Help Male or Female Serverums????

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foots

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 23, 2009
19
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Mississippi
I need help sexing my severums. the one I call Redeyes is always pairing up with one of the two other Turquoise severums. I'm trying to figure what is he/she then I will know what the other one is.

The pineapple and roteil severums are not pairing off yet, still to young. but my bigger 3 turquoise is and I need to move the same sex one out of the tank. Thanks for all the help. You can see photos of my fish at...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22846406@N07/sets/72157623599303347/
 
So Redeyes is a female right? Well that makes the two bigger serverums my males. It's strange because when I look at their faces I don't see any lines or squiggle marks either. And thoughts on the yellow and the roteil? I know they may still be to young to tell. Thanks
 
Red Eyes appears to be a female H. efasciatus or green severum. Both turquoise severums also appear to be female. They lack the facial markings of males and have solid blue gill plates which is how my turquoise female looks.

The rotkeil is difficult to tell -- a head-on shot would make it easier. A lot of people will say to look for the worm-like markings on a severums' face to determine its sex, but I've found that even my females show some of these red markings. My females only seem to lack markings between the eyes, across the snout/forehead of the fish. Otherwise, my females do show some striation in the cheeks and right above the lips, though it's not as intense or showy as the males.

The pineapple severum (which appears to be a gold or super red severum) could go either way. The lack of markings between the eyes could suggest a female but it could continue to color up as it grows and turn out to be a male.

So I'm thinking all of your adult fish are females. Have you ever had actual wrigglers or fry, or just pairing activity and eggs? It's entirely possible that your females are just laying eggs together. My female severums do this all the time (I keep them separated from the males).

Just an observation, but their fins look pretty rough. Are they beating each other up? You may need to upgrade the tank size or split them up regardless of sex if the aggression is that bad.
 
I was thinking all were female too but the rot. That looks a bit more like a male to me. Do they fight a lot? Because they look pretty beat up? How big is the tank?
 
Thanks for the info guys, My tank is 125 gal. I'm going to thin them out and that's why I was trying to figure out my males and females.

And yes they do charge each other alot but I don't see them actually fighting each other. Maybe they do when I'm not around.

Also will their fins repair themselves? as my rotiel tail fins or a mess (crooked) (I got him like that) I want to get down to one pair or maybe one male and two females.

Also ryansmith83, No fry, they just pair off and lay eggs and then protect them together for awhile.

Again, Thank for all the help everyone. much appreciate. Any other ideas please let me know as I'm opened to all.
 
I think all your severums in the pictures arefemakle except for the rotkiel :) Its a male, I'm not sure about the pineapple severum though :D
 
yeah i agree, i think all are female besides the rotkeil, though to know for sure with the gold sev you will need to vent it
 
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