Rotkeil Severums

[dave_oddballs]

hi i got 10 juvenile rotkeil severums on thurseday, thay are between 1.5" and 2.5".
they are fed on bloodworm and chunks of prawn, which they seem to love!, twice daily. they are very active and soon as i hold the cube of bloodworm in the water they are like mini piranha's ripping it from my fingers!
what i want to know, preferably from experienced keepers, their growth rates, and age/size they would normally start forming pairs.
i got 10 in the hope of getting at least 2 pairs, 2 pairs will be going into my 7 foot tank, if any more pairs form my girl friend is having them, and the other 4 will be sold on.
this is just theoretical or an ideal situation when in fact for all i know they could all be either female or male or none may never pair off, but if they do then it will be all fine.
just want info on them really as mentioned, but only give me info from experience please, i don't want to know what it says on some website or in a book.
thanks,
Dave

 

[Cichlid_Crazy]

Selling any Dave?

 

[meguro]

they could all be either female or male

0.1953125% chance of that happening

 

[dave_oddballs]

i will be selling some when they mature a bit and i know who's who lol.
yeah i know the chances of getting all of one sex is slim, i was exaggerating, just trying to say i might not get an even amount of each you just assume you have 10, so thats 5 pairs lol, if you get me!

how many are you after?
i do know the guy i got mine from still has some, but unless you live near london they would have to be posted.
alternatively, if you are wanting them to go with the one you have then give it a couple of months, let them grow a bit, when i have sorted out which ones im keeping, or a pair that forms, i will give you a shout. that way they would probably be big enough to go straight in with yours.
obviously if you wanted to buy some juvies they would be cheaper but they wouldn't last very long with your other fish lol

Dave

 

[Rust]

Severums tend to pair up at around 4"+ although some can pair up at as little as 3" (smaller the fish less eggs, more chance of them eating the eggs due to inexperience and youthfullness)

Sexing

MALE: Tend to have a long pointed dorsal and anal fin, with so called 'worm' shaped colouring on their gill plate (depending on breed of sev could be red, gold, green, turquoise but can be seen)

FEMALE: duller colouring around the gill plate and rounded dorsal and anal fin

Growth rate

Their growth rate is fairly fast, not as fast as say an oscar, but quick enough to keep up with and fast growing fish...an inch every month and half-2mths depending on routine (I.e water change, tank mates, feeding, size and filtration of tank)

Breeding

Severums are a very clever, and shy...yet at the same time boistirus fish...if they are big enough to hold their own easily in a tank, and to defend a nest easily, they will not hesitate to breed with other fish in the tank (i.e a community tank) but if they feel at all under threat they will NOT breed (just like if you felt on edge you wouldnt do the naughty in a certain situation lol)

Tank setup

From my experiance my 8" pair of severums felt safer and more willing to breed if they had their own tank (even tho they were 6 times bigger than any of my other fish lol)

So the best setup for a young pair would be a 2ft sq or even an 18" sq tank with either a plantpot on its end (big bit down) or slate on each side of the tank wall (or atleast 2 side) on a 45* angle...

They should be feed up on beef heart (only small amount tho), bloodworm, brineshirmp, shrimp/prawns (you will see dramatic redness be brought out from this), protien pellets and veg every now and again, they love peas, cucumber and small amouts of lettuce

Water changes should be made every 2dais (10-20%) until breeding behaviour is seen...once breeding behaviour occures (puffing up or showing off, rubbing anal fins on a dedicated spot, shimmering etc)at about 2days into this a 15% water change should be made and filled back up with COLD water to trigger spawning...

It may be best to remove the male if he starts to pick on the female after the eggs have been laid...even so he should be removed after 2 days of the eggs being laid, then day 3 the young should hatch, then remove the female on day 4 and put either an airstone or SPONGE filter any thing else the babies will be sucked up...

Feeding the young

The young should be fed on new hatched brineshrimp and finely crushed flake until big enough to accept pellets...

The eggs

Broods can be from 30 eggs to over 300 eggs (depending on size of fish) eggs should remain an orange/brown colour this shows they are fertalised...if they start having white fluff on them they are dead thus grow mould, and the parents should eat these ones...if the parents start eatting the fertalised eggs you can either let them eat them, and let them try again, they will get it eventually may be 1st time maybe 10th time, OR you can remove the parents and have an air stone next to the eggs (not to strong or close or it will damage them) but just enough so highly airated water is flowing on them...this will resemble the parent 'fanning' the eggs, this is providing clean oxegenated water to them...

I think that is all you need to know, sorry if ive spoken to you in a dummy way like you dont know any thing but im not sure how much or how little you know...

If you have any more questions please feel ee to PM me and i will be happy to help or as im only in kendal i can help you set up a tank if you so wish, and if you cant sex your sevs i will be happy to take a look as well

 

[Cichlid_Crazy]

i will be selling some when they mature a bit and i know who's who lol.
yeah i know the chances of getting all of one sex is slim, i was exaggerating, just trying to say i might not get an even amount of each you just assume you have 10, so thats 5 pairs lol, if you get me!

how many are you after?
i do know the guy i got mine from still has some, but unless you live near london they would have to be posted.
alternatively, if you are wanting them to go with the one you have then give it a couple of months, let them grow a bit, when i have sorted out which ones im keeping, or a pair that forms, i will give you a shout. that way they would probably be big enough to go straight in with yours.
obviously if you wanted to buy some juvies they would be cheaper but they wouldn't last very long with your other fish lol

Dave

Only one mate...the one i have is a Rotkeil x Notatus hybrid...so the shop tells me and wouldnt mind a 'true' Rotkeil...i'm based in Somerset so it would have to be delivery.

Depends on prices etc also as i can get them for £12 each in Cornwall... but i know the prices vary from place to place.

 

[dave_oddballs]

ok well i will let you know when they are a decent size, if they are only £12 maybe cheaper getting one from there, for a decent 4-5" one here your looking at about £30, i wouldn't sell them for that much but with posting being about £10 it would work out more than £12!

rust,
i look at lots of pictures of breeding pairs and there is hardly any difference in colouration, and both male and females have very similar shaped anal and dorsal fins.
even the breeders told me they are very difficult to sex and the best way is just to wait for 2 to pair up!
i already have the tank set up for them, they're going into a 7 foot tank. they are in a 3 footer at the moment but they are only a couple of inch's long! if i need to know anything else i will be sure to ask you a few questions!
oo kendal, must be the only person on the whole forum who lives anywhere near me!

 

[Rust]

Hahaha yeh no kidding, not many people near us lol....im unsure of rotkeil sevs....but ill show you a pic of my breeding pair i used to own, youll be able to tell then, you wont be able to see until they get to atleast 3" if not abit bigger....

Male:

Female (and eggs )

Note the longer fins on the male, and the markings on his gill plates...but those sevs were over 7"....you can start to see markings at about 3" i have a 4incher and he has elongated fins but not yet got his colour on his face...PM me dave if you wanna talk

 

[dave_oddballs]

well all i got told basically about the rotkeils is that the males will grow considerably faster than females and have a max size slightly larger than a female, there must be some difference between the fins in males and females but everyone iv spoke to describes the difference as 'un-noticeable'
out of the 10 i've got the biggest one has the pattern on its face like yours but metallic blue, none of the others have this as of yet, well, not that i have noticed, so im thinking that one at least is male, it seems to be the boss also.
i shall not try and sex them until they have lost their juvenile colours, will have a better chance then, they are all developing the yellow anal fins not so the colouration has at least started. they eat like a pack of wolves, they eat bloodworm, krill and prawns but will try and get onto pellets when they have grown a bit, but i don't mind feeding just a variety of frozen foods for the rest of their lives as i always have it anyway.
i will let you know when i attempt to sex them and if i have any questions!
i bred gold severums before but that was just by accident, and a lot of the yound survived, even though they was in a big community tank. will wait and see how it goes,
cheers,
Dave

 

[minxfishy]

Male Sev's definatley have a much longer anal fin when they mature, you can definately tell the difference, but it does take a while to grow in.

I had two rotkiels that I sold to star4, I could have sworn at the time that they were both male, although they were only 3.5" at the time, both had the same colouration to their faces, but low and behold, a couple of months later, they paired up and have spawned!!!! I guess they must be around 5" by now (check with star4) and Im cursing myself for selling them

I never found it a problem to get sev's to accept pellets, obviously small sized pellets to start with, I also found they arent the fastest of growers, tops about 1/4-1/2" a month with the right diet, then at around 5" they start to fatten up and grow width ways

 

[snowflake311]

My little green severum is growing like a weed. I would say half an inch a month or so is how fast she is growing. Like my blue acara grow really fast the first 2-3 months then now at 4" they have slowed down a lot.

 

[dave_oddballs]

they have put on a noticable amount of body mass, not grown in length as such but yet its not even been 2 weeks yet!
they eat like there's no tomorrow so im very happy they are all healthy and have had a good start.
they are always scrapping with each other though, and all but the biggest couple have tears in their fins, this must just be natural for them i assume, no serious damage and none look unhappy so as they grow i will put them in a bigger aquarium.
hopefully all will be well!

Dave