severums

I have bred severums on several occasions over the years. There is a lot of information on the internet, many that states that they are a little hard to pair up. I have been lucky and have not had that difficulty myself, and I have found them very ready to pair off and spawn. They tend to eat their eggs/fry the first few times, but I have raised fry both with the parents and in a separate tank. A 55g and up tank is best. I have bred them in a community setting, which is interesting to watch (very reminiscent of how a pair of brichardi defend against tank mates) and by themselves. Water conditions, other than being very clean, are not important. They lay their eggs on a slab of stone. When the eggs hatch, the wrigglers are moved to a “pit” like area the parents have created. Feed the fry with baby brine and crushed flake 2-4 times a day. Lots of hiding places and well fed parents will lessen their desire to eat the fry. Bugging the parents unnecessarily will increase the likelihood of the eggs/fry getting eaten. Alternatively, the egg covered slab can be moved to another tank with reasonable circulation to lessen fungus. They have been one of my favorites to spawn – strong parenting skills, nice breeding coloration, fairly easy. At the moment, I have a female green severum in a community tank that has paired off with a Salvini! She lays eggs that become caviar for my clown loaches, but they still display breeding behavior and spawn every few weeks. Hehe – artificial environments make for strange bedfellows!

If you want to breed severum the best way is to buy a group of them. I started with 6 and went out of my way to make sure I had severums that weren't siblings. (Just the regular green severum is my favorite.) After awhile you should get a pair. When they lay eggs the best thing to do is remove the other sev's at that point. A 55 gallon tank is the ideal size. Mine would usually produce about 200-300 fry and 40-50 would actually survive. I don't know if that's typical or not but that was my results. Severum are great fish and make good parents once they learn how. The first time they ate the eggs and the second time I came home and all the fry were gone. I can only assume they were eaten. I was soooo discouraged but the third time they suddenly learned. The female is ferrocious in defending the babies.

Here's some pics. A couple of the original group. The 2 that paired up. Severum with fry. Have fun! Severum are excellent fish!