# Young Severum fry problem.



## reginald27 (Jul 7, 2010)

Hey all,

Recently had a pair of my Severums as well as some Jewels spawn at the same time. The Jewels started free swimming a day or two before the Severums, so i didn't pull any fry out until the Severums were free swimming as well. I put all the fry in the same tank, all seemed well for the first few days. The two species mainly kept to themselves, a few Jewels hung out with the Severums and vice versa. However, the group made up mostly of Severums simply swam around near the top of the tank rarely eating and just sort of sitting at the surface. The Severums that hang out with the Jewels are all quite healthy and eating and acting as the Jewels do, but the Severums on their own have slowly dwindled from around 60 to 20. I am unsure whether i pulled them from their parents too early and was hoping for some advice to prevent this behavior as my pair of Severums has just laid another batch of eggs.


----------



## fishman13 (Jul 27, 2009)

You pulled them away to early let the parents stay with the fry for about 2 weeks and then switch the fry to a separate tank.

P.S.
Do this with the severums and jewels. :thumb:


----------



## reginald27 (Jul 7, 2010)

Cheers mate.

So they learn this kind of stuff from their parents? I just figured that it would be instinct.


----------



## BillD (May 17, 2005)

What are you feeding the fry? Lots of cichlids are hatched artificially, away from the parents with no difficulty. Instinctively, most fry will go after moving food, such as baby brine shrimp. it is done with angels all the time.


----------



## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

I pull my Sev fry by the second to third day of free swimming. I have a cory cat I cannot catch out of the tank that eats them if I do not. Feeding them something small enough for them to eat is usually the obstacle. I have rarely had more than half the hatch survive but the ones that do, thrive and grow fairly quickly.

Here is a link to my trials with breeding severum.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=203579&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=15


----------



## reginald27 (Jul 7, 2010)

I tried to feed them frozen baby brine shrimp. Only a few went for it, the rest continued to swim aimlessly at the surface. There are only six Severums left, but they're doing fine because they think they're Jewels, and luckily, so do most of the Jewels.

Hopefully the wrigglers I've got now will work out a bit better. I'll try leaving them in a bit longer.

Cheers again guys.


----------



## pammy (Jul 12, 2010)

I agree. Baby brine but live. Then all eaters--fast and slow-- can eat their fill over a longer period of time. Daily waters changes to remove growth inhibiting pheromones released by dominate fry and waste products which place your fry at risk from chemical tocicity.


----------

