severums & Apistogramma

[andy1985]

Hi would these 2 be ok or woud the Severums try and eat them?

 

[bbortko]

They're a little big for food and too small to be viewed as competition so they might work. I have introduced new fish that were similar in size to apistos and never had an issue, even had a molly that would follow my adult rotkeil around all day.

 

[ryansmith83]

I wouldn't try anything too small. I've kept severums with things like Laetacara and M. altispinosus with some success, but I did have a male severum chase/harass some M. ramirezi pretty heavily. A lot will probably depend on your tank size and stocking. Severums are not overly aggressive most of the time but they're still drawn to very small fish. It's sort of a built-in instinct to investigate/hunt down tiny fish. I put some small 2" plecos in my community tank recently and as soon as they hit the water, the severums darted after them and chased them under some driftwood. Eventually they left them alone but I think their initial instinct was to hunt it down and perhaps eat it. If they could have caught it, they may have...

 

[neutrino]

Just as a size comparison, I've kept severums with congo tetras (including juvie congos) and they basically ignored them. Also kept them with 2 inch geo (or similar) growouts with no problem. On the other hand, my original rotkeil severum years ago came from a lfs where it killed anything they tried to put in the tank with it. But they had it in a small tank. Took it home and it was just fine in a 75 gal tank with other fish. In other words, tank size makes a difference with sevs aggression ime.

How or what you feed may also make difference in their response to smallish fish imo. And with any fish 8 inches or up, individual temperament can be a factor.