How many Red Severums??

[inssane]

I plan on a tank in the 90-120g range within 2 years.
Currently I have black sand, black background, and a huge piece of malaysian driftwood in the tank. I like the tiger barb suggestion and the color suggestion, but it will be a pain to remove all the sand and replace, as you can imagine.

I just called the LFS and they get reds in on a fairly regular basis, which is good to know so I would not have to break my neck to buy one and have them hold it.

I have an "in tank" UV filter, but it is HUGE. When I removed it for the Oscar and JD, it seemed that there was more room for them to swim around some of the decorations so I do have reservations about putting it back. It was fine when I had discus in there though.

 

[ryansmith83]

I disagree with the statement that you cannot keep a single severum in a 55 gallon for life. It really depends on the size and temperament of the fish. I have a few females who are only 6" or so and they're now living in separate 55 gallons with other smaller fish. These are wild-caught females that are probably about 2 years old, and they've shown no growth in a year, so I don't think they're going to reach a huge size any time soon.

Having said that, not all severums stay this small. Most of my male severums are at least 8" and very chunky. My red severum male is probably my biggest severum and I could never imagine him being comfortable in a 55 gallon, even by himself. He's just too big and boisterous. I have six adults in a 210 gallon tank and they make it look full and busy all the time.

So I would say you could start with a single fish, but chances are it's going to outgrow the 55 gallon anyway unless it ends up being a smaller female or something like that. You could upgrade to a 75 gallon and probably get away with it because they'll appreciate the extra width of the tank.

Remember that anything inside the tank that is taking up space is making your tank smaller than it really is (technically). So an empty, bare tank may be 55 gallons, but add in substrate, driftwood, etc. and you probably lose some of that.

I have never used a UV filter and I don't really see a need to. If you keep your tank clean and do regular maintenance and water changes, there shouldn't be any issues without it.

 

[inssane]

I got the UV filter when I had a bad algae bloom a year ago, and it took care of my green water in about 3 days. I took it out for space, and really I do water changes every week, change the filter fluff and carbon, and when I siphon I use the straight hose from my Python (the big tube you are supposed to use broke). I have sand, so I just reach in and suck all the detritis off the bottom, it's more effective than using the bigger end.

Anyhow it seems that a sev should be fine so long as I monitor the fish itself (size/activity).