My latest Rotkeil Severum purchase

[Shinnok]

Hi all,

I purchased this beautiful male Rotkeil for £25, which is around US$40. The colours are really vibrant and the fish seems to be glowing.





I have another older male (Pic below) and a few females, but they seem to be much darker in colour. Are there different colour variations of Rotkeils, coming from different locations, or is it the breeding dress? Ryan, your view is very much welcome

 

[ryansmith83]

They look nice. All severums seem to vary from fish to fish in color and pattern, even within a single group of fry. I've seen dark turquoise/emerald colored rotkeils with red necks and I've seen them in shades of gold/tan/brown. Sometimes they have a nice blue face, sometimes it's more red. These "raspberry face" severums that were going around in the US for a while are supposedly a nice strain of rotkeil with a solid red head. I bought one and it is the most vibrant red I've ever seen on a rotkeil, yet it's still only on the neck behind the gill area and I've yet to see much on the actual face.

Rotkeil will certainly hybridize with other sevs but I have a feeling you wouldn't get much red color in the F1s. It's probably safe to say yours are all rotkeil. Another thing to remember is that rotkeils have 8 bars where most severums have 9. Again, not sure how this would work on hybrids. I've never raised any.

 

[Shinnok]

Hi Ryan! Thanks for the quick response. Severums are just such interesting and good looking cichlids. There seems to be a very clear pecking order. And from what I see the Rotkeils amongst themselves are more rough to each other, than the red spotted ones.