Red Severums Lip Locking

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J

johnnycoolxx

Candiru
MFK Member
Jun 22, 2009
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Grandma's Basement
I have 2 Red Severums and I see them locking lips all the time. I heard somewhere that almost all red sevs are male, but I thought lip locking was breeding behavior.

Are they fighting or trying to breed? They don't really try to bite each other's body or anything.
 
I'm no expert, but just for info. I have a female rotkeil severum and a red spotted severum. I'm assuming the red spotted is male given as you say they are usually male and because he has spots all over his gill plates and across the bridge between his eyes. I heard that was also a way to sex them. He chases her a bit especially around feeding time and every so often it is like she has had enough of him, turns on him and they lip lock for a bit. I'm not certain what the behavior is about but I just mention it because they are likely male and female. He is about 6 inches but not more than 6 months old so then I think it is a bit young for breeding behavior.
So just an observation for comparison.
 
My 2 cents. I have a female Rotkiel Severum and a male Red Spotted Severum too. The male always fans his tail in the female's face, cleaning rocks, overly aggressive when he wants to spawn but I haven't seen the lip locking. I read somewhere Red Spotted Severums are almost always sterile. Check to see if their breeding tubes are down when they have this behavior. If no tubes, maybe they are quarreling.
 
I'd say that liplocking is mostly about setting the hierachy in the population. You will see this behaviour in all male or all female tanks. However at time of breeding this can be more frequent when they show off and feel more agression to each other in general.

For red severum (I assume all red like gold severums) it is hard to determine sexes since the sppotted gils occur in both males and females.
 
Does it happen a lot right after water changes? That's usually what sets off my male red and female green. Do they do it all the time or about every 2 weeks?
 
They are still small I am guessing just aggression. My two reds didnt work together but got a smaller green and they are fine. I heard its best to keep them as only 1 sev to a tank or a group to develop a pecking order.
 
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