Red Shoulder Severum feeding

[pennyg]

Hey all, I am having a hard time getting my severum to eat. Part of the problem is he is timid. So I took him out of the tank that he shared with other cichlids and put him in a 55 g with some tiger barbs as dithers and couple of feather fins that needed more space. He definitely swims around a lot more now. Problem is that he hides when I feed them and the barbs and catfish gobble all the food. I have a vegetable stake which I place zucchini on or cucumber which he enthusiastically eats. I also sometimes clip lettuce up and he eats that as well. I am just worried he isn't getting a balanced diet. I am going to try some frozen bloodworms today. He previously even swam out for that in the big tank against the chocolate cichlid. But I would rather not rely on bloodworms for the severum all the time because I am super allergic to them.
Anyone experience this problem and have a suggestion? Thanks in advance.

 

[Ash02]

Hey all, I am having a hard time getting my severum to eat. Part of the problem is he is timid. So I took him out of the tank that he shared with other cichlids and put him in a 55 g with some tiger barbs as dithers and couple of feather fins that needed more space. He definitely swims around a lot more now. Problem is that he hides when I feed them and the barbs and catfish gobble all the food. I have a vegetable stake which I place zucchini on or cucumber which he enthusiastically eats. I also sometimes clip lettuce up and he eats that as well. I am just worried he isn't getting a balanced diet. I am going to try some frozen bloodworms today. He previously even swam out for that in the big tank against the chocolate cichlid. But I would rather not rely on bloodworms for the severum all the time because I am super allergic to them.
Anyone experience this problem and have a suggestion? Thanks in advance.

I'm on my 2nd and 3rd severums. All of them have been finicky eaters. All of them have been quick to eschew pellets as soon as they get a taste of "treat" type foods. I've had to ban treats for weeks at a time to get them to reliably eat pellets. 2 out of three have been shy eaters that struggle to compete with other fish. Have you seen yours eat any pellets at all?

One thing you can try is using two feeding stations on opposite ends of the tank. I do this to keep my green severum from bullying my red spot severum away from all the food.

 

[ryansmith83]

Heros should not be picky eaters. All of mine, even newly-imported wilds, take pellets. Try Fluval Bug Bites and see if it will eat those.

Heros do like a lot of green matter in their diets. They’ll gladly eat things like lettuce and zucchini. But definitely make sure they’re getting something like pellets so they have more a more complete diet with the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals they need.

 

[neutrino]

Never found them to be picky eaters, either, including wilds. That includes a variety of pellet brands I've fed during the years that I've kept 'severums' (since 1994). For something like the past 16-18 years I've fed NLS (and another product I used to like but quit using when they went to cheaper ingredients). I mention a specific food brand in a very small % of my posts and even more rarely make a recommendation-- but I've had a lot of rotkeils and mine liked NLS a lot ...and looked good on it, especially Thera-A.

Being timid is a somewhat separate issue, behaviorally speaking, as much to do with comfort level with tankmates and the tank as anything else-- can also be affected by the temperament of the individual fish, in many species researchers find there are 'extraverted' individuals-- bolder, more curious, less intimidated by novelty in their environment, and 'introverted' individuals-- more cautious or timid.

...That said, I've seen food preferences change behavior, also.

If the move to another tank was recent, it may gain confidence in time-- though, if by featherfins, you mean Tanganyikan featherfins? a bigger tank will be needed at some point.

Shy or introverted fish can 'come out of their shell' over time to varying degrees, given a tank and tankmates that suit them, age, becoming more accustomed to you, etc. For example, among my kapampa gibberosa is a 15 yr old male, once anti-social, that's virtually become a 'wet pet'. I hand feed him, etc. The introvert nature's still there, for example he bolts at seeing an unfamiliar object, but he's become quite tame to me.

 

[Ash02]

I guess I've been unlucky. Thera A and Algaemax are my Staples and the severum won't touch it until they are absolutely certain they won't be getting flake or FDBW.

 

[pennyg]

Heros should not be picky eaters. All of mine, even newly-imported wilds, take pellets. Try Fluval Bug Bites and see if it will eat those.

Heros do like a lot of green matter in their diets. They’ll gladly eat things like lettuce and zucchini. But definitely make sure they’re getting something like pellets so they have more a more complete diet with the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals they need.

Funny you mention bug bites. I feed the cichlid formula BB in the tank the severum came from. It would wait for one of the bigger fish to dribble bits from its mouth and eat the smaller pieces that sank down. I have tried crunching a couple of those but again those pesky barbs have snatched it away lol. I will try feeding the barbs at one end and see if I can get the severum some of the BB close enough for him to eat.

 

[pennyg]

Never found them to be picky eaters, either, including wilds. That includes a variety of pellet brands I've fed during the years that I've kept 'severums' (since 1994). For something like the past 16-18 years I've fed NLS (and another product I used to like but quit using when they went to cheaper ingredients). I mention a specific food brand in a very small % of my posts and even more rarely make a recommendation-- but I've had a lot of rotkeils and mine liked NLS a lot ...and looked good on it, especially Thera-A.

Being timid is a somewhat separate issue, behaviorally speaking, as much to do with comfort level with tankmates and the tank as anything else-- can also be affected by the temperament of the individual fish, in many species researchers find there are 'extraverted' individuals-- bolder, more curious, less intimidated by novelty in their environment, and 'introverted' individuals-- more cautious or timid.

...That said, I've seen food preferences change behavior, also.

If the move to another tank was recent, it may gain confidence in time-- though, if by featherfins, you mean Tanganyikan featherfins? a bigger tank will be needed at some point.

Shy or introverted fish can 'come out of their shell' over time to varying degrees, given a tank and tankmates that suit them, age, becoming more accustomed to you, etc. For example, among my kapampa gibberosa is a 15 yr old male, once anti-social, that's virtually become a 'wet pet'. I hand feed him, etc. The introvert nature's still there, for example he bolts at seeing an unfamiliar object, but he's become quite tame to me.

The catfish were mislabeled as upside cats when I was buying for a 20 long. I admit I am not good with fish ID... but they are definitely a lot bigger than the upside catfish I have. here's a pic of the smaller one, probably about 5 inches long

 

[Joshuakahan]

Hey all, I am having a hard time getting my severum to eat. Part of the problem is he is timid. So I took him out of the tank that he shared with other cichlids and put him in a 55 g with some tiger barbs as dithers and couple of feather fins that needed more space. He definitely swims around a lot more now. Problem is that he hides when I feed them and the barbs and catfish gobble all the food. I have a vegetable stake which I place zucchini on or cucumber which he enthusiastically eats. I also sometimes clip lettuce up and he eats that as well. I am just worried he isn't getting a balanced diet. I am going to try some frozen bloodworms today. He previously even swam out for that in the big tank against the chocolate cichlid. But I would rather not rely on bloodworms for the severum all the time because I am super allergic to them.
Anyone experience this problem and have a suggestion? Thanks in advance.

How big is your severum? I got mine about six months ago and he would eat but not very aggressively. He was about 2” then, but now that he’s 5”, he’s a pig and he’s with some pretty voracious eaters. I give him hikari cichlid excel, hikari blood red( just cuz I have it) brine shrimp, blood worms, ysf veggie and carnivore pellets and kensfish African cichlid flakes, he eats it all now. So maybe he’ll eat better when he gets a little more size, but try different things until you find what he likes in the meantime, then try mixing in different foods. But if he’s eating the veggies now , I wouldn’t worry too much

 

[Luke tomkinson]

good luck!!

 

[BIG-G]

The catfish were mislabeled as upside cats when I was buying for a 20 long. I admit I am not good with fish ID... but they are definitely a lot bigger than the upside catfish I have. here's a pic of the smaller one, probably about 5 inches long
View attachment 1414054

Hard to see, looks like Synodontis eupterus