My old friend Guy Jordan used to say "Pablo" (his 24 inch male C. dovii) was the closest thing to a cat or dog he'd ever seen in the fish world. I used to spend a lot of time listening to Guy's cassette tapes where he would go on for hours about his fabulous Pablo. I still remember when I got my first dovii and learned what he was talking about. That was 20 years ago and I've never been without a male C. dovii since.
The first Cichlasoma dovii in the U.S. came to Gene Wolfscheimer from then graduate student William Bussing in 1962. Thinking it was a male Gene named it "Charley" and it grew to about a foot in a 25 gallon tank. One day it laid eggs and it was then renamed "Charlene". Charlene was unusual for a dovii because she was reddish gold in color. This confused many publications at the time into thinking dovii belonged in the Red Devil complex.
Actually C. dovii is a predator and is in the Parapetenia grouping of Cichlasoma. For the last few years people have been referring the old Parapetenia subsection to Nandopsis. Recently Robert Miller has stated that subsection Nandopsis should be used only for the Cichlids of the Greater Antilles islands. C. dovii, also known as Guapote Langunero, hails from Honduras into Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Its greatest size is attained in Lago Cote where it reaches a weight of 7.2 Kg. Named after Captain Dow of the Beagle, C. dovii is the largest Central American Cichlid reaching reported lengths of 24 to 30 inches. It's pseudocanines are well developed for capturing it's prey (mostly other Cichlids such as Neetroplus nematopus) and are responsible for it's common name the Wolf Cichlid. In the Great lakes of Nicaragua C. dovii spawns primarily in late April in depths of 20 feet or more. Spawns are large 1,000 eggs or more. To breed it seeks out holes formed by the meeting of large rocks. According to Mckaye it is seldom found in depths above 6 meters and is mobbed by aggressive Cichlids such as C. nigrofasciatum, N. nematopus and C. citrinellum and driven back into the depths.
In the aquarium C. dovii is a relentless bully of all other fish and can't be safely kept with other Cichlids in tanks less than 500 gallons. Even in tanks this large or larger it's very risky. My current C. dovii is in a 600 gallon tank and has dispatched it's ecological replacement C. motaguense, a large male C. festae and several others which have long been forgotten. Whatever you do DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SPAWN this fish in a community tank. C. dovii is a typical substrate spawning cichlid, which lays hundreds to thousands of eggs preferably on a large flat rock. The female is very capable of protecting its fry, while the male patrols the territory.
Describing the color pattern of this fish is very difficult and I will refer you to the pictures on our page. Be aware that these pictures are of the Nicaraguan population and that the Costa Rican population is a bluer fish. Some ichthyologists think they are actually two different fish. Also the female is typically smaller, has shorter fins and has far fewer small black markings throughout its unpaired fins and flanks.
If you have not kept C. dovii you haven't really kept a "Cichlid". C. dovii embodies all the bad qualities people associate with Cichlids. It's highly aggressive, will attack heaters, plumbing fixtures, other fish and possibly people it doesn't like. Guy's "Pablo" would always attack Dick Stratton when he came over to visit. Often you will find some C. dovii are quite shy around people but none are shy with other fish and often end up living alone.
This article is dedicated to Guy Jordan and his best pal Pablo, both of whom got me started in this hobby.