Help Identifying a Severum

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O

of1234

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 27, 2011
21
0
0
Israel
Hello,

I got this one in my tank. it is a wild caught piece from Brazil. Arrived a week back and is in my tank for only 4 days so it is still under stress. started to get a greenish color two days back. It is quite giagantic - about 10" maybe more, I've never seen a svereum that big

I'd appriciate any help trying to identify which spieces is that

Thx

001lbe.jpg

By oferf at 2012-03-11

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By oferf at 2012-03-11

002qac.jpg

By oferf at 2012-03-11
 
Many thanks Peter.

two follow up questions if I may :) :

Any way to identify a male or female? The reason I'm asking is that the shipment included two fish that look the same to me. some size, same marks/strips on the head, same strong forehead, same color and dots. The second is at a friend's tank and I'm wondering if we should try and pair them. they do look the same yet if a shipment from the wild included only two "identical" pieces, could be this a pair that was cought together...

the second question. I'm a very small taxonomy expert... what we call here (Israel) Efasciatus refers to the standard gray/brown severum that is sold here in thousands (commercially bread). Also looking at Google I get tones of different pictures, non looks like the one in my tank. Is Efasciatus a generic naming? are there sub-speices defined?

Sorry for the long questions and thanks again,

Ofer
 
H. efasciatus refers to the green severums. H. appendiculatus, the turquoise severums, used to be a separate species, but they have since been combined into H. efasciatus and the appendiculatus species is no longer valid.

There's a wide variety of color variation in severums. In the wild, you will often find geographical variants. This is why you'll often find wild cichlids listed by collection point. The appearance may vary from river to river. Based on the pictures you've posted, it does appear to be a variety of efasciatus.

Males will have heavy spotting/striation on the gills, nose, and forehead. Females often have a solid colored face with little to no markings. If your friend's fish looks identical to this, it's likely that they're both males.
 
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