Severum help

M

mjn5647

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Feb 1, 2005
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Is it normal for a severum to lie on the bottom unless theres food int he tank. The only time my severum comes out of hiding is for food, is this normal? Water levels are all good, other fish in tank are healthy.
 
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The only time my severums lie on the bottom of the tank is when they are sleeping. They can be very shy though. What other fish are in the tank with it?
 
Thres a Small Jack Dempsey and a silver dollar i moved up from another tank.
 
How big is the severum compared to the Jack Dempsey? Does the dempsey harass the severum? Are these fish in the 55g tank that you just cycled?

Sorry about all the questions, but I'm just trying to help you more. :) I've no experience with jack dempseys, but I have a feeling that their personality may not be compatible with severums, particularly if the JD that you have is larger than the severum. Severums can be very shy fish. Dither fish will likely help with the shyness, but I personally wouldn't recommend Silver Dollars. A proper school size of silver dollars would be too much for the 55g tank, imho. You may want to look at some of the larger tetras (something that won't fit in your cichlid's mouths).
 
Ya I think the quick movements from the JD and the Silver Dollar scare the sevrum. THe Sevrum and the Jd are about the same size at around an inch.
 
Ahhh, that explains it then. Severums are really timid when they are young. They lose a lot of this after they get bigger. Some of them can actually be quite aggressive when they are full size. Something that seemed to help mine is getting a buddy for him to hang out with. They grew up swimming around together, and 5 years later, they are still buddies. This is just from my experience though, and I only recommend it if they are in a large enough tank (55g should be fine). I also wonder how well they would get along with the JD after they all get a little bigger...maybe somebody else can chime in with some info on that.

Good luck with your severum! They are really cool fish!
 
I had a severum and a JD together in a 55 gallon...had to trade in the JD for a firemouth. JD was too aggressive for the sev. On another note, I just picked up a few giant danios and they have brought my baby severum out of hiding...I'm also being told that blood parrots are good too but I refuse to own bioengineered fish.

HTH
 
The best tankmate for a Severum is another severum :)

Why not grow out a bunch and keep the pair? There's lots of cool varieties to choose from.

I agree some large tetras, like buenos aires tetra would be a nice addition, and some bushynose plecos and corydoras too.
 
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