I hope this is the right place ... severums

[Vicki.ann]

I have recently joined this forum. I have often come here to look up DIY queries as you guys rule, hands down, on aquarium DIY, but never joined for some reason.

I am now going over to the monster fish side of things.

I keep mainly plecos and clown loaches ... and lots and lots of tanks!

I'm really after a fish to call 'my baby' if you like though. My clown loaches are lovely to watch and full of personality, but not confident really. Only my youngest and smallest clown loaches will approach my hand when I'm rearranging things and mostly my fish (apart from my syno) disappear when I approach the tank.

I have always avoided cichlids like the plague, I think it stemmed from being told they were 'very naughty fish' when I started out over a year ago lol!

But more recently, severums seemed to have popped up everywhere I seem to look and I'm quite keen now on the idea of getting myself a tiny baby cichlid to grow up and make into my baby, if you like.

I currently have a 6' x 18" x 2' tank which is approximately 500L I think, with the following stocking:
18 clown loaches
5 gouramis (gold, blue, opaline)
3 congo tetra
1 ruby shark
1 flying fox
1 synodontis eupterus

... and I want to know if a severum would fit into the mix ... and if not, what would, that would grow reasonably big quite quickly and be a nice centrepiece and would be happy to bond with me lol!

I really like the look of green severums and was thinking maybe a pair - but I'm not sure, and have no idea where to start looking for them in honesty either.

I will be upgrading this tank to a homemade 8' x 2' x 12" (but could make it higher if required for the new fish) - will this be adequate to house a pair of green severum or similar?

I'm so mightily tempted to make myself an enormous tank to take up half my living room and just go all out on the bigger bolschier fish ... black shark ... redtail cat .... giant gourami ... but will have to wait I think lol!

Any help or advice appreciated as I really have not got the foggiest idea about cichlids!

 

[Vicki.ann]

Scrap that, have just now done a load of reading around on various New World Cichlids and any 8"+ peaceful and pretty cichlid would probably suit me. I'm loving uara, and also geophagus sp. .... going to keep looking, but any advice would be great

 

[prettyricky]

I see that your on the right track. Keep doing your own research and your be able to answer your question. I'm not trying to be smart, but they're so many fish out there that will fit the bill and it all comes down to your taste. So keep doing what your doing and your see what I'm talking about....

G/L

 

[CTU2fan]

Keep in mind the uaru and most geophagus will want to be in a group, if you want a single or pair any of the severums species or chocolate cichlid might suit you. One thing to keep in mind with the gouramis...you'll probably want to start with a severum that's as big as the gouramis so they don't chase or nip it.

 

[marauders30]

the severums will generally fit in with the fish u have, but the clown loaches u got might get overwhelming on the bio load at some point. i see ur upgrading though so i think u will be fine.

 

[Vicki.ann]

Thank you guys for your advice

I'm really liking the idea of a chocolate cichlid actually ... I realise now that geophagus sp. and uaru like to be in groups and to be honest this particular tank is mainly for the clown loaches so I don't want it to become overwhelmed by a big group of cichlids in honesty.

The upgrade will be between 8ft and 9.5ft long, by 2ft wide by about 18" deep or so and should be ready in the next few months, so that's me sorted for space for my fish. My clown loaches range in size from 2 to 7 inches (mostly under 5 inches atm though, so it'll be a few years before they get big - I'm well prepared for the bioload though, and will be building myself a sump with a DIY wet and dry filter to cope with it all.

I'm lucky that my gouramis are still pretty small so I should be okay with a fairly youngish cichlid whichever I decide to get

 

[Snowflake311]

Severum all the way. They are the perfect fish IMO. I have 3 once you have one you want more. You want to watch a fish grow and blossom this is the one. My green severum is a females and about 3.5" I got her when she was 1". I love watching these fish grow and see the true colors come in. Everday she looks better and better. She eats from my hand comes out to say hi. My ebjd is also a fun fish to watch grow and he always is out when he sees me.

But the severum is pretty and just perfect gets along with most other fish. Some severums can have bad tempers but most are great. I highly recomend them yes there are lots of other great cichlids that could work but the severum is the best IMO. But I'm a severum mommy so I would say that.