Large Geos with Small Severums

[FreshwaterHawaii]

Hey everybody, i know that Severums and Geos can be tankmates but i have a question.

I have 5 red head geos about 5" and i have 5 severums approx 1.5" in size. Right now they are in separate tanks but i want to move them into one tank. Will these guys get along?

 

[Wailua Boy]

Depends a lot on tank size...

 

[FreshwaterHawaii]

Tank size is a 150 gallon, i also have a 220 that i could put them in.

 

[Wailua Boy]

Its a little bit of a gamble. I would just provide good cover/hiding spots for your smaller sevs. You do have 5 geos to keep one another occupied, that helps. Ideally grow your sevs as large as possible first.
Even if there are no aggression issues the grow rate of the smaller fish will be much slower, than in a tank by themselves

 

[neutrino]

No problem at all, at least that's my experience. I've kept them (adult OH tapajos geos) with growouts of a few species, including small rotkeil seveums and guinacara no larger than what you're talking about-- in my tanks it didn't slow growth of the other fish either.

Orange (or red) head geos aren't very aggressive, if you have pairs, they'll protect spawns or sometimes guard a favorite spawning site, or they'll hold their own with other cichlids that aren't particularly tough, but nothing that distresses the other fish in a large enough tank. If anything, likely the severums will eventually be the more dominant fish ime.

 

[metsfan]

Hey everybody, i know that Severums and Geos can be tankmates but i have a question.

I have 5 red head geos about 5" and i have 5 severums approx 1.5" in size. Right now they are in separate tanks but i want to move them into one tank. Will these guys get along?

I think you should be OK but it's not a bad idea to play it safe and wait a little bit.

 

[jamntoast]

I agree with neutrino, I have kept other fry with my oh geos and ime they ignore anything that is too big to fit in their mouths, which I would think the sevs would be at that size. I recently had some uaru fry in with mine and they were never bothered once they got big enough. the little sevs will just have to stay out of the way, but they are hardly a threat to the geos so I cant see too much if any aggression.