Dealing with Severum on Severum aggression?

[cmsbthebest]

Hey everyone,

For starters, here is my setup:

55 gallon

3 inch Male Green Severum
2.5 inch Red Severum
7 Columbian Tetra
5 2-2.5 inch Red Head Tapajos
6 Peppered Cories
1 Bristlenose Pleco

Lightly planted with one big piece of driftwood, plans are for stock to move over to a 125 in a few months. Newish to Cichlids

So I just added the Red Severum in the tank, and the Green Severum has been constantly chasing it around the tank, so the Red Severum is now hiding out under the driftwood. Is there anything I can do to lessen the aggression besides add a divider? Is there a chance the aggression will subside? I'm worried about the Red Severum getting enough food since it is just hiding under the wood and the Green Severum is a pig that eats everything it can.

Any advice is appreciated

Thanks.

 

[Cichlids621]

Hey everyone,

For starters, here is my setup:

55 gallon

3 inch Male Green Severum
2.5 inch Red Severum
7 Columbian Tetra
5 2-2.5 inch Red Head Tapajos
6 Peppered Cories
1 Bristlenose Pleco

Lightly planted with one big piece of driftwood, plans are for stock to move over to a 125 in a few months. Newish to Cichlids

So I just added the Red Severum in the tank, and the Green Severum has been constantly chasing it around the tank, so the Red Severum is now hiding out under the driftwood. Is there anything I can do to lessen the aggression besides add a divider? Is there a chance the aggression will subside? I'm worried about the Red Severum getting enough food since it is just hiding under the wood and the Green Severum is a pig that eats everything it can.

Any advice is appreciated

Thanks.

Do you have a lot of decorations and places to hide for the fish? You may have to temporarily remove the green Severum to let the red establish himself and try moving around the decorations to set up new territories

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

The green severum sounds like it has already established dominance and perceives the red as a threat. I agree with above, you can try moving around your decorations (if you have any, if you don't-get some! ) or take the green out for a couple of days and put it back in. Severums can be aggressive.

 

[james99]

You may have to remove one. The old severum has already decided the whole tank is his. It'll be very hard to get another single fish to be accepted. With cichlids it usually easier to add them in groups instead of 1 or 2. Once you set up the larger tank, it may work a little better if the fish have to reclaim territory.

 

[cmsbthebest]

Do you have a lot of decorations and places to hide for the fish? You may have to temporarily remove the green Severum to let the red establish himself and try moving around the decorations to set up new territories

The green severum sounds like it has already established dominance and perceives the red as a threat. I agree with above, you can try moving around your decorations (if you have any, if you don't-get some! ) or take the green out for a couple of days and put it back in. Severums can be aggressive.

You may have to remove one. The old severum has already decided the whole tank is his. It'll be very hard to get another single fish to be accepted. With cichlids it usually easier to add them in groups instead of 1 or 2. Once you set up the larger tank, it may work a little better if the fish have to reclaim territory.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I do not have a lot of decoration in tank, in fact other than the driftwood and two plants, there really isn't any. Tomorrow I'll go buy another piece of driftwood, and find some rocks to put in the tank, and then reorganize everything. Maybe that will help.

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

Won't hurt!

 

[Stanzzzz7]

I think you will always have aggression problems with Severums in a 55.
It's just not big enough for the species.
I have always found Severums a little more aggressive than often stated.

 

[duanes]

Agree with Stanzzzz7, and whenever you add cichlids one at a time, its almost always a problem for the new arrival.
It is always best to add the amount of cichlids you plan for, all at once.
Cichlid have complicated life styles compared to shoaling dither fish.
By adding all at once a territorial hierarchy is established in a more civilized manner. (I know way too anthropomorphic)
If you must add 1 at a time it can sometimes help by rearranging the decor so the territorial lines established by the first addition become blurred.
But in a tank as small as a 55 that may not be enough to avoid bloodshed.

 

[sevs and sajicas for me]

In my experience, severums do better in at least a 75 gallon. 55 gallons will work for a short time but in the long run 75s are better. I've never had success keeping 2 in a 75 unless it was a pair. But two non-paired severums usually don't work long term in anything that is 4 foot long IME

 

[ryansmith83]

Much like discus, small severums do better in groups. If you keep two or three, you’re going to run into a dominant fish who bullies the other.

The best thing to try is taking both fish out, drastically rearranging the tank, and re-adding them at the same time so they’re on neutral ground. Otherwise you’ll have to add a few more severums, which in a 55 won’t work long-term. At 2 - 3” you can probably grow them out for six months or so, but keep in mind as they grow they have less room to avoid each other and therefore more chances of the aggression increasing.

It can be done. Sometimes they will accept each other. I bought two 2” sevs from the LFS a few weeks ago and added them to a 55 gallon quarantine tank. Despite one clearly being the dominant fish, both are eating and doing well, and there’s only minimal picking and chasing now with no real physical damage done. The trick was adding them at the same time.