Severum Confusion

[AquaJason]

Hi everyone, think I am getting myself muddled so would appreciate some help please. So correct me if i am wrong!
I belive that Heros notatus is the true mouth brooding sev?

What I am most confused with is Heros efasciatus whch I belive is the most common severum often called the 'green severum or banded' and people have produced morphs(if that is the correct word to use) to produce the genes of the gold, red spotted and now the turquoise- basically they are mutations which we have allowed to breed because some like the colour forms?
Which leaves me to the Rotkeil sev, I am unsure if it a morph or not as I have heard of people getting wild caught rotkeils :/ but I always thought they were just another morph of the heros efasciatus.

So confused lol :l
So is their only to types of severums- notatus and efasciatus?

 

[Bonzo1]

The Heros Severus is the mouth brooder and the Heros sp Rotkeil is not an efasciatus. You are correct in saying green, gold and red are efasciatus. Theres a lot of confusion over the heros species and a lot of conflicting information on the net

The mouth brooder



Heros sp Rotkiel

 

[AquaJason]

Are these your fish 'Bonzo'- they look stunning.
Thanks for your help, I was just reading this article http://www.britishcichlid.org.uk/in...heros-severus&catid=11:south-america&Itemid=9 (dont know how true it is) but it says that the green severum isnt the natural colour for Heros efasciatus(I always thought it was, rather gutted as I have one still I love her just as much though haha) and in fact that the Rotkeil is the true form :/

 

[AquaJason]

So is their 3 species of severum- Heros, efasciatus, notatus and severus(the mouth brooder)?
So which doe sthe Rotkeil come under. Sorry for loads of complex questions.

 

[ryansmith83]

There used to be four species:

Heros severus (the mouthbrooder)
Heros efasciatus (the green severum -- most tank raised fish are bred from this)
Heros appendiculatus (the turquoise severum)
Heros notatus (the black-spotted severum)

H. appendiculatus has been combined with H. efasciatus so it's no longer valid. This is tricky because there were noticeable differences, but I guess not enough to keep the two separate. Wild rotkeils have caused a big debate -- some think they should be described as a separate species, and some think they are just a geographical color variant of H. efasciatus.

There are a lot of different looking wild severums out there. Whether they're undescribed species or variants of the three known species is the question.

Gold severums and red severums are derived from Heros efasciatus. Tank-bred severums could really be mutts, though, because H. efasciatus, rotkeils, and notatus can all interbreed and produce fry... I do not think the severus can hybridized with the others.

I have also seen a lot of sites list Heros spurius as a valid species, but I don't even think there have been photographs of said fish.

 

[Bonzo1]

Yes they're ours. The mouthbrooders are holding fry at the moment and hopefully we'll get some away from them when we see them spit. Have a small tank set up and waiting.

The Rotkeil is wild caught and has a young female but they've never spawned.

We also have another pair of WC Rotkeil who we've had some successful spawns from but for some reason their last few spawns they have eaten the eggs.

 

[Decker504]

What about Heros sp. Inridae? Are they considered a unique species or are they another version of efaciatus.

From DJ/MC Decker

 

[ryansmith83]

It probably depends on who you ask. Another example is H. sp 'Atabapo.' They are a mouthbrooder, but some do not feel they are the same as H. severus. I think there is still a lot of work to be done in the classification of Heros.

 

[Decker504]

I like the sp. Atabapos and wondered if they were severus. Our local club is doing group buys and cf. Notatus was on one list and sp. Inridae were on another. I have some severums I belive to be efasciatus, but they don't look like classic green severums at all, brown anal fins w/ blue almost purple in their faces. One larger specimen I belive to be a male has as many purplish spots in its body as my notatus. With hobbyists I termingling the races, there is probably no way to tell for sure. Ik Dan at Americancichlids.net even has Heroina in stock, which some either do not know about or thought they were part of the Heros group.

From DJ/MC Decker

 

[ryansmith83]

Usually the fish commonly referred to as "turquoise severums" had the darker blues and purples, with maroon anal fins. I had a male who didn't look genuinely green either, but that's still what he'd be classified as.

Here he is in the background with my male notatus in the foreground.

In the flash he shows up green, but under natural lighting he was a dark indigo blue color with bright blue iridescence in the face/cheeks. You can also see dark maroon spots and lines on his face.