# The Case of the Missing Dithers.... Severum?



## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

Well,

A week ago, we had 7 red-eye tetras in the 75g with our severum, black belt, rainbows, and a large plecostomus. Yesterday, we were down to 5 tetra's. :roll:

Our severum is a male around 6-7".... what are the odds that he sucked them up?

Thanks!
-Ryan


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

pretty good. i have been slowly losing pristillas in my severum tank. i thought it was my sev (which he may be guilty as well) until i came home one night and busted my little 3.5 inch blue acara (maybe gt) with a tail sticking out of his mouth. i got some great pics im gonna post in the next day or two.

if you run out of red eyes, i have found black skirts to be excellent dithers for my severum. high bodied enough and get pretty good size. not nippy at all. my group of 5 in my 75 have been a great group.


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## Ape-Fish (Jul 1, 2006)

I had 11 2" bleeding heart tretras - now i have four left. My 5-6" Severums can't fit the tretras in their mouths but they nip at them until they kill them, then eat their heads. These were big beautiful, happy, healthy bleeding hearts until one day they started to get slowly battered and depleated. I have the survivors recovering from their wounds in a hospital tank. I wonder if Black skirts would do any better?


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## HiImSean (Apr 5, 2007)

prolly the black belt, how big is he.


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

My Sevs decided that Serpae tetras are delicious, and ate all of mine.  back to the drawing board.


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

Ape-Fish said:


> I had 11 2" bleeding heart tretras - now i have four left. My 5-6" Severums can't fit the tretras in their mouths but they nip at them until they kill them, then eat their heads. These were big beautiful, happy, healthy bleeding hearts until one day they started to get slowly battered and depleated. I have the survivors recovering from their wounds in a hospital tank. I wonder if Black skirts would do any better?


interesting, a couple of the pristellas i have found before completely eaten were missing their heads. maybe the severum is more the culprit than the fish i thought.

i like blackskirts because they ignore the other fish but are tough enough to stand up for themselves (to a certain extent). i really do see them as a mini cichlid. hardy and tough.


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## jcushing (Apr 6, 2008)

i have 8 red eyes in my 110, so far so good with my sev, but hes still only 5-6 "

i think i might have seen him try and ambush them once, but *** never seen any signs of damage...


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

Thanks, everyone!

Our blackbelt is fairly laid back, and she's about 6-7" right now. Plays second fiddle to the severum. I suppose she could be the culprit. :wink:

-Ryan


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

...and then there were four!..... and then there were three! :roll: I'd like to save the red-eyes... but there just isn't a safe place for them in our other tanks. On the one hand I feel a little guilty that I've got to leave them in the tank where they're getting lunched... on the other hand, they don't seem concerned that their numbers have dwindled drastically. You'd think they'd notice.... :lol:

Has anyone tried Columbian Tetra's? Aside from Silver Dollars, could anyone recommend a better (less edible) schooling dither for CA/SA's?

Thanks,
-Ryan


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

Bleeding hearts? Worked well so far...I'll get back to you when i get home though! :lol:


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## Ape-Fish (Jul 1, 2006)

Bleedinghearts my last quite a while...


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

Just got nine Columbian tetra's... I love 'em.... hope they last a while. 

The LFS had Bleeding Hearts and Black Phantoms, but they needed to grow out quite a bit.

Thanks, all!
-Ryan


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

severums have NO problem snacking on dithers.

I had a severum munch his way through 20 danios.


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## Burtess (Apr 5, 2006)

RyanR said:


> Aside from Silver Dollars, could anyone recommend a better (less edible) schooling dither for CA/SA's?


I use barbs, never had a problem with rosy barbs or arulius barbs with my sevs. They get large enough and are fast enough not to be eaten.

That said, there are still 2 black neons in their with them and they haven't been eaten either.

Burt


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

It's your Sev bro, especially if you're finding half bitten feeeesh. Mine likes to leave me "presents" too :lol:.

As for the columbians, very cool fish, here's a pic of one from my...... Rottie tank!










I'm also thus far having great luck with _rosaceus_ (also _Hyphessobrycon_ sp.). Which are really pretty and in a large group seem to be keeping out of his mouth.










I chose them because they are fast, pretty hardy, and have nice complimentary colours for my Rottie and Bolivians - ties it all in together if you get what I mean. I think you'll find the _colombianus_ to be enough of a challenge that they survive. As with introducing anything new to the sev tank, it's a case of hoping they wise up before they get eaten, after a couple of weeks they've sussed it and seem to have a higher probability of staying alive :lol:.


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

Sweeeet pics as usual, Blairo! :thumb:

Our black belt seems to be the one getting fingered for the deed by most.... but size-wise, the sev is a much better candidate. He's pushing 7". Though I've even seen the rainbow cichlids chasing the red-eyes.

Definitely seems like "Murder on the Orient Express" happening in our tank. No remnants of the victims.... all I've got are suspects. :lol:

-Ryan


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

> Definitely seems like "Murder on the Orient Express" happening in our tank. No remnants of the victims.... all I've got are suspects.


:lol:

I reckon it's the sev for that reason exactly, I imagine the BlackBelt would voraciously catch and eat a dither fish right in front of your very eyes. Sevs however are somewhat more devious and seem to wait until just after lights out, when all the dithers are confused and go into panic mode, then they hunt. I'm just speculating of course. Do you have a Cam with IR night vision? I'd set it up to run for a few hours, probably an hour or two after all the lights are off - you might catch the suspect in the act!



> Sweeeet pics as usual, Blairo.


Thanks bud, I've put together a couple of tutorials on post processing if you're interested (the latest capture of my colombianus is at the end if you're not ):
http://cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=184613


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## Gino Santangelo (Nov 26, 2008)

Man those columbians are nice, never had the pleasure of keeping em yet. As for black skirts they must tast like keeeyarn. No fish seems to bother them...


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