Agressive severum and blood parrot, tips please!

[HenryC]

Does anyone have experience with severums and blood parrots? I read that they're mostly peaceful, but I got one severum that always chases/bullies around a smaller one, and he fights with the blood parrot, to the point of locking jaws. I wonder what I can do to reduce aggression, or if I should straight up rehome the severum (I hope I don't have to, love him so much).

You can see how he chases around the smaller one here, and towards the end of the video, how he fights with the blood parrot:

 

[Rocksor]

Separate them is the only true way. Moving things around in the tank doesn’t do much. Adding more fish won’t guarantee it will stop. Getting an 8ft long tank won’t either. They’ve zeroed in on each other as territorial competitors. All cichlids do this, some more than others.

 

[HenryC]

Separate them is the only true way. Moving things around in the tank doesn’t do much. Adding more fish won’t guarantee it will stop. Getting an 8ft long tank won’t either. They’ve zeroed in on each other as territorial competitors. All cichlids do this, some more than others.

Aw, even the oscar is so gentle, he doesn't bother anyone lol. It's just the severum and the parrot that are kind of bossy. The angel just mind it's business too, and the vieja juvenile just spends the day playing between the rocks lol. Sad to see them go, but luckily there are lots of really nice people with great aquariums all around here, they will have good homes!

 

[silverrhino8]

Agreed with the above. I've owned all of these fish multiple times at all sizes. Based on that video there's no surefire way to get them to stop fighting with each other. It is possible to add another fish in there that is similarly aggressive or more aggressive. However I would only recommend this option if you have multiple tanks (as a backup) because you could just upset your entire tank balance. Safest option is to rehome one of them. Most likely the more aggressive one.

As a sidenote, if that argentea you have is male it'll eventually become aggressive as well once its bigger. I love those fish (I've owned 5 of them previously).

 

[HenryC]

Agreed with the above. I've owned all of these fish multiple times at all sizes. Based on that video there's no surefire way to get them to stop fighting with each other. It is possible to add another fish in there that is similarly aggressive or more aggressive. However I would only recommend this option if you have multiple tanks (as a backup) because you could just upset your entire tank balance. Safest option is to rehome one of them. Most likely the more aggressive one.

As a sidenote, if that argentea you have is male it'll eventually become aggressive as well once its bigger. I love those fish (I've owned 5 of them previously).

I love the argentea, fish store lady offered it to me when I visited, did a google search and wow it looks great, had to have it. I hope I have no problems with it on the long run. If it gets aggressive, I will get another big tank for it, definitely not planning on getting rid of that one nor the oscar, the other ones I really like but if necessary I will rehome them, it;s just that these two are my absolute favorites!

It also helped that I had seen it previously (just that I didn't remember at that time lol) in prime time aquatic's video

Mine probably won't look as majestic as that show worthy fish lol, but it's ok they're still beautioful

Do they grow up fast or slow? Do all of them get these striking blue eyes?

 

[silverrhino8]

I may be biased but I absolutely agree with your dedication to the argentea. They're absolutely magnificent when fullgrown. Very angelic looking because of the pure white. It also gains some iridescence on the upper scales which reflect all kinds of rainbow patterns under a light. I've attached a couple pics of one of the males I had for a few years. I was really bad at taking photos of my fish years ago (I basically never did lol) so these are the best shots I have. Definitely take good close-ups of your fish often! You'll enjoy looking back at them years down the line

I found that mine grew fairly fast. That particular male went from 3 inches to 10 inches in about a year. I didn't feed it anything special. Just a good pellet and kept it in a large tank (120 gallon) with a few tankmates (one was a large oscar actually).

I don't think it'll get super aggressive or anything like that if the tankmates are also semi aggressive. You'll probably be fine with your current stock. Just thought I'd mention that argenteas are semi-aggressive as well!

I think many of them do get striking blue eyes. Mine did
And I would be more optimistic. Yours will most likely turn out great!

 

[HenryC]

I've attached a couple pics of one of the males I had for a few years.

That is one absolutely amazing and beautiful fish, can't wait for mine to get big! Viejas are becoming my favorites fast, I just recently discovered them lol, I'm eyeing the quetzal vieja too. I see more big tanks in my future haha.

 

[neutrino]

Does anyone have experience with severums and blood parrots? I read that they're mostly peaceful, but I got one severum that always chases/bullies around a smaller one, and he fights with the blood parrot

A few possibilities could be happening here.

I've had a lot of Heros (severums). They are peaceful, generally, but some individuals are exceptions to this. The problem might be having just the two of them, possibly of the same gender. I've never personally had blood parrots, but from what I've seen sometimes they work with severums, sometimes not. Just two or three fish of similar size, shape, and color can sometimes be a problem-- with no particularly larger, definitely dominant fish to act as boss and keep everyone else in line-- sometimes that helps and the boss or 'police' fish keeps the other fish on good behavior. This isn't fool-proof, since some may just ignore the other fish and let them squabble. The tank being open with everyone constantly in view of each other isn't helping. Not telling you to change the tank, but sometimes the dynamic changes when a tank is more broken up with driftwood, plants, dither fish, or simply more fish in the tank.

A lot of "sometimes." Different individual fish, different mixes of fish, and different tank situations all mean results can vary. What happens with one fish, group, or tank isn't always a foolproof rule.

 

[ryansmith83]

With Heros, you either have one or you have a group. If you have two, one fish will establish its dominance and hound the other. Until they’re breeding sized when they could potentially pair, this will be their reality.

Also, the tank is very open with no sight breaks.

I’d either get rid of the second Heros, move it to a new tank, or commit to raising a group of them.

 

[neutrino]

With Heros, you either have one or you have a group.

Disagree that this is an absolute rule. It certainly can be true, apparently true in this case, but I've also had just two in a tank on a few occasions, not breeding pairs, and had them get along. Differences with the tank above was when I did it was it was a community with a number of fish, not just 3 or 4 total cichlids in an open tank.