FishProfiles.com Message Forums

severums are deffinatley not all about there color.The fun in them is there personality.Ithink the severum has one of the best personalities of the south american cichlids.

I know severums are #1 when it comes to personality, but my mom wont let me keep them if they dont have color. She dosent care to watch them do their personality things, she just likes colorful fish.

PS-Your qutoe/post got messed up! Try editing it.

><> ~=!Vote Today!=~ <><
-----> View My Dragons <-----

Severums don't have colour? Have you seen mature Severums?

-- Gomer

Nope. i have never seen a full grown. I think i only saw a brown one though......Hmmmmmmmm.........I made up my mind! Either the acaras or the severums! What else can i put in wiht the severums.

><> ~=!Vote Today!=~ <><
-----> View My Dragons <-----

Referring back to the suggestion of Keyhole Cichlids - in a 55 they would be an excellent choice provided you didn't have any more aggressive Cichlids in with them, because Keyholes are among the few truly 'pacifist' Cichlids. They're pretty shy and recluisve if they're put in with something boisterous, but this also means they're MUCH more tolerant of more regular fishes (Corys, Otocinclus etc) than other Cichlids of like size. They're also far less given to plant destruction.

Here's a page that extols their virtues.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

OOH!Now my new favorite choice! Does anyone know its rarity and price range? That would greatly help! Thanks a lot!

><> ~=!Vote Today!=~ <><
-----> View My Dragons <-----

Well if I can obtain them without too much difficulty where I live, I am sure you can, you're on a continental land mass after all, while I'm on a small island ...

Seriously though, Keyhole Cichlids should be a reasonably easy species to obtain, particularly if you live in or near a major city. It's not as if I'm sending you after the fabled Anomalochromis thomasi, which has only recently become available to me again here in the UK after a thirty year wait ...

In fact, I think one of my previous trips to Maidenhead Aquatics listed Keyholes as an available species for me ...

What you have to bear in mind though is this - even to many experienced fishkeepers, the word 'Cichlid' conjures up an image of a hulking juggernaut of a fish with a bad temper that needs a colossal aquarium, the exceptions being the assorted Dwarf Cichlids, which once you step outside of Bolivian or Venezuelan Rams, usually conjures up the words "rare and expensive" in fishkeepers' minds (though where I live, I could, if I wanted, avail myself of something like 14 different Apistogramma species without inducing a coroonary in my bank manager - it's the ones I want that are the hideously expensive ones as always!).

As a corollary of this, few people other than those 'in the know' with respect to certain species (Keyholes, Flag Cichlids, thomasi and among the larger species, Cryptoheros spilurus, the Jade Eye Cichlid) regard putting the words 'peaceful' and 'Cichlid' together in the same sentence as anything other than a bad joke. Most people have either heard horror stories about fishes such as Dempseys and Green Terrors going berserk (without asking the fundamental question of why, which usually boils down to a failure of the keeper to understand some basic requirements of the fish in question) or have dived into Cichlids with inadequate preparation and experienced one of these horror stories first hand. (Oscars with Neons in a 29, anyone? )

The trick, as ALWAYS with ANY fish, is to do the basic research. Keyholes are nice and peaceful, and will live VERY happily in a 55, but again, you need to do some planning in order to get the best from them - which in the case of these unusually shy Cichlids means sensitively designed furnishings, usually involving plant cover as well as bogwood structures (both being a feature of the fish's natural habitat) so that any Keyhole Cichlids in the aquarium feel duly secure. Plan carefully in advance and chances are they'll become surprisingly bold, possibly to the point of plonking a mass of spawn in full view at the front of the aquarium someday and treating you to a wonderful display of family life Cichlid style, but minus the volcanic tempers of Demspeys and Convicts. They ARE territorial fishes (they are still Cichlids after all) but unlike some other species, are not usually given to rampant outbreaks of warfare against each other or other fishes in the aquarium unless your stocking is seriously silly. You have to exercise a considerable amount of effort, indeed you would have to resort to fairly serious abuse in order to push Keyholes over the edge (and it should be obvious to the point of banality that I do NOT recommend this!). Contrast this with a pair of, say, Neetroplus nematopus, which turn into pyroclastic demons the moment they begin breeding, and launch search and destroy missions upon just about everything that moves, including your fingers during a gravel vac - which means that they are a species I would only recommend to someone whose eyes are well and truly open with respect to their extreme readiness to "push the nuclear button". Imagine Hitler in the middle of one of his most fulminating carpet chewing rages, and that gives you an idea what a breeding pair of Neetroplus nematopus is like on a good day ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002