Dealing with Severum on Severum aggression?

[eddiegunks]

Huh. I have the opposite problem. I have one 4” red head severum in a tank with a birchir, pleco and latge blue aracra.

I added two 5 inch red neck severum. They took over ans started to bully the original severum. I have moved him.

75 gallon tank.

 

[RD.]

Just tossing this in to the mix as an interesting observation of a friends past tank. Tank was 96lx28wx40tall. I think it was around 550 gallons give or take? A decent sized tank by anyone's severum standards. Along with the rest of his numerous fish, there were 2 adult pairs of 'Rotkeil'. One pair held the top of a piece of driftwood at one end of the tank, another mated pair did the same at the opposite end. When they were spawning, they would take shots at each other if any sev got too close to the middle ground of this 8 ft long tank. And these were some of the smallest fish in his tank. It was funny to watch, but certainly went to show how territorial they can be.

 

[ryansmith83]

Yeah, a pair will very easily take over a 6' tank. Here is a pair of severus dominating an entire 6' 210 gallon.

And here is a pair of notatus claiming a 6' 150 gallon tank.

When people are curious as to why I recommend 6' tanks for Heros and other similarly sized acaras or Heroine cichlids, this is your answer. You may think a 6 - 10" fish has plenty of room in a 72" x 18" or 72" x 24" tank, but the reality is that they can and do claim large territories and wreak havoc on your other stock.

If either of these pairs had been in 4 foot tanks they likely would have mauled everything else in the tank to death, and then turned on each other.

 

[RD.]

Yes, those are great examples!

 

[BMac91]

I have (3) 4-5" severums in a 40 gallon breeder at the moment and I was having a lot of issues with my gold spot bullying my turquoise. I have found that heavier feeding and additional water changes to compensate work the best, but only as a temporary solution. If you have a 125 coming in the very near future, it might work for you. I off loaded my 125 to upgrade to a 240, expecting it to be in by now. I have been waiting 6-8 weeks for my 240 acrylic. Thankfully it will be here Monday!

 

[BMac91]

Double post.DELETED

 

[cmsbthebest]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

I've felt like garbage all day today, so I was not able to redecorate the tank, and will do it tomorrow. In the meantime, I've moved the Green Severum over to a temporary 10 gallon for the next day or two, to give the Red Severum a bit of a break (he was looking a bit rough) and to maybe allow it to feel more comfortable in the tank.

Just want to clarify that I would never keep a Severum long term in 55, and that I'm just working on saving up for an Acrylic 125, which is why it will be a few months until I purchase it.

And in the future I will make sure to add all cichlids in at once.

Thanks

 

[Zac2323]

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.

Does anyone know how to tell how old my rbps are just curious

 

[Zac2323]

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.[/QUOTE( would you happen to know how to tell how old a rbp is just curious mine are store bought and the people there didn't know what they were talking about

 

[Backfromthedead]

not a sure thing but it could be one of your other fish instigating the trouble. i had a red devil that i was switching between tanks a lot until i got him one of his own. whenever i put him in the severums my gold would go nuts. attacked everything else in the tank. with no red devil shes remarkably placid though. the gold female and male turquoise have tried to breed in my tanks and shes not even that mean when protecting her eggs.