FAQs on Severum Cichlid
Reproduction
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Severums breeding without eggs? 4/7/19
Hi Wet Web Media,
<Hello Eva,>
I have a 125 gallon tank and have kept Severums for years. I have seen Severums
spawn in my tank, so I know what to expect. However, I've never seen a female
try to spawn and act like she's laying eggs, but actually lay
no eggs. I've scoured Google and can't find an answer.
<This is quite common with South American cichlids. For a start, sexing them is
often very difficult. Famously, Angelfish sometimes get it wrong, to the extent
pairs of females will lay eggs, each expecting the other to
fertilise them! Severums are not much easier to sex than Angels, so it's
surprisingly easy to end up with two fish of the same sex.>
She went back and forth like she was laying eggs in row after row and the male
came in behind her and acted like he was fertilizing the "eggs." But nothing was
there! The female wants to stay paired, but the male no longer
has interest in her after the failed attempt at spawning and has started
courting the other female in the tank. Have you seen this happen before?
<Yes, though with Angels rather than Severums. Sometimes the female is immature,
sometimes the eggs were simply eaten before you saw them, sometimes the female
is actually a male, and sometimes the female is simply
infertile and incapable of laying. Of course the male could be the problem here,
not doing whatever he should be doing to elicit spawning behaviour from the
female.>
Some info on the pair: This is the first time either have ever attempted to
spawn in their lifetimes - i.e. got them when they were small - they're new at
this. They're about 4.5 inches (not including tail fins). Both are red spotted
Severums.
Do you think it's a size/maturity issue? Or maybe she's infertile?
<Could really be either. While 4.5 inches is a decent size, Severums are big
fish, and giving her another few months to grow on could help. As ever, a good
start is to 'condition' the female with plenty of live/frozen foods, and since
these are omnivorous fish, some fresh greens would be helpful too. Isolating the
female (using egg crate, for example, so they can still see each other) can be
useful if it allows the female to put on weight without the male harassing her.
Next up, optimise water chemistry. That's an important aspect for egg layers.
Severums aren't too fussy, but water towards the softer end of the range is
needed for breeding.>
*Eva*
<Hope this helps, Neale.>
Re: Severums breeding without eggs?
4/14/19
Hi Neale,
Thanks for answering my question - and so quickly!
<Most welcome.>
From your answer, it sounds like it could be for many reasons, so I'll continue
to monitor. Who knows, maybe a few more months is all they need - or maybe she's
secretly a male.
<This can/does happen with some cichlids. If kept with a dominant male, the
weaker males fail (or at least delay) exhibiting secondary sexual
characteristics such as the brighter colours or pointed fins we usually see on
male cichlids. In certain cases this is a deliberate ploy, allowing the weaker
males to stay within the dominant male's territory, thereby facilitating
'sneaker' male behaviour where the subdominant male tries to mate with a
resident female.>
She's definitely an odd fish - I got her and she was completely gold without
spots. Now she has almost as many spots as the red-spotted male!
<Most curious.>
It would be great to see them successfully spawn - so thanks for all the advice.
Ironically, she's the one harassing the male. All things considered, I'm not too
concerned as long everyone's getting along.
<Agreed. Really, the best way to sex cichlids is to observe their spawning
tubes. Males generally have longer, narrower, more pointed tubes that are easily
visible, sometimes all the time, but certainly for many days before spawning.
Females have shorter, blunter spawning tubes that are barely visible except
within a few hours of spawning.>
Thanks again,
*Eva*
<Cheers, Neale.>
Severums, repro.
9/8/10
how do you tell the difference between a female and a male
Severum?
<It's extremely difficult, at least with the Heros hybrids
most commonly traded (things are a bit easier with pure-bred
Heros appendiculatus and other pure-bred Heros species). There
are some general rules of thumb, but they are not reliable, so
take them with a pinch of salt. Firstly, male Severums tend to be
bigger than female Severums of the same age. Secondly, males tend
to have more blue squiggles on their faces. Thirdly, as with many
other cichlids, males tend to have longer dorsal and anal fin
extensions. Finally, males tend to have red eyes while females
have eyes that are more orangey. I wouldn't trust any one of
these characteristics, but if one fish shows three or four of the
"male" traits, then I'd be fairly confident that
that fish was a male. Still, the only 100% reliable way to sex
Severums is when they're close to spawning, at which point
their genital papillae are clearly different, males have long and
pointed papillae, while females have short and blunt
papillae.>
I have about 5 Severums and they're about 3 to 5 inches long
and I am planning to keep 2 and sell the rest.
<You could wait until a pair forms, but pairs are very
territorial and aggressive, and generally not suitable for
community settings.>
Can you tell me how to tell the difference between a male and a
female Severum?
<Hope this helps. Cheers, Neale.>
Severum info.. Sexing 11/2/2009
Hi there,
I am Pavan from India. I would like to know hw to distinguish
between male and female Severum. Appreciate your help. Pls do
answer.
<Hello Pavan. Sexing Severum cichlids is not easy, and the
only sure-fire way is to watch them spawning! Females have short,
blunt ovipositors compared to the long, pointed ovipositors seen
on the males. But that said, there are some clues. Males tend to
be bigger than females of the same age (though obviously
there's variation depending on various genetic and
environmental factors). As with many other cichlids, males tend
to have longer dorsal and anal fins. If you look at these fins,
they end in longer points that stretch further back towards the
tail than on females. Again, this isn't 100% reliable, not
least of all because when kept with nippy or aggressive fish
these fins can be damaged. On wild-type fish, and especially
wild-caught fish, males tend to have more colouration on the
face, particularly the famous "worm" markings on the
snout and around the eyes. They often have redder eyes than the
female as well. But the stock sold commercially has been bred for
colour, and both males and females can be strongly coloured; or
conversely, both can lack colour on the faces altogether.
Finally, there is more than one Heros species in the trade, and
sexing each species will be subtly different. Do see here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebindex/severums.htm
Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Severum info.. 11/03/09
Thank you for the info you provided. Thanks a lot
<Happy to have helped. Cheers, Neale.>
Severums Pairing Off 7/23/09
How do you know when your Severums are mating? I just added what
I believe is a male green Severum to a tank with a suspected
female. She swims in front of him shaking like a dog that has
been soaked with water. Is that the mating ritual or has my fish
gone crazy....? Laura
< There will always be a confrontation when you put two
cichlids together.
The female knows that a male is now in her territory. She wants
to get his attention so she starts to shake and dash all around
him to find out what his intentions are. He could be a possible
mate or an enemy for life. Time will tell.-Chuck>
Re: Severums Pairing Off II
07/23/09
She seems to like him, but he chases her around the tank. We are
having fun watching the fish show. If they become enemies, should
we move him to another tank? I really don't think we will
have to do that. love is in the
air, or the water whichever way you look at it.....Laura
<If she is well conditioned and ready to spawn then you will
see lip locking, tail wagging and lots of activity. When they are
ready to spawn they will start to clean an area and may start to
dig a pit in the sand. If things are not working out then he will
chase her and start to beat her up.
At that time she needs to be removed so she can recover. Welcome
to the world of cichlids.-Chuck>
Re: Severums Paring Off III
07/23/09
At any rate it is entertaining. I believe they will mate. They
are lip locking and swooning all over the tank. She digs a hole,
and he checks it out. Something else I have seen, is she swims
upside down and sideways. Do I need to get her a flat rock and
remove all the fake foliage from the tank. I would love to
encourage them. I also have five large silver dollars in the tank
with them. They don't seem to bother them, but one of the
silver dollars has taken a liking to him also. Can a silver
Dollar breed with a cichlid? Oh what weird looking babies that
would be...Laura
<They are pretty good at picking a spot to spawn that will
suit them just fine. The silver dollars make good
"dither" fish. These are fish that help distract the
parents from each other and may actually strengthen the pair
bond. The silver dollar will not cross with the
Severum.-Chuck>
Re: Severums eating eggs (was: re: fish)
7/30/09
my Severum finally laid eggs, but the male keeps eating them. How
do you keep that from happening.
<You can't. While wild cichlids will "recycle"
their eggs this way if they decide conditions in their
environment are so bad there's no hope of rearing a brood,
almost always when domesticated fish eat their eggs immediately
after spawning it's a behavioural abnormality.>
She is working so hard to lay them, and he comes right behind her
and eats all of them as fast as she can lay them...
<This is very common, especially with fish that have been bred
in captivity for decades. The problem is that there are no
selection pressures on farmed fish to be good parents, since on
farms, the breeders take the eggs away as soon as they're
laid. So the genes responsible for good parenting are lost.
In the wild it's very different, and only those parents who
can successfully rear a brood will send their genes into the next
generation, so evolution works in favour of good parenting.
Sometimes, farmed cichlids
"get it right" with practise, but to be honest, many
never do, and spend their entire lives eating the eggs they lay.
So it's up to you. Since Severums are of little to no value
in terms of selling them on, you may
decide to just let your fish get on with it, and hope perhaps
they get it right. Otherwise, if you're dead set on rearing a
brood -- and think about this carefully, because rehoming a few
hundred Severums isn't easy -- then remove whatever they lay
their eggs on to another tank, add an air-stone and a little
Methylene blue to prevent fungus, and raise the fry yourself.
Rearing Severums is essentially similar to Angelfish. Cheers,
Neale.>
Cross Breeding Jack Dempsey Breeds With Severum
7/3/08 Hi, I have a question about cross breeding.
First off we started out with a small catfish and a
Gourami, Then we added a full grown Severum and a Jack
Dempsey that were bought from the same tank. Since the day
we brought them home they have been paired up, anyway my
Severum has laid her first batch of eggs (that I know of)
and my Jack Dempsey is, I think , fertilizing them. So my
question is will the eggs survive being cross bred? They
seem to be protecting them very well, should I take out the
eggs? If so how would I go about doing that? Thank you very
much for your time. Kim < In the wild these two fish
never see each other. The Severum is from South America and
the Jack Dempsey is from Central America. There are many
weird cichlid crosses out there but I have never heard of
this one before. The eggs should hatch in three days if the
are viable. In three more days the fry should be free
swimming. The eggs can be removed at any time. Fill an
aquarium with the same water from the main tank that the
pair have spawned in. Place the eggs with object the eggs
were laid on in the tank and maintain the same water temp
and provide strong aeration too. Dead eggs will turn whits
and begin to develop a fungus.-Chuck>
Re: Cross Breeding Jack Dempsey Breeds With
Severum II 07/07/08 Thanks for getting back to me, I
can use any tips I can get. Forgive me if this is a stupid
question but what do you mean by "turn whits"? Do
you mean turn white? < Sorry. Typo on my part. My
wireless keyboard has batteries that needed changing. Dead
cichlid eggs that are unfertilized start to turn white
after 24 hours or so.> Some of them are white but I was
told that was the fertilized ones. Is that true? <
Fertilized eggs are usually a brownish color. This is
probably an evolutionary adaptation so predators will not
see the eggs and eat them. Sorry for the typos.-Chuck>
Thanks again Kim
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Unfertilized Severum eggs 3/30/08 Hi, Hope
this isn't too stupid a question, but at least it and the
answer should be short. I have a single female gold Severum who
just laid her first eggs. As there's no male yet (I'm
looking for one), the eggs will go unfertilized. Should I just
leave them in the tank, or should I remove them? Thanks, Greg
<Hi Greg. I'd be surprised if she (or the other fish in
the tank) don't eat them before too long. Plecs and other
nocturnal fish in particular will simply view these are a
midnight snack. But it's perhaps best to remove them if
you're worried about water quality. Cheers, Neale.>
Mated turquoise Severum pair no longer mated?
10/14/07 Hello, <Ave,> First, let me describe our
tank... 110 gallons, heavily decorated, Currently we have 6 green
Severums, 1 keyhole, 2 electric yellows, 1 German ram, and a very
small Pleco. <Certainly an eccentric collection of fish!>
My husband and I purchased a mated pair of turquoise Severums
about 3 months ago. They spent all their time together, very
obviously a mated pair. <Hmm... famous last words. Cichlids
are notorious for being happily married in one tank, but fierce
enemies when moved to another.> We watched them search out the
tank, we were excited thinking they might spawn soon but nothing
happened. At the time we added the mated pair, our tank had 2
orange African cichlids and it seemed the addition of the mated
pair made these orange cichlids become very aggressive toward all
the fish in the tank. We were surprised to see this aggression
because the mated pair are much bigger than everyone else in the
tank. <Cichlids don't see things the way you do. For them,
anything else in THEIR patch of the world is a potential threat,
either as an egg-eater, or a rival mate, or simply as a
competitor for food and space. This is why cichlids are so
successful at colonising other places when accidentally
introduced by man: they attack first, ask questions later. In the
bloody world of Nature, this strategy works exceedingly well.>
We removed the orange cichlids about a couple of weeks ago but it
seems our mated Severums are no longer mated. The male chases the
female away when she comes around and now we often see them far
apart from each other. <Oh dear.> She actually seems sad
(if that is possible). <Unlikely she's "sad",
but she may be stressed if picked upon.> Do mated pairs
separate? <Yes. In the wild, probably quite frequently.>
Can they or will they reconnect? <Yes. Since you have six
Severums in the one tank, new pairs should form naturally. Just
give them time. Conditioning the females when make them more
receptive to the male's advances. So optimise their diet:
lots of fresh greens plus live/frozen foods such as
bloodworms.> Thanks Janice <Good luck, Neale>
Severum cross with a gold 8/16/07
Hi, I'd like to know what would be the result of breeding a
turquoise Severum with a gold Severum? What would be the
offspring's coloration? I understand that gold's are a
variant of the green Severum which is merely lacking the melanin.
What would this cross breed be called? Thanks, AT <Usually
when extreme varieties are crossed, you end up with something
closer to the wild type. Thanks to removing the results of
inbreeding, crosses between varieties are usually hardier and
more fertile, and behaviour will be more consistently similar to
the wild fish. On the other hand, stores tend not to want fish
they can't define as a particular kind of something, though
this isn't always a big deal. By analogy with angelfish
(which are closely related to Severums) my guess would be the
results of this cross would be a mishmash of different types
depending on what versions of the colouration genes each baby
Severum ended up with. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: Severum cross with a gold 08/17/07
Thank You so much Neale for your timely response. I hope to be
able to sell the offspring once they have them and God willing
the will be sold. Sincerely, AT <You're welcome. Good luck
with your breeding project. Cheers, Neale>
Severums Breeding - 01/23/2007 Hello, <Hi, Jeannine
- first of, THANK YOU for fixing your capitalization and
re-sending your message - I can't tell you how much we
appreciate this. You're awesome.> I have a pair
of gold Severums that have bred 3 times. The first time in my
community tank. The babies were there for a few days
and then were gone. The parents were protecting the
babies so I thought the other fish had ate them. <Yeah,
that's very likely. However, the parents also can
end up "giving up" if the threat to their young is too
great in a community tank; if they do "give up", well,
sometimes even the parents will eat the young. Also,
new parent cichlids might take a few to several tries before they
finally understand that baby cichlids are for raising, not
eating.> So I moved them to their own tank so they would have
no worries. <Great!> They had more babies and were doing
nicely for a few days. Then they were gone. The parents must have
eaten them. <Yeah, the stress of moving may have spurred this,
or again, they're probably pretty new to the whole baby
thing.> The 3rd set, I let the babies in there for a few days.
Then I put them in a breeding net to separate them. <Better to
either completely remove them to another tank to raise them or to
allow the parents to raise them uninhibited.> I fed them some
liquid small fry food. The parents did not like being separated
from the babies. Two hours later they were all gone. I can see
some floating dead, but I don't see all of them. I don't
know if the parents somehow sucked them through the net or
what. <This can and does happen, even with very
fine netting - it's just not safe for the young to keep them
in a breeder net in a tank with strong adult fish.> How can I
keep them alive? Do I need to move the parents back to the
community tank after they have some more? <That is an
option.> If so when? <As soon as you see aggression toward
the young, and are quite certain they're going to be
eaten.... Otherwise, let mom and dad try their hand at
parenting in peace a few times - they'll get it right with
time, more than likely. Don't disturb the tank too
much or provide a threat to the "kids", and probably
the parents will learn how to do things the right
way. Cichlids are amazing; they're one of the few
groups of fish that actually do protect and raise their
young. Occasionally, there will be a pair that just
doesn't "get it", and if yours never "gets
it", then separating them from their young is the thing to
do. But let 'em try taking care of their young
first; it means less work for you, and possibly healthier
young. Even better, you'll get to observe some of
the most interesting fish behaviors there are - parents providing
for, protecting, and raising their young.> Thank
You, -Jeannine <All the best to
you, -Sabrina> Breeding Gold
Severums 1/21/07 Hello, How many breeding
pair of gold Severums can you have in a 55 gal tank? < I
would stick to two if you plan on keeping the fry around. But
just one pair will supply you and all your friends with all the
gold Severums you will ever need.> I have 12 Severums in this
tank and 3 sets are breeding. Will they
breed and raise fry as families? < No. If they breed at the
same time the fry will get mixed up and they will not be able to
tell their fry from their neighbor's. the breeding pairs will
constantly be fighting with one another. I would recommend that
you just keep a pair and watch them raise their family like
cichlids do.> I can move the unpaired fish
if necessary. Thank you <You could
potentially end up with 6 breeding pairs of fish. Each pair can
produce a thousand eggs every two weeks depending on the size.
Lots of gold Severums to get rid of.-Chuck>
Severum Breeding With Siblings 1/14/07
Hello, I wrote you in December of 05 about TOO much of a good
Thing, This was in reference that I had a mated pair of gold
Severums that had 2 set of babies 2 week apart, and
thus I had almost 400 babies to raise. You suggested
I contact local fish stores. After 1 year I am down
to about 40 babies left. I had a very upsetting
day last May as one of my parent fish was found dead out of the
tank as I woke one morning. All this time I thought it
was the Daddy fish as it was the larger and the most
colorful of the pair. Now I am wondering if
maybe I have mistaken the identity. From August 11 of
05 (first babies) until now, there have no eggs in the
tank at all. The parent fish has shared a
tank with 10 of the younger fish for 8 months. Part of this time
I had a divider in the tank as the younger fish seemed
to annoy the parent. The past 2 months the
parent fish has lived freely with the 10 maturing
fish. 2 of the younger fish began to mate and
move to a place in the tank inside a flower
pot. Suddenly eggs were in the
tank again. What a
joy! NOW I am very confused. The
original parent fish suddenly began parenting the
eggs. I thought may the mothering instinct
was just overcoming the fish and it was filling the
parenting role. These eggs were not
fertilized and so 2 weeks later a second
batch appeared. Same thing
happened. At some point some of the smaller fish
at the eggs about day 5. Yesterday 3rd set of
eggs. YEAH. I am now prepared to
divide the tank to prevent the other fish from eating
the eggs. I'm not SOOO not sure of the largest
original parent fishes role. I put 3 fish
on the side with the eggs last
night. The largest fish will not leave the
eggs. Could I have mistaken the fish and it
was the male all the time and it is trying to fertilize the
eggs? Could this still be the female and it
is mothering the eggs? If it is female
why no eggs for over a year? I just
don't know what to do. My original plan
was to get a mate for the original fish when the babies were
all moved. This is not happening right now
as I am having babies. Could the largest
fish be mating with a smaller baby fish? Please
help me with this issue. Thank you so much.
<The older fish could be breeding with the siblings. You could
have a female and is trying to breed with the siblings by laying
eggs but the younger fish isn't going for it. Probably the
older fish is laying the eggs hoping that one of the younger
males will fertilize the eggs.-Chuck> Green Severum has laid
eggs 9/21/06 Hello, <Hi there> In one of my
tanks, (55 gal.) I have 2-4" Green Severums, 1-3" Bala
Shark, 1-5" Silver Dollar "Ike"-my favorite fish,
1-3" Pictus Catfish, 1-4" Electric Blue Cichlid (Yes, I
know he shouldn't be here but he gets along better with the
fish in this tank than in my African Cichlid tank), <Ah, yes.
Many tank-bred Aulonocaras are quite mild> 1-6" Common
Pleco, 1-2" Moonlight Gourami, 1-1" Gold Gourami,
1-1" Opaline Gourami. (My Son wanted Gourami's, and I
plan to transfer these fish to a different tank eventually.) With
some mild aggression at times, the fish are getting along just
fine. No Fish is over-harassing any other fish too much. The 2
Severums were purchased from different fish stores. They look
alike except for coloration. 1 was sold as a
"Turquoise" Severum and the other as a
"Green" Severum. <Mmm, same species...> My wife
insisted at first that they were different fish. I told her that
they are the same species, and so are Gold Severums. Am I
correct? <Yes> Anyway, our 7 year-old daughter spotted eggs
laying on some of the rocks at the bottom. We immediately could
see that they were fish eggs. The eggs are light brown in color.
I removed the rocks with the eggs from the tank and placed them
in a breeding net. From all the reading I can tell with some
certainty that this wasn't the right thing to do. Will these
eggs hatch? How will the fry do afterwards? Thanks for your help,
Del <Mmm, might hatch... better left with the parents
though... the fry, raised in either way will have to be fed once
free-swimming... Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/severumreprofaq.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner> Breeding
Severums 7/6/06 Hello, I have 4 Severums in 55
gallon tank 3 golds and 1 green. It would appear that the 2
larger Severums have spawned and now I have eggs. There are 3
Catfish in this tank 1 Cory, 1 spotted Raphael and 1 Striped
Raphael, also in the tank is a Pleco. I figure I have to remove
the cat fish and Pleco, but can I use a tank divider to separate
momma Severum and eggs from the rest?? If so should I leave the
male with the female and eggs or separate him to? Thanks for any
info. Guy Clemency < Leave the parents with the eggs. The
Pleco will be a problem but the parents should be able to keep
the others away. The eggs will hatch in three days and the fry
will become free swimming in three more. When they begin to swim
I would recommend that you use some airline tubing and siphon out
the babies and put them in a tank of their own. In another week
the parents may eat the eggs themselves and get ready to spawn
again. When the fry are free swimming they need to be fed baby
brine shrimp and crushed flake food.-Chuck>
Breeding Severums (02/25/03) I'm going to sound
like a COMPLETE ignoramus here, but oh well. <Ananda here, and
believe me, I have done the same thing....> I have 2 Severums
in my community tank. I am interested in breeding
Severums, but have NO idea how to determine the sex of
them! I have read descriptions that say things like
"the male has pointier fins", but I have been unable to
see actual side-by-side pictures showing the differences, which
makes the descriptions useless. <I didn't find
any side-by-side photos, either, and read that one of the few
ways you can be certain of the gender of the fish is to examine
their genital papillae. The text didn't specify what to look
for, but I suspect the male's will be more pointed and the
female's ovipositor will be rounded. (The other way to be
certain which is which is to catch them spawning!) A female
Severum may have a dark spot on the dorsal fin, while males may
have reddish-brown spots and worm-like markings on the head. >
They are about 3-1/2 to 4" long, one green & one
gold. Any help you can give would be VERY appreciated!
<I've read that these fish do not pair bond particularly
easily. I would suggest a large tank, excellent food, and several
fish. If you have one male and a harem of females, you may get a
pair to spawn. As for *finding* that male, you might need to go
to a local fish store with a fair number of these fish in one
tank and just stare at the fish for a while, or look for a
cichlid club and ask its members for help.> Thanks, Raven
<You're welcome. --Ananda>
Severum Eggs Hi this is Valerie. I have two gold
Severums and yesterday morning I found eggs on the wall of my
aquarium. Well I bought a screen so that none of the other could
get to them. Well I'm just wondering, how long does it take
for Severum eggs to hatch? <Hi Valerie, the eggs should hatch
within 3-5 days. I do not know if I would use the
screen to separate the parents from the eggs, Severums are
delayed mouth brooders, and make pretty good
parents. A quick search on Google.com for Heros
severus breeding should lead you to a wealth of
information. There is also a good article at the link
below. Best Regards, Gage http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/severums.htm >
Thank You, Valerie
Gold Severum reproduction <Hi, Pufferpunk here>
My two Gold Severums have laid eggs twice in the last 2 weeks and
continue to eat the eggs. Is this normal? <A lot
of fish will eat their own eggs> I have tried separating them
and the eggs don't hatch. Should I be doing
something else?? <I have either hung a breeder net across from
the filter stream & raised the babies in there, or put the
eggs in another tank. If you move them, you will need to cover
the intake of the filter w/a sponge or use a sponge
filter. You may need to dose the tank with 1/2 dose
Methylene blue, to prevent fungusing of the eggs.> <Good
luck--Pufferpunk>
Egg Eaters My breeding pair of Severums keeps eating
the eggs. What can I do to prevent this? They reside in a 75
gallon tank with a 5 inch Pleco. <Any other tankmates, or is
that it?> They are not very aggressive after they lay the eggs
like most other Severums I've seen. Anyway, what can I do to
get these eggs to hatch? <I read an account where someone had
a breeding pair of angels that ate batch after batch of eggs, and
instead of raising the fry himself, he put an African
butterflyfish (Pantodon buchholzi) in the tank with them to see
if that would elicit defensive behavior from the angels (I
believe his reasoning behind using this species was that they
really pose no threat to eggs, as they only eat live fish or
insects that find their way to the surface of the
water). If you try something like this, be sure to use
a fish that poses no threat to the eggs, will keep its distance
from the angels, and can be easily removed once the eggs hatch -
and even still, there's no guarantee whatsoever that it will
work, but it might be worth a try. You can always
remove the eggs once the parents are through laying and
hatching/raising them yourself. Hope all goes
well, -Sabrina>
Gold Severums have laid eggs!!! After removing the 7
inch Bala shark and spotted African Cichlid and turning up the
heat to 82-84 degrees on the 29 gal tank, the female finally
deposited hundreds of eggs on the wall of the clay pot.
Yesterday, the eggs were clear/opaque and today they are all
white. My assumption is that the male has fertilized almost all
of the eggs. I am observing that the male is maintaining guard
over the entrance of the clay pot and keeps the female away every
time she come near the eggs. Is this normal behavior or should I
separate the fish or removed all together? Do I have to do
frequent water changes? Are the eggs safe from the parents? How
long until the eggs hatch into fry? Are the fry safe? Please make
any recommendations, I appreciate your advice. < The eggs
should hatch in three days. The whitish color is an indication
that the eggs may have all died. If they hatch the fry should be
free swimming in about three days. At that time they should be
fed baby brine shrimp and finely crushed flake food. They should
be removed from the parents into their own tank in about a week.
The parents will spawn again within a couple of weeks.-Chuck>
JohnB
Gold Severums have laid eggs!!! Bob's go After
removing the 7 inch Bala shark and spotted African Cichlid and
turning up the heat to 82-84 degrees on the 29 gal tank, the
female finally deposited hundreds of eggs on the wall of the clay
pot. <Neat!> Yesterday, the eggs were clear/opaque and
today they are all white. <Ohhh... fungused> My assumption
is that the male has fertilized almost all of the eggs. <Mmm,
maybe... not... could be you have two females... or even that the
male is sterile or did not participate> I am observing that
the male is maintaining guard over the entrance of the clay pot
and keeps the female away every time she come near the eggs. Is
this normal behavior or should I separate the fish or removed all
together? <Not too abnormal... but... trouble for you and them
being in this small a container... need at least a forty, better
a sixty gallon tank or larger... too stressful, problems if one
beats the other...> Do I have to do frequent water changes?
Are the eggs safe from the parents? How long until the eggs hatch
into fry? <They won't... they're not viable...> Are
the fry safe? Please make any recommendations, I appreciate your
advice. JohnB <John... you need more information than can be
gleaned from simply asking here... do read through what little we
have on all cichlids posted here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwlivestkindex.htm
and consider getting a good book or two on cichlid husbandry...
you can search these on Amazon, Barnes and Noble... Bob
Fenner>
Spawning Severums 7/28/05
Hello, I finally have babies. A long story and I
won't bore you with my experiences, but it has
been a very delight to come home and watch
the parenting of the parent fish. Now, my
question: I have read all emails that you
have posted and will remove the babies in a week as
you suggested. How often do the parents
spawn? < Depends on the conditions and somewhat up to the
particular pair. If the eggs are eaten right away then they will
usually spawn in a couple of weeks. If they are left with the fry
then usually the fry hang around for a week or so then they may
be eaten and the pair will spawn again within ten days or so
depending on the water temp and the condition of the pair.> It
was 14 days to the date from the first batch of eggs
that were not successful to the new parents to this
second batch. Will they spawn every 2 week all year
long? < After the third spawn sometimes the female needs a
break . The male may kill her if she is not ready and
willing.> I am in the process in setting up a new
tank for 2 of the first babies and a tank for the bulk
of the other babies. Thank you for this
information. I have fish stores in
my hometown but they had not had a personal experience
with Severum babies. I have learned a lot
from you and the readers and would love to share
my experiences with anyone with limited
questions. Thanks again. Debbie < Good
luck with the fry.-Chuck>
Too Much Of A Good Thing,
Or Be Careful What You Wish For! 12/5/05 Hello, I wrote
in July and announced the hatching of babies for my Severum
couple. I have now had 2 batches and still have the nursery of
fish in with the parents. I have relocated 75 babies and I am
moving the others as possible. I have watched the babies for the
last couple of months continuously swim behind the daddy fish. He
positions himself nose down a lot of the time in the tank. He can
and does swim correctly and eats very well but is noticeably
vertical at times. What can this be? < The male is using his
ventral fins to signal the fry.> Do you know a good way of
getting homes for the approximately 150 other babies? Thanks for
the help. Debbie < When the fry are about 1 1/2 inches long
you can start to call pet shops and tropical fish stores in your
area and see if you can sell or trade some of the fry. They may
take some and you can make a couple of bucks out of the deal. Go
Aquabid.com and see if you want to sell them over the internet.
Their may be a local aquarium society in which you can place some
of the fry up for auction at a meeting. Their is a national club
called the American Cichlid Association that can be found at
cichlid.org. They have a publication they put out called the
Trading Post in which members can buy and sell fish. Lots of
possibilities. Sometimes these big New World cichlids will
produce thousands of fry and take care of a market for the entire
country.-Chuck>
Breeding Gold Severums 2/10/06 I have two
golden Severum fish which for a while have been shifting sand and
stones, cleaning a rock, and going through the motions of laying
eggs but haven't as yet. They are kept in a 4 foot tank with
7 dwarf rainbow cichlids, a red tailed shark and one other algae
eater. Any suggestions on what to do to get them breeding? <
Feed them washed earthworms, brine shrimp, meal worms and king
worms. Raise the water temp to 82 F and do a 50% water change
once a week. If they are a pair then I would think that this
would get them going in less than two weeks.-Chuck>
Crossing Green Severums - 02/20/06 Can you tell
me what fish would make good mates for a female green Severum
to cross breed with? <Severums have already been crossed
with a number of easy to breed central American cichlids like red
devils and convicts. Try and get a male the same size or a little
larger. My preference would be a nice male green
Severum.-Chuck>
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