fact my camera seems to completely suck. It just doesnt show the orange as much as Id hoped.
I dont need the fish identified, Im trying to find out if anyone else has ever seen orange on a Dovii before. I used the Cichlasoma Grammodes as a reference to describe the orange dots.
Either way, thank you so much for telling me how to post a picture. I feel really stupid after finding out the "upload a file" button was right next to submit. Seriously, I dont know what the hell happened when my eyes went past it LOL. Thank you!!!!!

I would say the last picture is the best I have to show what I am talking about. You can see the orange on the anal fin and the orange stripe by the gill....

I do leave some algae growth on 2 of the tank walls for 2 reasons. 1, it feeds the snails, 2, when the glass is perfectly clean he can see his reflection and can obsessively attack his reflection. This has helped tremendously.
Please dont see it and think its a reflection of how I take care of the tank.
 
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Andy woods cichlids uk

Giant Snakehead
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Jul 31, 2015
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Looks to me you have a young female dovii. Some females have a lot of yellows reds and gold colourations.
Here's poor quality pics of a pair i had with a yellow gold female.

DSC01141.JPG DSC01137.JPG
 
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JTDillon

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 19, 2018
15
7
3
33
that is definitely a dovii
I cant tell if youre trying to be funny or not :/ ... I mean, I know its a Dovii, I am trying to find out whats up with his weird red spots though. Ive never seen a Dovii , juvenile or adult, have this color pattern before. I only mentioned the Mini Dovii to compare the color patterns
 

JTDillon

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 19, 2018
15
7
3
33
Looks to me you have a young female dovii. Some females have a lot of yellows reds and gold colourations.
Here's poor quality pics of a pair i had with a yellow gold female.

View attachment 1340155 View attachment 1340156

But I dont see any yellow or gold on him at all.. again, these photos are horrible representations of his true colors, his entire body has a blue hue to it now, especially around his face. i know the picture it looks kinda yellow but I dont know why the pictures are coming out like that :/ around his face are big blue shiny spots surrounded by blue. I dont know why taking accurate pictures of fish is so hard >:/ ... . He also has the rows of spots starting to come in just like your male does above and below the lateral line. Females dont have that pattern of black dots above their lateral line. I also have been checking the vent and its looking more and more male each time I check.


Im trying to find a picture on Google/ Bing of a female dovii with red spots on her but im not having any luck so far. I just hope it doesnt turn out to be half "red dovii" or half something else. Ive raised several sets of Dovii fry from babies to juveniles for my LFS and none have ever had red or orange like this. Some of the males got some pink on them, just like this one now. If you look by his gill you can see a spot of pink in the first photo.... I really wanted a nice, blue Dovii like yours. Look at that pattern around his face man! It looks like a finger print design or something haha. Seriously, those look incredible!! You dont keep Dovii anymore?
 

JTDillon

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 19, 2018
15
7
3
33
Hey guys, I just found something cool.... Theres a cichlid called: Parachromis Motaguensis.... Lookss like a Dovii but is red orange instead of blue..... Look at the adult, then look at the picture of the fry

a49d0dc2a007c64a3b7d08f0f0ba53c4.jpg cccc.jpg



That fry has the EXACT orange spots on his anal fin, stomach and gills mine does!! Mine clearly resembles the parachromis dovii more than the motaguensis though.

I had my suspicions it had some other type of fish in it.... now Im thinking he is part Red Tiger.
 

JTDillon

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 19, 2018
15
7
3
33
Whoever took these photos had a good camera, I just used my cell phone and its the best camera I own lol. I wish I could upload a really good detailed photo to show you guys the resemblance between the two... I havent seen the red spots on any other dovii and ive been looking for a days and asking everywhere.
 

Andy woods cichlids uk

Giant Snakehead
MFK Member
Jul 31, 2015
562
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But I dont see any yellow or gold on him at all.. again, these photos are horrible representations of his true colors, his entire body has a blue hue to it now, especially around his face. i know the picture it looks kinda yellow but I dont know why the pictures are coming out like that :/ around his face are big blue shiny spots surrounded by blue. I dont know why taking accurate pictures of fish is so hard >:/ ... . He also has the rows of spots starting to come in just like your male does above and below the lateral line. Females dont have that pattern of black dots above their lateral line. I also have been checking the vent and its looking more and more male each time I check.


Im trying to find a picture on Google/ Bing of a female dovii with red spots on her but im not having any luck so far. I just hope it doesnt turn out to be half "red dovii" or half something else. Ive raised several sets of Dovii fry from babies to juveniles for my LFS and none have ever had red or orange like this. Some of the males got some pink on them, just like this one now. If you look by his gill you can see a spot of pink in the first photo.... I really wanted a nice, blue Dovii like yours. Look at that pattern around his face man! It looks like a finger print design or something haha. Seriously, those look incredible!! You dont keep Dovii anymore?
Yes I still keep dovii. I've grown out and paired of quite a few pairs to sell on, in the past. Here's my keepers, home bred by myself.

IMG_20180821_210859.jpg IMG_20180821_210245.jpg IMG_20180821_210219.jpg IMG_20180210_082805.jpg
 
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