Hi everyone. I have a red shoulder severum who for some strange reason likes to try to eat my fake plants. Any ideas what causes this? Any ways to fix it?
Severum eating plants?
- Thread starter Americancichlidsaredabest
- Start date
They sell foods with Spirulina Algae it's beneficial for herbivore, omnivores species.
Is it eating the plants or eating algae off of them?
Whenever I see roundish, disc shaped, flat, cichlids, with similar dentition severum, and that mouth shape, indicates to me, they are primarily vegetarian (not simply omnivores), ( not always of course) ....but.a pretty good chance they are highly vegetarian.
Most Heros. Vieja, Uaru, and Etroplus (and many other cichlids) are heavily vegetarian, and one can tell by the body shape alone, and the non-canine teeth that they are not adept at chasing down and/or holding prey. Like the carnivores below
So putting them in a planted tank is usually an exercise in futility, unless a diet heavy in foods are meant for plant eaters is provided to satisfy those needs.
And that the plants chosen for decor are bitter, and bad tasting.
Plants like java fern and Anubius often fit this bill (but again not always, with certain vegetarians).
Plants like Vallisneria, water sprit, sword plants, and many others are simply a tempting salad bar.
Although the video below are not severums, they are an indication of what to expect from fish that resemble them.
Etroplus eating dandilions
I often feed pellets high in Spirulina (like NLS algaemax) or pellets meant for salt water algae eating vegetarians with k, can be moderately successfulelp.
And as you can see in the video above, using highly palatable greens to tempt them away from aquatic plants.
In nature many of these species eat terrestrial leaves that hang over into their riverine habitat.
There have been studies analyzing the content of discus, and other Amazonian species that indicate 50% of that content is often terrestrial leaf and plant matter.
There are even similar looking salt water species, that seek out terrestrial plants.
I watched the spadefish come into a lagoon in Mexico every morning for a week to eat the leaves of this certain tree.
Most Heros. Vieja, Uaru, and Etroplus (and many other cichlids) are heavily vegetarian, and one can tell by the body shape alone, and the non-canine teeth that they are not adept at chasing down and/or holding prey. Like the carnivores below
So putting them in a planted tank is usually an exercise in futility, unless a diet heavy in foods are meant for plant eaters is provided to satisfy those needs.
And that the plants chosen for decor are bitter, and bad tasting.
Plants like java fern and Anubius often fit this bill (but again not always, with certain vegetarians).
Plants like Vallisneria, water sprit, sword plants, and many others are simply a tempting salad bar.
Although the video below are not severums, they are an indication of what to expect from fish that resemble them.
Etroplus eating dandilions
I often feed pellets high in Spirulina (like NLS algaemax) or pellets meant for salt water algae eating vegetarians with k, can be moderately successfulelp.
And as you can see in the video above, using highly palatable greens to tempt them away from aquatic plants.
In nature many of these species eat terrestrial leaves that hang over into their riverine habitat.
There have been studies analyzing the content of discus, and other Amazonian species that indicate 50% of that content is often terrestrial leaf and plant matter.
There are even similar looking salt water species, that seek out terrestrial plants.
I watched the spadefish come into a lagoon in Mexico every morning for a week to eat the leaves of this certain tree.
Last edited:
It’s a relatively new tank so no algae has really grown anywhere yet and I can’t see any on the plants.
Thank you for the food suggestions. That’s cool that you can tell what they eat by body shape. Learn something new everyday.
They are omnivorous, with specifics in the wild depending on location, species, time of year, etc-- in other words they're adaptable with varying preferences according to the particular fish and circumstances. Heros efasciatus are "omnivorous, but predominantly frugivorous (fruits/seeds), especially in the period of forest flooding" according to a paper that's frequently quoted by other science papers (example: Reproductive biology of Heros efasciatus) and a number of other papers quote severus (not necessarily correctly identified) as "associated with highly vegetated areas and feeds on small invertebrates and plant material" (Influence of photoperiod on... Heros severus), other studies with stomach analysis found a % of small fish (I forget exactly, 11% or something similar), and studies of juvenile growth show protein requirements to be similar to most cichlids.
I've kept them for over 25 years, bred them, raised many, and I feed them as omnivores. They do like to eat plants and ime some of them attempt to uproot, tear up, or eat algae off artificial plants.
I've kept them for over 25 years, bred them, raised many, and I feed them as omnivores. They do like to eat plants and ime some of them attempt to uproot, tear up, or eat algae off artificial plants.
Last edited:
If I tried to feed him lettuce or some plant like that would that work? If so what do I need to do to it to make it so he won’t get sick eating it.