Heros Severus- WC Manaus

[darth pike]

I'm guessing that's near the town, which is south of Itaituba on the Rio Tapajos ... if it is, then there is no chance of H. severus. That area of Brazil only has efasciatus. They only place you might find H. severus in Brazil is the upper Rio Negro, since the floods connect the Rio Negro and Rio Orinico. Otherwise, H. severus is only from Colombia and Venz.

You have to remember most of the collectors/exporters are working with references 30+ years old, before common species like sevs, festivus, ect were split up into multiple species.

PS: Though if he's collecting in that area, there are some neat dwarf pike cichlids from that same area that people want in the hobby. Urosema comes to mind.

 

[ryansmith83]

H. severus and H. efascistus will not breed. I keep them together in multiple aquariums and they are totally different fish. H. severus is a mouthbrooding fish while all the other described species are not. Your exporter is wrong, and they sometimes are when it comes to scientific names.

 

[notho2000]

H. severus and H. efascistus will not breed. I keep them together in multiple aquariums and they are totally different fish. H. severus is a mouthbrooding fish while all the other described species are not. Your exporter is wrong, and they sometimes are when it comes to scientific names.

I agree with you Ryan, that given a choice, the 'severus' and 'efasciatus' do not tend to pair up but favor their own species. However, I had 4 adult 'severus' (1M, 3F) in a tank with a large male 'efasciatus'. The extra 'severus' females (the ones that did not pair with the male 'severus') would spawn regularly with the 'efasciatus' male. Their eggs never did survive to the point of hatching (would get eaten) but they looked fertile up to that point. Being a delayed mouthbrooder with adhesive eggs, the 'severus' has pretty much identical behavior to 'efasciatus' up to the point of the eggs hatching. But then, their reaction to the fry would be entirely different. The female would have taken the hatchlings into her mouth, and the 'efasciatus' wouldn't have had a clue what she was doing. Also, In the initial photo, I don't see anything that looks like a 'severus'.

 

[Castlk]

They are really nice looking whatever they turn out to be, thanks for sharing.

 

[David R]

Damn those true H. severus are gorgeous!! How readily available are they in the US? Our 'Green List' of imports has Heros severus on it, but all we ever get is crummy greens, super reds and the occasional rotkeil (hybrid?). They'd be the ideal species to compliment my Geos in the 2000L, I'd seriously consider spending the crazy amount required to import a batch if I could guarantee good stock that would turn out as nice as Jim's.

 

[tomka123]

So I took a short video. I just got this piece of driftwood in... I love it! Hope you guys enjoy. The group is very outgoing & eating well. Colors are coming out more also!:

[video=youtube;TWchvMHMjcg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWchvMHMjcg[/video]

 

[ryansmith83]

They do look very nice considering they were recently imported. If they are like the other sp. Manaus that I've seen, the males will be stunning.

The smaller fish with the solid faces appear to be females.

Jim, it'd be interesting to know if those eggs were viable. I've got several F0 and F1 female H. severus and H. notatus spread out among community tanks and neither has tried to pair with the other species. I've been keeping them mixed for about three years now. The unpaired H. severus fight with the paired H. severus but they never attempt to flirt outside their species. H. notatus will readily spawn with H. efasciatus, though.

David, the H. severus and H. sp. Atabapo (which looks extremely similar and has the same behaviors) are pretty common here. I see wilds every year during collecting season and Rapps has them in multiple sizes right now. I've spawned literally thousands from my two pairs and cannot give them away -- the last batch of 2" fry all went into my freezer. It's a real shame because they're probably my favorite species of severum, right up there with H. notatus.

 

[David R]

David, the H. severus and H. sp. Atabapo (which looks extremely similar and has the same behaviors) are pretty common here. I see wilds every year during collecting season and Rapps has them in multiple sizes right now. I've spawned literally thousands from my two pairs and cannot give them away -- the last batch of 2" fry all went into my freezer. It's a real shame because they're probably my favorite species of severum, right up there with H. notatus.

oh man, send em to me!!! Nice to know they're readily available, though with the fixed costs of importing/quarantining etc they would be costing hundreds per fish if I only imported them. To make it worth while I'd need to order from someone like Rapps (or get someone to source the species I want and collate them into one order) so I could make the most of the quarantine facility [they're only allowed to quarantine one shipment at a time] and fixed cost like Biosecurities inspections. Bit of a pipe-dream at the moment, maybe next year finances might allow it...

 

[tomka123]

Well I got a 2nd nice piece of driftwood & added it to the tank. Please let me know what you guys think. Is it overkill or what? I am trying for the environment like tree roots b/c I have some wild angels that might go in this tank.

 

[baseballman1321]

looks good! curious to see how these guys turn out