150 gallon community snacks on mysis (AKA: my red severum is a hog)

[ryansmith83]

Here is a quick video of my 150 gallon cichlid community tonight after a large water change/scrub/filter cleaning. Most of it consists of my red severum. Not only is he a food hog, but he loves my attention and also enjoys posing for a camera now (maybe he's curious about the flashing orange light).

Tankmates include wild-caught severums and festivums, F1 Uaru sp. orange, F1 Geophagus paranaibe, wild-caught Peruvian angels, and some keyholes. Yes, the tank is probably overstocked but it's well-filtered and they get large regular water changes.

Peter got my other five Uaru sp. orange.

The severums seem a bit behind on their growth. I got them as 1.5" juvies back in January and they're only 3 - 4" now. I hope they continue to grow and don't runt out on me.

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YouTube kind of stretched the ratio on my video so the fish look long and skinny.

 

[peathenster]

Nice clean tank and cool fish! I have a ~7" male red severum and he adds a lot of color...I wonder how these guys are bred...

 

[mssassysan2000]

Yeah that red severum is a hog.

 

[ryansmith83]

I wonder how these guys are bred...

I've wondered that myself. Everyone claims it's selective line breeding but after being a discus keeper for so long I'm a skeptic when it comes to highly-colored, small fish. Either way, he's turned into a really pretty fish and he doesn't look too red -- he reminds me of the really high-quality gold severums you used to see a long time ago.

 

[peathenster]

I've wondered that myself. Everyone claims it's selective line breeding but after being a discus keeper for so long I'm a skeptic when it comes to highly-colored, small fish. Either way, he's turned into a really pretty fish and he doesn't look too red -- he reminds me of the really high-quality gold severums you used to see a long time ago.

It's also weird that you almost never see red severums that are either female or under 2". I suspect whoever breeding these is trying to sell only males

 

[ryansmith83]

It's also weird that you almost never see red severums that are either female or under 2". I suspect whoever breeding these is trying to sell only males

I had two reds to start with. The other was definitely a female but I lost her at about 4". She bloated up one day and started hanging in the corner of the tank. I pulled her into a QT tank with some Epsom salts to maybe relieve her bloat (I figured she just ate too much) but she was dead the next morning. It happened so fast that I'm still not sure what was wrong with her.

 

[darth pike]

I love the blue reflecting off those festivums ... did we ever figure out what species they actually are Ryan?

 

[ryansmith83]

I love the blue reflecting off those festivums ... did we ever figure out what species they actually are Ryan?

I'm not entirely sure. Species identification has never been a strength of mine. All I know is what they were sold as.

My first batch from almost two years ago were purchased as M. acora. Those went to live with a friend in Connecticut. The current batch were purchased as true M. festivus from Rio Tapajos. Both groups came from Jeff Rapps as tiny (1") juveniles. I purchased them about a year apart.

The first group I had were very shiny silver. You can see them here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdUBkVy5gHo

During breeding, they had dull gray/brown bars and took on a mottled appearance. They definitely were not very pretty in their breeding colors.

The current batch is a completely different story. You can see the blue iridescence in the video (as you mentioned) and when excited/angry their fins often show a dark blue/purple color. Also notice the small female in the video displaying "tiger stripes" -- these are breeding colors. She spawns after every weekly water change. The females turn bright yellow with black stripes and stay that way for the entire time they're guarding eggs and fry. The males show some striping but they do not turn yellow.

At any rate, I love them and I hate to part with any of them. I wanted to split the group up to make more room (I have six of them), but I love them too much. Plus, they're a shoaling/schooling fish much like angels. I find they do way better in a group than alone.

 

[daphilster08]

I love the tank! Very nice and clean!

 

[ryansmith83]

I love the tank! Very nice and clean!

Thanks! I think it's a bit boring compared to some of the awesome tanks I've seen here. All I have is sand, some fake silk plants, and a bunch of manzanita wood. I added the wood when I first set the tank up to let it leech out all of its tannins and then just left it where it sank. That's why it's all in one big heap. My plecos enjoy it that way because it creates hiding places.

It doesn't always look that clean. It's right by a window and algae grows like crazy. I figured I should take some pics/video while it wasn't bright green.