Severum Breeding

[Kizz]

Hello Everyone Been away for a while but now in need of some help with a pair of adoptive sev's. I posted in the Old World section last night before realising this morning that it was in the wrong place . So long story short my friends dad was breakin down his tank and i said i would take the fish as my tank was understocked .this was 2 weeks ago . I received 2 sev's from him which were impossible to sex . We were sittin watching tv last night and my sister asked what was that at the bottom of tank . On closer inspection it was arounf 50/60 baby sev's ! We never set out to intentional breed the sev's (done the whole breeding thing with cory's etc ) but i didn't want them to get eaten by the birchir or other sev i have in the tank . So my partner got up to his armpits in water and caught them with a net and we placed around 40 or so in a breedin net . The parents are doing a fab job of guarding the remainin fry in the tank . Woke up this morning and immediatly came down to check on them . The fry that are with the parents seem sluggish sorta bouncing along the bottom of tank rather than the frantic swimming they were doing last night and all the fry in the breedin net have died . I feed finely crushed flake to them last night as i didn't know what else to feed them . Could this have caused the deaths? . I'm just lookin for some pointers on what to do on the off chance that they breed again . My friend has had them for around 2 years and they have never breed in her tank

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Many Thanks
Kizz

 

[star4]

Hi, what sort of sevs are they? moving fry is always difficult, netting them causes great stress and unfortunately usually ends in them dying. Best way to catch fry is with a pipe and syphon them into another tank or container. Crushed flake is an ok food for fry a few weeks old. But decapsulated brine shrimp, newly hatched brine shrimp, cyclops or pellet food crushed in a pill crusher to a fine powder is best for newly hatched once the egg sack has gone as they can choke on crushed flake. They must have spawned pretty soon after they were added to your tank, as eggs would take 3-4 days to hatch and another approx 4 days before the fry are free swimming. Also with it being this pairs first spawn it usually takes a couple of attempts before they get it right. My pair spawned every 2 weeks (I removed the eggs to raise some babies) so no doubt yours will try again in a couple of weeks

 

[Kizz]

Thanks for reply star . My friend told me they were golden Sev's like the one i currently have . But they are a darker ornage colour than my sev and one has the ornage markings on the face on partially on the body . I will get some pictures and hopefully someone can tell me what they are. So it has prob been a combination of catchin them in a net and feedin crushed flake . Even tho i never set out to breed i feel pretty gutted that they died . The remaining ones in the tank just seem to be bobbin about on the sand under the parents who are still guarding them very well . I never seen any egg's or any indication that they were breeding . I'm assuming they've laid egg's on the opposite side if a peice of bog wood either that in the big hole they've dug in the sand . There isn't much info on how or where they breed . Unless i'm lookin in the wrong places ! lol .Where can i get decapsulated brine shrimp, newly hatched brine shrimp, cyclops? my lfs only sell's live feed but no idea if it's freshly hatched or not . I do have the frozen feed int he freezer would that be of any use if i crushed it before it melted ?

Thanks again for response
kizz

 

[Kizz]

pic's of them
This is my original sev . Had him for around a year now maybe longer call it a him and his name is Vinnie lol

This is what i beleive to be the female from the 2 i received hard to get pic's as they have been stayin in the one corner with the fry

And this is what i beleive to be the male due to the face markings (do excuse the algae ridden fake plant !)

 

[star4]

Yes they are golds, not sure if its the pic but the male looks odd? So spooky I have a red spot sev called Vinny, this is him with his little gold friend Seymour

Ebay does decapsulated brine shrimp, fresh newly hatched brine shrimp is a bit harder to get hold of unless you raise it yourself. Cyclops you may find in the freezer section of your LFS its basically frozen tiny live foods (daphnia & brine shrimp) you only need to slice a little bit off the cube melt it and suck it up in an eye dropper or someting like that at squirt it towards the fry.

 

[Kizz]

Thanks very much for your help i'll get my ebay head on and get browsing lol . I'm hoping they will breed again as i would like the chance to raise one lot of them still a few in the tank at present so will try them with some frozen feed later as i have brineshrimp in the freezer . The male looks fine to me may just be the pic i've taken lol need to get ma sister along with her big paparazzi camera to get decent pictures . Thank you again for the help hopefully next time i'll be better prepared . Also one last question ...If/when they breed again will the fry be ok in the breeding net ? or should i section of a bit of the tank for them to grow without gettin eaten as the birchir will eat anything that fits in his mouth the minute the lights go out lol

Thanks
Kizz

 

[star4]

Personally I would go for seperating the tank if possible as moving fry is very difficult and stresses them and the parents. Sevs are great parents

 

[Kizz]

Thats great will get a bit of plastic cut to the width n height of the tank that way i can just slot it in when the time comes ! I hope it happens soon ! lol Thanks very much for your help star !

Thanks Kizz

 

[star4]

Your most welcome