I have a 3" green severum in a 37 gallon tank. I wanted to grow one large fish rather than several small ones. Anyway, I was wondering if this species is normally skiddish?? Everytime I approach the tank, she either hides or turns almost vertical and "sits" on the sand. She is at her best when I feed her. Also, the females have the black spot on the dorsal fin, right?? Thanks!
Green Severum question
- Thread starter jdheff1982
- Start date
Hello.
Severums can be skittish. Mine are some days and other days they are eating out of my hand.
How long have you had it? It does take them some time to get use to the surroundings.
As for sexing. Severums are quite hard to sex. At one point everybody I knew thought that I had four males because of the finnage etc...
That is until my big green and big gold paired up, and started to breed and beat the crap out of the other two.
I took the two smaller ones and placed them in another tank. Low and behold. They paired up and started to give me broods.
It's truly is very hard to tell with severums.
Severums can be skittish. Mine are some days and other days they are eating out of my hand.
How long have you had it? It does take them some time to get use to the surroundings.
As for sexing. Severums are quite hard to sex. At one point everybody I knew thought that I had four males because of the finnage etc...
That is until my big green and big gold paired up, and started to breed and beat the crap out of the other two.
I took the two smaller ones and placed them in another tank. Low and behold. They paired up and started to give me broods.
It's truly is very hard to tell with severums.
mine seems to enjoy people, whenever i walk past the tank she comes right up to the front. Really comes down to the fishs personality.
say Cheese:
say Cheese:
Last edited:
Male severums have dark, worm-shaped markings on their face. Female severums have plain faces (that's a female above). Male severums are also supposed to have more elongated fins, but that is said about most cichlids. Not as reliable. The dark line on the tailfin comes and goes with mood.
I've had gold, green and turquoise severums and they were always outgoing. I believe sevs do better when kept in small groups. For your situation, consider adding some small schooling fish like tetras or danios, etc. These fish swimming around all the time will make the cichlid feel less vulnerable.
I've had gold, green and turquoise severums and they were always outgoing. I believe sevs do better when kept in small groups. For your situation, consider adding some small schooling fish like tetras or danios, etc. These fish swimming around all the time will make the cichlid feel less vulnerable.
Last edited:
Thanks!
Guess I am gonna have to rename my fish. Considering the picture fish is female, mine would have to be male. For one, it seems to have a network of shiny turquoise scales around the mouth, eyes, and are scattered thru-out the body. Do males have the dark spot on the dorsal??? The vertical stripes are basically gone and the stripe at the tail comes and goes except for the dark spot on the dorsal. Thanks! If I can add a small school of fish, what would be a good choice and how many????
Tank size> 37 gallons
Severum Size> 3 inches
Equipment> 1 Filstar XP3 and 1 AC300
Guess I am gonna have to rename my fish. Considering the picture fish is female, mine would have to be male. For one, it seems to have a network of shiny turquoise scales around the mouth, eyes, and are scattered thru-out the body. Do males have the dark spot on the dorsal??? The vertical stripes are basically gone and the stripe at the tail comes and goes except for the dark spot on the dorsal. Thanks! If I can add a small school of fish, what would be a good choice and how many????
Tank size> 37 gallons
Severum Size> 3 inches
Equipment> 1 Filstar XP3 and 1 AC300
my gold severum isnt skittish at all. my brothers gold severum isnt skittish at all. my brothers green severum doesnt come out much, mostly because the gold one punks him
Whenever dealing with small, schooling fish, you probably want 4 - 5. Good schooling fish are danios, barbs, tetras, etc. Normally with SA cichlids I would say go with Silver Dollars, but they grow to 6" and might get to be too much for your tank. Same goes with Tinfoil Barbs, clown loaches, Anostomus, etc.
If you can find them, Columbian Tetras have an aggressive look and only grow to 2". You could get 6 - 8 of them. They are slightly blue with red fins.
I agree with the others
I had 3 severums in my 90 gallon tank and they were like pets, not skiddish at all. They would come to the corner of the tank I was at when they wanted food and take it from my hand. Just sounds like your fish is stressed for some reason.
Maybe he needs a buddy to swim with.
I had 3 severums in my 90 gallon tank and they were like pets, not skiddish at all. They would come to the corner of the tank I was at when they wanted food and take it from my hand. Just sounds like your fish is stressed for some reason.
Maybe he needs a buddy to swim with.
Hmmmm.....
Do you think I could get away with another severum???? If I could get another, that would be great. I just wish I could tell what sex mine is. IT doesn't have a plain face like the pictured female, but has the egg spot on the the dorsal. IT also has tons of reflective turquoise scales scattered thru-out body and face plus IT also has black spots. Sounds male to me. I wish I could get a pic of my fish on here. Is it possible for someone to post a side-by-side pic(s) of a male and female severeum??? Thanks!
Do you think I could get away with another severum???? If I could get another, that would be great. I just wish I could tell what sex mine is. IT doesn't have a plain face like the pictured female, but has the egg spot on the the dorsal. IT also has tons of reflective turquoise scales scattered thru-out body and face plus IT also has black spots. Sounds male to me. I wish I could get a pic of my fish on here. Is it possible for someone to post a side-by-side pic(s) of a male and female severeum??? Thanks!
Out of the four severums I had I found that if I grew them up together they were better off. I had one that was really aggressive, killed an oscar of the same size! I kept serpae tetras, clown loaches, and silver dollars with mine, but my tank was a 55 and a 72.