# Rotkeil Severum Spawn



## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

Here are a few photos of the the fish in my avatar who are now parents again in a tank dedicated to them, and their fry. They were nice enough to move the wigglers to a crook in the driftwood right in the middle and front of the tank after laying the eggs on an easy to spot rock. They are super parents, so hopefully with a tank dedicated to them I will be able to raise some fry to sell size.

Eggs tough to see though.








Parents above the eggs








Full Tank Shot








Moved them to the crook of the driftwood








Tons of wigglers


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## Lancerlot (Feb 22, 2006)

blue fry now that's a new one for me. Those severum have huge eyes :x


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## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

The fry just appear blue in the photos. They are more gray than anything else. Their eyes get really yellow during breeding. Had a visitor once ask if they were Uaru due to their very dark bluish tint during spawning.


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## hey_wood1981 (Apr 7, 2004)

Wow! :drooling: Congrats. If all goes well, you will have some very good looking young ones. Keep us posted, please.


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## F8LBITEva (Nov 9, 2007)

Congrats! wow, the fry do look blue in the pics.


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## ktluvsfish (Jan 13, 2008)

Beautiful pair you have there  Congrats on the spawn. I hope the babies do well for you.


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## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

Thanks all, returned from camping this weekend to lots of swimmers. I will try to get a photo later today.


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## chochiss (Dec 22, 2008)

any recent updates? how to determine their sex??


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## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

All fry lost, I was perplexed by this until one evening right after the light turned off, i saw a flash. I turned on the light again to find a Cory Cat terrorizing the fry and eating like crazy. The pair will lay eggs again.

Chochiss to determine sex of adults look at their faces. The male will have color on his face at the least and likely squiggle lines, and the female's face will likely be free of color, and no squiggles. In my pair you can see the male is very red in the face and the female is just blue.


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## chochiss (Dec 22, 2008)

do they dig the gravel & made their area like a cave? mine does. it's funny when I pair them up, the male kept on attacking the female. but when I separated them, both of them dug the gravel in their tanks respectively. mine is not eating though....but both browses the entire tank. nice characters. :thumb:


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## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

I would not separate them. Mine do start that, and within 3 days there are eggs. It looks kind of rough, but it is fine. I just make sure she has something to swim around and escape if she needs to.

Is the attacking lots of biting on the side, not on fins?


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## chochiss (Dec 22, 2008)

both. the fins are all ragged up. my tank, plenty of hideouts but it's of no use as the male are cunning enough to beat the female up. this is a matured pair which was in my lfs display tank for ages. if they were to mate, they've already spawned long time ago.


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## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

How big is the tank? What temperature are you keeping it?


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## chochiss (Dec 22, 2008)

keeping them in a tiny tank setup for now until I get a new tank.....about 30gal, temp around 26c


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## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

That is why he is beating her up. She needs someplace to swim to. Mine are all alone in a 90 Gallon Tank and at 84 degrees or nearly 29c


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## chochiss (Dec 22, 2008)

noticed my male is shivering sometimes especially at the head section. swimming looks normal....dug a pad for himself....chased my cutteri constantly for sport as I think the other cichlid is way faster, never ate since I introduced this fella in (prolly a week plus) & shivering from time to time....not always but sometimes. izzit due to the water temp too cold?


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## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

That shaking and shivering is usually the first step in spawning. They are communicating with one another.


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## chochiss (Dec 22, 2008)

I've separated them. should I put them back together?? can't take that male beating female thing. my tank is filled with driftwoods with a lot of hiding places but the female is not putting effort in hiding or evading the male. how? :-?


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## gnomemagi (Jun 13, 2009)

It is in their nature when they breed to beat on each other a bit - cichlid pairs in general do beat on each other. That is why she isn't hiding - she is accepting that punishment because she cares more about breeding then the punishment being put on her.

It is up to you to judge what is an acceptable amount of punishment. A few missing scales or some fins won't hurt her. If he's punishing her too harshly to the point where her life is at risk, then it would be best to separate them completely.

They've shown interest in each other. Chances are now you'll never be able to keep them in the same tank without them taking up that interest again.


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## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

well like clock work I have eggs again. I need to get in there to remove the cory cat, little bugger ate the last wigglers.

Wish me luck.


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## laliyorayado (Nov 24, 2009)

excellent..!!


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## chochiss (Dec 22, 2008)

good luck with the corys. now should I put them back together or just leave them separated? will they mate again.....their color's changing....getting darker now.


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## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

If they are really dark you are very near go time. Look around your tank for a cleaned space and then watch that space. Mine are so dark they were recently mistaken for Uaru by a visitor.


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## chochiss (Dec 22, 2008)

ok. putting back the female. hope the "do it" soon.


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## skillful84 (Dec 6, 2009)

Good Luck!!! hope they turn out well! keeps us updated...


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## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

Well it has been a long time since I posted to this thread. I finally have the breeding of these fish underway. I have several batches of fry in the works with the oldest about 1.5 months old and around 1/2-3/4 an inch.

Here are a few photos of some of the older fish. I hope to have some ready for sale this summer. The fry are F1 from the wild pair in the photos at the beginning of this post and in my avatar.









































And the finally the artistic shot LOL


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## Isis24 (Dec 10, 2008)

SO CUTE! Congrats on the success! I assume that those are full bellies and not ill babies?


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Nice one *spxsk*. :thumb:

I reckon monthly updates, and by the time the juvies reach sale-able size, you'll have presold them all to forum members. :wink:


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## spxsk (Mar 29, 2006)

Thanks DFF.

I have batches coming every 3.5 weeks right now. Soon I will section of the tank with the parents to give the female a break. The male gets pretty rough with her the week after the fry start free swimming and even with her hiding spot he cannot enter, she takes a beating fairly often.

I have 4 spawns in rotation right now, and the grow outs are pigs. I think I will take 2 maybe 3 more and then give her a rest. I have found their trigger, and it has proven fairly reliable, so once I get some sold I will allow the two of them together again. I have received shipments but not shipped fish myself, so I will have to go to school on shipping them. So far a good portion of the first two batches are pre-sold locally here in Dallas


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## ladybugzcrunch (Jul 26, 2009)

Beautiful Pair!!!


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## abhinaba (Oct 7, 2008)

Awesome fishes!!!
I am getting a 3" pair recently as well. I was concerned aout the preferred ph of these.. can you please let me know what you are keeping them in?


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