# Dithers for Severums



## Immus21 (Jun 14, 2010)

This morning while doing a water change I noticed that my female Rotkeil severum had damaged fins and was acting skidish. Upon further observation her mate is bullying her. The male is larger and has never caused the female any damage before. I have seen typical courting sparring before but this seems different. I'm thinking of adding some dither fish to see if this helps. What type of fish would be good dithers for this pair? They are alone in a 47" x 28" footprint 120G so space isn't an issue. The Severums are about 6" and 9" in size. I don't want to just toss in anything and let them kick the crap outta it. I want something that will live relatively happy with them. Any ideas?


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## Jasonator (Jul 12, 2011)

Giant danios or similar worked for me in a similar situation


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## Pamela (Apr 21, 2010)

I used Red Hook Silver Dollars as dithers when I used to keep Severums. It worked well, the only downside was that Silver Dollars are pigs and will try to eat all the food at feeding time.


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## Immus21 (Jun 14, 2010)

Thanks for the replies. I'm also considering "retiring" this pair by removing their spawning site and turning the tank into a semi aggressive community tank. Maybe another semi aggressive cichlid or two, a couple syno cats or other bottom feeders and a few larger Rainbows or something similar. What do you guys think?


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## Jasonator (Jul 12, 2011)

Let 'em breed!!


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## DBam (Aug 9, 2010)

Glad to see my old tank still up and running! I was thinking that even if you add other fish to turn it into a community again, they might carry on breeding behavior anyways. The idea of some enjoyable dithers that can play keep-away if necessary would work really well.


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## Immus21 (Jun 14, 2010)

Jasonator said:


> Let 'em breed!!


 I already have two tanks full of fry and another pair of the same type of Severum!



DBam said:


> Glad to see my old tank still up and running! I was thinking that even if you add other fish to turn it into a community again, they might carry on breeding behavior anyways. The idea of some enjoyable dithers that can play keep-away if necessary would work really well.


I was thinking the same thing but if I remove their breeding rock they may not. They love this old tank of yours btw! I may just pop out to a LFS today and see if they have any dither worthy fish that catch my eye....


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## Foxtail (Mar 14, 2012)

I have some large blackskirts... 16 of them smallest being 1.5"

Sent via the Shining.


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## mcrocker (May 29, 2010)

If the severums are aggressive enough to keep their population from exploding, some convict cichlids might work well. I had an aggressive midas cichlid that I had a hard time keeping with other fish, and having a population of convicts really reduced the aggression directed at the other larger tank mates. The convicts will argue and engage the bigger fish but can move quickly enough to rarely get hurt.


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## Immus21 (Jun 14, 2010)

I added 15 Buenos Aires Tetras and moved the rocks/scape around just now. I'll update after a day or two. Thanks for all the advice/tips!


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## AWW (Apr 22, 2010)

Weird they are fighting!!

Careful adding small fish. That pair will breed on any surface and may munch on smaller fish while breeding! Buenoes Aires should be quick enough though.


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## Immus21 (Jun 14, 2010)

Update: The Buenos Aires tetras didn't help, actually seemed to intensify the males aggression. Instead of seperating the pair I decided to do something kinda drastic. I traded some gear for a large True Parrot and put it in with my Sevs. The Parrot advertised at 8" is actually probably pushing a foot and seems to have calmed the male Sev down. All three fish are out and about swimming with no fighting for 24hrs now. We'll see how things go when the Sevs try to breed again but I'll let my future self worry about that . I'll either take the Parrot out or find him a new home if things don't work out once the mating dance begins again...



AWW said:


> Weird they are fighting!!
> 
> Careful adding small fish. That pair will breed on any surface and may munch on smaller fish while breeding! Buenoes Aires should be quick enough though.


Only lost 3 so far and they were "jumpers" besides got a stellar deal for them at $0.99 a piece.


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## AWW (Apr 22, 2010)

Immus21 said:


> Update: The Buenos Aires tetras didn't help, actually seemed to intensify the males aggression. Instead of seperating the pair I decided to do something kinda drastic. I traded some gear for a large True Parrot and put it in with my Sevs. The Parrot advertised at 8" is actually probably pushing a foot and seems to have calmed the male Sev down. All three fish are out and about swimming with no fighting for 24hrs now. We'll see how things go when the Sevs try to breed again but I'll let my future self worry about that . I'll either take the Parrot out or find him a new home if things don't work out once the mating dance begins again...
> 
> Only lost 3 so far and they were "jumpers" besides got a stellar deal for them at $0.99 a piece.


True parrots can be unpredictable.... And will get aggressive. What ever you do don't add another because if they want to spawn they will beat those sevs right up. If that parrot is a male you might have problems. 
If the parrot doesn't work, Try something less aggressive. Like a pair or texans or a pair of green terrors.

I had that pair in with a breeding pair of green terrors, and it worked great. The great thing about having two compatible breeding pairs in a tank is they almost always flare up and show full color.


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## Pamela (Apr 21, 2010)

I agree with Alex about true parrots being unpredictable. My old true parrot killed a chocolate cichlid that he had lived with for over 2 years (without any prior fights).


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

I had Uaru, Severum, and true Parrots in the same tank. They were all in my 400 so there was a lot of space but there were still some aggression issues. I also had some huge geos, like 9" or so. All the fish did ok but the Parrots were the most aggressive by far. They picked out their spots and defended. The Uaru were largely pushovers as were the Severum. The advantage of having space is that they can swim away if they need to. A lot of times the chase would only last a few feet. When I had true Parrots with some Green Texas and some Nicaraguans it was a much more fair fight.


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## Immus21 (Jun 14, 2010)

Thanks everyone! I'll keep an eye on the Parrot but so far hasn't show any aggression. It came from King Els "monster community tank" so I'm hoping it is used to being non dominant. If I have any problems I will seperate and trade the Parrot for something more compatible...


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## Immus21 (Jun 14, 2010)

Just an update on this subject. I have the Severums now with 3 x 3" short bodied Pearlscale cichlids, a 4" Red Parrot hybrid, the B. Aires tetras from before and most recently my 4" IT Dat. The Pearls are a M/F pair and an extra male (hopefully to pair with the Red Parrot). I'm really happy with the arrangement now and the fish all seem to be happy too. My Dat loves the space the 120G provides and REALLY enjoys trying to catch the B. Aires tetras. He's still too small to catch any but I'm sure I will be moving the tetras soon enough. My Sev pair has mellowed right down and are showing brighter breeding colors.  The true parrot was nice but was the odd fish out when I "accidently" came home with the Pearlscale texas cichlids. The only time the true parrot showed aggression was during feedings and during waterchanges, otherwise a very mellow fish. I'll see how long the peace will last in my tank but for the time being everything is great. Thanks again for all the previous comments!


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