Dozer's Story



Let me tell you about "Dozer" short for bull Dozer! We got him when he was 9 months old and still partially Grey, he was terrorizing my folks community tank, and my son Justin was visiting Grandma at the time. He told me Grandma had her fish on time out. So I inquired with Grandma what that meant and she said the fish was in a big net floating in the tank until the next day when he was going to go back to the fish store because he was trying to eat all the other fish in the tank! I decided then he would come and live with us, that was 13 years ago! Dozer started out with us in a 26 gallon for a few years and then he got a 55 gallon tank. My husband, Michael built a beautiful oak stand for it. Dozer is the closest thing to a Dolphin that will ever own me! Dozer has a few plastic large size pill caps from prescription bottles that he plays with. He carries them around one at a time in his mouth, buries them digs them up sticks them under the rocks, and even figured how to suction them to the top of the tank, when he does this he is so proud of him self. He makes splashes so we come and look and then stands upright on his tail looking at them. He follows your hand back and forth across the tank. He knows his name when I call his name Dozer swims to that side of the tank and dances around. He loves people and he knows he is the center of attention and thrives on it. When my kids were younger and came home from school they would sit at the table and do homework he would do everything to get their attention he figured out how to get the top of his tank lid to pop up! and make a noise so they would look and talk to him. He really is intelligent and has a great personality. He has never bitten me when cleaning his tank but watch out if someone else tries. When he was a few years old we went away for 3 days and I left a timer feeder to feed him, when we got home he was floating sideways on the bottom of the tank, I immediately put my hands in picked him up and for a half hour flushed him back and forth through the water to run water through his gills he hardly moved and let me do this without struggle so I was afraid he was not going to make it, then all of a sudden he started swimming on his own. A year later we had to go out of town again for a few days I set up a timer feeder and when we came home same thing Dozer upside down on the bottom of the tank barely breathing. Again I did the same thing to revive him. Well I thought about it for awhile and realized he missed us! He was dyeing because he was lonely and had no one to entertain him! Next time we left I paid some friends to come and visit him twice a day and play and talk to him and they watched a film each night in the room, and then he was fine! So we never leave him for more than a day now as I truly believe he would not make it. We moved five years ago about an hour drive and had to move him in a large cooler, and reset up his tank as soon as we got here. we trucked over 55 gallons of water from where we use to live so his water would be the same at first. The hardest part was getting him out of his tank and in the cooler I never knew he would be so strong out of the water he almost hit the floor and the water went everywhere. We ran a pump in the car in the cooler to keep some oxygen in it, but the move was hard on him and he almost did not make it for two weeks he barely moved and would not eat and everyday we gave him so much attention and then he just snapped out of it and was back to himself. He is in the center point of the down stairs where he can see the most and everyone always walks by and says hi to him so he likes it there a better view than where we lived before. I feel he needs a bigger tank as he his at least 12 inches long about 6 to 7 inches high at the tallest point and about 3 inches at the widest part. But I fear a move at his age now, would not be good. Dozer is an amazing creature, and I hope he is with us for years to come.

Learn More about The Red Devil
"Amphilophus labiatum"

http://www.reddevilfish.co.uk/index.htm

Devon Rex by the Sea