Severum eggs and ID

[lnelms2]

I bought a group of 6 "red shoulder aka rotkiel severums. locally bred!" from aquatic arts just over a year ago. They were about the size of a nickel or quarter when I got them. I've been waiting for the red shoulder and/or the black stripes to show up, but so far, only the smaller 2 show the stripes most of the time. They're between 3"-6" now and I just found eggs in the tank from the largest 2 who've been locking lips for the last week.

Can anybody ID these guys for me?


Mom

Dad

 

[tlindsey]

I bought a group of 6 "red shoulder aka rotkiel severums. locally bred!" from aquatic arts just over a year ago. They were about the size of a nickel or quarter when I got them. I've been waiting for the red shoulder and/or the black stripes to show up, but so far, only the smaller 2 show the stripes most of the time. They're between 3"-6" now and I just found eggs in the tank from the largest 2 who've been locking lips for the last week.

Can anybody ID these guys for me?

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Mom
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Dad

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ryansmith83

 

[ryansmith83]

They’re a mutt Heros by the looks of it. I’ve occasionally had them. The fish stay mostly gray their entire lives. Usually a lack of stress bars indicates fish were raised under constant heavy light as fry/juveniles. The same happens with angelfish.

The bright orange/red pelvic and anal fins suggest there may be some rotkeil blood in there, but if they were 100% rotkeil they should have probably started showing red freckling behind the gills and head by now. Usually at 2.3 - 3” the rotkeil coloration starts as red freckles which then become more numerous and fuse together to form a band of red color.

If you raise fry from the fish, it’d be interesting to see if the lack of barring was environmental or genetic. Fry develop their bars around 4 - 6 weeks old or so, once they start to look like tiny severums.

 

[lnelms2]

They’re a mutt Heros by the looks of it. I’ve occasionally had them. The fish stay mostly gray their entire lives. Usually a lack of stress bars indicates fish were raised under constant heavy light as fry/juveniles. The same happens with angelfish.

The bright orange/red pelvic and anal fins suggest there may be some rotkeil blood in there, but if they were 100% rotkeil they should have probably started showing red freckling behind the gills and head by now. Usually at 2.3 - 3” the rotkeil coloration starts as red freckles which then become more numerous and fuse together to form a band of red color.

If you raise fry from the fish, it’d be interesting to see if the lack of barring was environmental or genetic. Fry develop their bars around 4 - 6 weeks old or so, once they start to look like tiny severums.

Awesome! Thanks for the info. Some of the eggs are white today, we'll see if they make it and I'll keep the thread updated.