New direction with severums and maybe more

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spazmattik

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Nov 28, 2012
297
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Virginia
So I am taking a different route on my south american community since my salvini is kind of an ******* lol. I am getting rid of him (since i already have my species only aggressive tank) and getting some severums.. I have never owned them before but so far I like what I see. Right now the king of the tank is an albino tiger oscar and I plan on the final tank size being a 125g... any recommendations on what type i should get or how many i can put in the tank with my oscar?... or maybe i could only do like , 2 and get some smaller colorful fish like a rainbow cichlid or (insert suggestions here :P )
 
Don't put severums in with your oscar. I recently "rescued" a large gold severum which was in a tank with 2 oscars at a local fish store. It looked like the severum has not eaten in days, he was hiding in the large aquarium decoration with an oscar on each side of him. These fish are not compatable at all. If you want severums they mix well with parrots. I have 3 parrots and 3 severums in my 150 along with a clown knife and a sailfin pleco.
 
It shouldn't be a problem so long as you make sure that the sev is eating

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should be fine. both south americans, oscar may be brutal at first, but keep an eye out for the next few days when you get them ( i would do two at most )
 
My oscar isnt food aggressive. He is a pretty gentle eater. In fact, he is the only reason my green terror female can eat because the salvini is the food aggressive one. My oscar chases him off and protects the green terror (runt of the tank) I open both panels on my tank to space out the food so I dont foresee a problem with feedings.. any suggestions to what kind of severums? or smaller fish that might work with this setting?
 
spazmattik said:
My oscar isnt food aggressive. He is a pretty gentle eater. In fact, he is the only reason my green terror female can eat because the salvini is the food aggressive one. My oscar chases him off and protects the green terror (runt of the tank) I open both panels on my tank to space out the food so I dont foresee a problem with feedings.. any suggestions to what kind of severums? or smaller fish that might work with this setting?
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In a 125, you could get away with adding 2 severum to the tank with the Oscar. As said above, just keep an eye out for aggression (though why we have to say this as knowledgeable cichlid owners is beyond my understanding LOL). Just make sure you don't have a breeding pair or they will take control of the majority of that tank and the Oscar will not have any room.

Spacing out your feedings is a good idea with any Oscar that has tankmates as most oscars are greedy eaters.

As far as types of severums goes, it doesn't matter. With the exception of rotkeils severums, all severums have the potential to reach 12" (this is usually max male size with females maxing out around 10"). Rotkeils reach 8-10" depending on gender. So really it is about what color you like best. There are super reds (aka red spotted), rotkeils (aka red shoulder), gold, green, turquoise (I have these and they look like greens until they get 5"+), notatus (aka spotted severum). Those are all I know of, but I am sure someone will add on to my list if I missed anything.

A good school of 10-15 deep bodied dithers would be a great addition. With the Oscar, a 5"+ catfish or some loaches might be best bottom feeders. Cories could potentially be Oscar food and with those armor plates, they could get stuck in his throat and kill him.


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fishman61 said:
Don't put severums in with your oscar. I recently "rescued" a large gold severum which was in a tank with 2 oscars at a local fish store. It looked like the severum has not eaten in days, he was hiding in the large aquarium decoration with an oscar on each side of him. These fish are not compatable at all. If you want severums they mix well with parrots. I have 3 parrots and 3 severums in my 150 along with a clown knife and a sailfin pleco.
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There are a ton of people who have kept oscars and severums together with great success. The severum you rescued was likely in the tank with greedy feeding Oscar (very common) who scarfed the food down before the severum could get any. Fish stores don't tend to care about proper feeding. They just throw the food in and if someone doesn't eat, oh well.

And you will find parrots are quite controversial in the fish keeping community. There are many (including myself) who find the hybrid to be unpleasant and would like to see it removed from the hobby entirely. Parrots are a hybrid between severums and another unknown fish (there is quite a bit of speculation as to what the other fish is though). They often suffer from mouths so small that feeding them can be very challenging and dozens of the resulting fry are culled or starve due to mouth deformities that do not allow them to eat well or at all.


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Thanks Patrick. :) I have really been looking into these green or turquoise cichlids all though even through research im not sure theres much of a difference anymore through captive breeding or at least a possibility to tell as juviniles.. I would love one of those plus a red spotted or a roktiel, kind of torn at the momment. I do already have a african featherfin catfish so I was thinking maybe a variety of rainbowfish as dithers.. turqoise, new guinea reds, bosemani, goyder.. I am really trying to get a variety of shapes and colors here... Maybe a gold dojo loach since you put that out there. :)
 
spazmattik said:
Thanks Patrick. :) I have really been looking into these green or turquoise cichlids all though even through research im not sure theres much of a difference anymore through captive breeding or at least a possibility to tell as juviniles.. I would love one of those plus a red spotted or a roktiel, kind of torn at the momment. I do already have a african featherfin catfish so I was thinking maybe a variety of rainbowfish as dithers.. turqoise, new guinea reds, bosemani, goyder.. I am really trying to get a variety of shapes and colors here... Maybe a gold dojo loach since you put that out there. :)
Click to expand...

These are the wild parents of my turquoise. I got them from Jeff Rapps. My largest (4-4.5") outsizes my smallest by almost a full inch and he (I am assuming male as he is the largest) is just now tarting to get the turquoise colored squiggles on his face. His vertical bars are almost gone and he is displaying that orangish-brown color you see on their backs. These are going to be some beautiful fish.

But overall, you're right. There has been a bunch of cross breeding the severum color morphs (which is one reason they don't have as many different species names as they use to). You will often find that baby sevs either look like greens or golds (depending on their ultimate coloration) until they get 4-5". And their full coloration won't likely be seen until they are 5"+. Many at home turquoise breeders mix them with greens and it makes them darker.


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