severum question

[Dahlia]

I have 7 young severums (2 gold, 4 green, 1 turquoise) and I have been trying to find more information about them on the internet without much luck. I can easily find their size, tank requirements, food likes, etc. but I want to find out the differences between their colors and whether they are the "same" fish so to speak. I noticed that my "turquoise" one seems to have a smaller eye and rounder body than my greens. Neither my greens nor my turquoise make me think of the colors their common names imply. Also, the adult gold severum photos I have found seem much prettier and more nicely marked with yellow speckles, fins, and head than my young specimens. Will my fish grow up to look like this or do I have an inferior strain?

What size can I hope for a breeding pair to establish itself? They are at about 3-4 inches right now.

How often do they need to eat their greens (zucchini, etc.)?

[peifc]

What tank do you have? Severums get as big as 7". Some people have 8" Severums.

They are all severums just different colors, gold, green, turquoise, and etc. However, if you are trying to keep them pure, just make sure that green breed with green and so on.

My Severums start breed around 4". I actually have a forum opened here about severums breeding behavior. You need to see if any of your severums have any of the breeding behavior. If you wanna breed them, the ph has to be around 6.5 and temparature to be 82 - 84 degree.

Yes, your severums will grow to be beautiful if taken care of properly. Depends how big is your tank. If you have a big tank, water change about once a week. If you have a tank that is 55g or smaller, do 10% - 20% water change twice a week.

I feed my severums home made fish food, pellets, cichlid sticks, and flakes. I've wanted their color to stands out, so I use shrimp and fine dice carrot as their home made fish food. They love them. You can also feed them lettuce with the shrimp.

Here is the thread where I asked about the severum's breeding behavior. Some fish will take a few tries to get their parental instinct right. Don't be surprised if your severums eat the eggs or fry.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14849

[Dahlia]

They are in a 90 gallon tank and am also planning to return the remaining fish to the LFS once I get a breeding pair.

If I have a bi-color pair (such as a gold and a green) will I get some gold fry and some green fry? I read that it is best to pair golds with a green or turquoise to keep their strain stronger.

Do you cook the carrot before you feed it to them? If so how much?

[peifc]

You can get those Dole carrots that sale for $1 a bag. I don't cook my carrot. If I do, all kinds of vitamin and nutrition will be cooked away. I use one carrot for half pound of shrimp (2" size shrimp without head when measure from one end to the other end). I pilled the carrot (some said to feed with the skin, but I don't trust what the farmers put in those soil). Then I grinded the carrot using cheese grinder (I don't have food processor). I diced all the shrimp with the carrot together until they stick (if you have meat chopper/food processor would help). I put the shrimp mixture in zip lock bag. Press the shimp flat until it is 1/4 cm thick. Then I froze the food. Most people would suggest cutting the food before freezing it, but I found it harder to measure and cut when soft. Once frozen, I cut into bite sizes. Sometimes I wait until food soften and warm before feeding my cichlids. Sometimes I just threw the food in. I feed my cichlids with that shrimp mixture once a day.

Pairing off the Severums will be up to them. I have gold, green, RedHead (still very small), and H. appendiculatus (solo female). My Green male only wanted the Green female. He just didn't even plan on breeding with the gold even though they are available. Also once the severum has selected the mate, they are bonded for life until you separated them.