# Severum lover around the world



## Sencion88

Hello everyone, I love Severums and I know there are also a lot of Severum lovers around the world. So I want to start this thread so people can post their pictures of their Severums so we can admire everyone's Severum

here's 2 picture of one of my severum
You can see colors on him at the moment because I have a very light blue back ground but when I get my new 75g I'll but a black background so his or her color comes out more.


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## wiseoldowl




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## blairo1




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## HONDO




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## Isis24




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## jack lover

Man i just also fell in love for seveums you guys think it would do good with a male and female Acarichthys heckelii in a planted 75g?


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## mok3t

Blair. Permission to print one of your pics to show my fish guy please?

He's never seen, nor heard of a 'Red shoulder severum'

TBH neither had i till i came back to CF hehe.


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## Isis24

This is clearly the most beautiful thread on the forum, IMO.


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## blairo1

Nice fish everyone!

*mok3t*, feel free. Mind you as it's resized for web its print size will be very small. You may find it better to transfer the image to your phone/pda/gps device if it has a picture viewer, the resolution will allow you to view it a little "larger" than printed (unless it's a small phone).

:thumb:


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## Sencion88

Nice Severum everyone keep them coming


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## HiImSean

blairo your rotkiel is amazing!! i may have to get a male 

here's my mating pair


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## wiseoldowl

awesome fish everyone, i think i'm going to have to get some rotkiels soon.


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## grumps

All juveniles.














































Dave


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## klumsyninja

Wow that last one's a real looker Dave.. I love this thread.

Here's a couple of my Rottie Juvies that I posted already.. I'll take some new shots this weekend and get em up on here


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## peathenster




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## grumps

Snapped a few more shots today.
Everyone's Severums look outstanding!



















Dave


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## Zack2112

*grumps*
are the other juvies in your shots from the same group as your really colorful young rottie above?


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## Zack2112

Here are some of my juvies in a growout.




























their colors didnt come out very true, but you get the idea.


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## grumps

Zack2112 said:


> *grumps*
> are the other juvies in your shots from the same group as your really colorful young rottie above?


Hi Zack,
They were bought as F1's and I was told they are from the same parents. But I believe the one in the background is a Turquoise Severum and the more colorful Severum in the foreground is a Rotkeil.

Dave


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## Howler33

Here are my two youngsters (about 1 year):


















...and here is my old girl (she is going on 11 years old):


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## blairo1

Nice to see so many beautiful sevs everyone.

Howler - 11 years, that's very cool, she's the grandma of the thread!!


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## Howler33

Thanks Blairo, she is like the energizer bunny; everytime I think she is on her last leg...errr...fin she takes a trip to the fountain of youth. I have read that sevs live for about 8-10 years so I am not expecting many more years.


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## HONDO

Howler33 said:


> Thanks Blairo, she is like the energizer bunny; everytime I think she is on her last leg...errr...fin she takes a trip to the fountain of youth. I have read that sevs live for about 8-10 years so I am not expecting many more years.


thats really great you have been able to keep her for so long. your little guys are very very nice. look alot like grandma!

i agree, this is a great thread. keep it going...


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## japes

I keep a few _Heros efasciatus_ with my Eartheaters. I have a soft spot for beautiful males - such a pity that we can't readily pickup Rotkiels over here.










3 1/2" Male.










Not a very flattering shot of my 6 1/2" male showing quite average colouration.



















Typically, when he's showing nice colours, the DSLR isn't on hand. Taken with a cheap P&S.










Nice half tank shot featuring both of them.


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## Howler33

Awesome looking setup. I would love to see a whole tank shot. WHat is the size of the tank and the fish list?


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## japes

Howler33 said:


> Awesome looking setup. I would love to see a whole tank shot. WHat is the size of the tank and the fish list?


165G system (140 + 25G Sump)

1x _Hypselecara temporalis_
2x _Heros efasciatus_
4x _Acarichthys heckelii_
1x _Geophagus altifrons 'Tocantins'_
3x _Satanoperca leucosticta_
8x _Corydoras panda_ (Currently growing out in a seperate tank)
2x _Ancistrus_ sp.


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## blairo1

Very nice japes, nicely utilised bokeh.

What OH bulbs are you using?

I use Hagen Flora and Aquaglo as I've found them to be the best combination for bringing out the reds and yellows of the fish whilst still maintaining a fairly natural overall colour balance. It looks like you're on a fairly similar spectrum, I've been asked about this recently so thought it'd be an idea to see what people are using. I must say that the one shot looks a little over bumped with the yellows - not a criticism, just wondering whether you edit in PS and if so if you are aware of changing the view (Proof Set up) to monitor RGB, I had an issue with over saturating a lot of my images unintentionally until I found out that I was using the wrong set-up. If you haven't already you should get yourself over to Aquatic-Photography.com! It's a great place to share your photographic passion (and if you feel brave enough to receive critique).

Beautiful, healthy sevs you have there. :thumb:


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## DeadFishFloating

:roll:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Yup knew it would happen.


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## blairo1

:lol:

What now Peter? Or is it just me going on about photography again??


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## DeadFishFloating

Hey Blair,

Read the bottom few posts here, http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... &start=240


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## blairo1

Ah, I see. :lol:

Well to avoid straying further from topic here is a snap I took when I first bought my Rottie, before I got into aquatic photography I might add  (although I don't really need to point that out, it's quite apparent :lol.


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## japes

blairo1 said:


> Very nice japes, nicely utilised bokeh.
> 
> What OH bulbs are you using?
> 
> I use Hagen Flora and Aquaglo as I've found them to be the best combination for bringing out the reds and yellows of the fish whilst still maintaining a fairly natural overall colour balance. It looks like you're on a fairly similar spectrum, I've been asked about this recently so thought it'd be an idea to see what people are using. I must say that the one shot looks a little over bumped with the yellows - not a criticism, just wondering whether you edit in PS and if so if you are aware of changing the view (Proof Set up) to monitor RGB, I had an issue with over saturating a lot of my images unintentionally until I found out that I was using the wrong set-up. If you haven't already you should get yourself over to Aquatic-Photography.com! It's a great place to share your photographic passion (and if you feel brave enough to receive critique).
> 
> Beautiful, healthy sevs you have there. :thumb:


Just using a cheap 4x54W setup with all 10000K tubes - unknown brand. I've got Sylvania's on my other tank but I'm waiting for these ones to pack it in before I pickup a whole new lighting setup - probably Hagen.

The editing on the second photograph, the larger Severum, is way overdone. It's generally a very reclusive fish when the camera comes out, and given the focus on it was pretty decent I did my best to get an accurate colour representation, and as I said it's very unflattering as it's definitely way oversaturated - let me have another quick crack at it now that I can put a bit of time into it.

Ok, change of heart, the slightly misplaced focus of that shot annoys me to no end. Here's a snap from the same series, on the same day, that's slightly better.










As you can see this specimen can be quite yellow when he wants to be, though in a relaxed situation he's a very drab olive colour with vibrant blue throughout the face. Photographing my Heroines definitely isn't my strongest side of photography - I'll put up a thread now with some Eartheater photos.


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## blairo1

It's lovely, almost a cross between a gold and a Rottie with that colouration in the fins.... :thumb:


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## markscichlids

well how could i see a thread on the best fish in the world without posting mine 
my red vinny

















and my new rottie needs a bit of tlc and feeding up should be a good fish once im done with him


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## Howler33

> It's lovely, almost a cross between a gold and a Rottie with that colouration in the fins....


I agree completely Blairo, that is a beautiful fish.

Mark your gold is amazing as well. This is a great thread, Ican't wait to see more pictures.


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## HONDO

dont let the thread die!








with gt:
















































with gt:
































now, my main man PETE!


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## andrew__

Here's a shot from a while back showing my Rotkeil who I've now had for almost a year. Definitely picked him up because of Blair's gorgeous sev :thumb:










Will try to take some updated shots tomorrow as he looks so much better than that now!


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## greg curtis

Beautiful Severums guys! Would like to get a couple for my new 125g. Was wondering how 2 would get along together and what other cichlids would get along with them without any major aggression. Interested in the rotkeil's but can't find them anywhere.


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## okcomputer820

Pretty sure mine is a female. Nice looking fish everyone!


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## ktluvsfish

greg curtis said:


> Beautiful Severums guys! Would like to get a couple for my new 125g. Was wondering how 2 would get along together and what other cichlids would get along with them without any major aggression. Interested in the rotkeil's but can't find them anywhere.


From what I have heard, two will do fine together in a 125 as long as you have a male & female pair or two females. Two males might be aggressive towards eachother. They should do fine with most cichlids that are not overly aggressive. I know a lot of people keep bolivian rams with theirs. I have also heard of people keeping them with acaras and chocolate cichlids. I just got my first sev today though, so you might want to wait for some of the more experienced sev owners to chime in.


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## mithesaint

greg curtis said:


> Beautiful Severums guys! Would like to get a couple for my new 125g. Was wondering how 2 would get along together and what other cichlids would get along with them without any major aggression. Interested in the rotkeil's but can't find them anywhere.


In my experience, it really depends on the individual fish. I originally had two larger female rotkeils in my 135, and one of them hated the other. Both hid constantly, and the larger one chased the smaller one whenever she saw her. Then, one day the smaller one committed suicide, and I was down to just one rotkeil.

A few weeks later, I was in my LFS, and saw two smaller female rotkeils, both about 4" TL. The LFS only wanted $10 for each of them, so I gambled and bought them. The resident female hated them for a week, but now they get along fine.

Long story short, it seems to depend on the individual fish. I keep mine with Keyholes and German Blue rams. Bolivian rams, blue acaras, and Green terrors are common tankmates. I didn't do the acara or the GT because i also have a bunch of tetras and cories along with my sevs. No tetra lunches...yet.


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## HONDO

i agree that two severums getting along is hit or miss. just have two find a couple that like eachother. if they dont, you will know pretty quickly.

i keep my male severum with a smaller (so far) female gt and they get along very well. losing tetras slowly but surely though...

my hope is to get a larger tank and add a chocolate cichlid to the mix. alot of people keep them with severums and i have become a big fan.


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## Enoch

Oh, a severum thread! No pictures yet, but I'm very excited over some recent finds. Unfortunately, my LFS went out of business... but I was able to purchase their last 4 little juvies bogo. They look to be a gold, 2 greens and 1 undeterminate.... almost white with dark in the fins. Then today I happened into a different LFS looking for a universal adapter for my python and what did I find? Little juvie rotkeils! I couldn't help it... in went three to grow out with the other babies. 
This is going to be my first experience with true severums. My first was labeled a "pineapple severum" and turned out to be a very shy, yet inquisitive brown hybrid of some sort. I hope to get some pictures of the babies soon. Otherwise, I'm very excited to finally own a bunch of true severums!


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## greg curtis

I know what you're saying about individual personalties. I had a couple of oscars that I grew out from about 1.5" and they got along just fine. Once they got bigger, one became bigger than the other, the larger of the 2 constantly chased the smaller until it kept hiding behind a rock by the heater. The smaller didn't last too long and I found it dead one morning. Don't know if they were both males or what but I've seen the behavior before.


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## wiseoldowl

Mom and Dad on the nest again.


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## ktluvsfish

Beautiful pair of rotties! They are gorgeous!


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## wiseoldowl

not rotties greens


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## HONDO

very nice. what are the sizes again? male is awesome.


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## wiseoldowl

the male is about 6'' the female about half that maybe 4''


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## ktluvsfish

wiseoldowl said:


> not rotties greens


Whoops  I didn't realize that greens got red on them as well. I have only seen green juvies in person though.


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## ktluvsfish

Here is a pic of my new Rotkeil Severum. He is about 7 inches long. So far he is totally peaceful and doesn't go near my plants which is a plus. He is deffinetly my favorite fish in the tank


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## klumsyninja

ktluvsfish said:


> Here is a pic of my new Rotkeil Severum. He is about 7 inches long.


I may be wrong about this but 'He' looks like a 'She'

Very nice though, congrats..


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## ktluvsfish

Thanks 

How can you tell the sex? The guy at my LFS said it was a male......


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## klumsyninja

I learned a few days ago 

right here:http://cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=189493


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## ktluvsfish

Thanks for the link :thumb:

I actually think mine is a male. He has the squiggles on his face, but my camara just sucks. He looks really washed out in the pics that I took. I'll try to get a better picture later


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## mdog

Very, very impressive fish and photos! I've just added a couple of these to an existing set up in the last week and after seeing all of your pictures I'm even more excited about watching them mature. I see lots of plants in some of the shots. So.... what do you find with severums and plants? Does it work or do they usually shred them?


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## spxsk

Here are a couple photos of my Rotkeil Pair. The male is about 8-9" lip to tail, and the female about 6-7" lip to tail:








Sorry for the glass distortion on these


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## spxsk

Here are a couple of my Red Severums in a different tank from the Red Heads above:


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## klumsyninja

SPXSK: Your fish have such intense coloring! Well done; What do you feed them, how often and how much?

I hope my Rotties color up like yours.. wow


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## spxsk

Thanks for the compliment, all of my fish get a combination of NLS, Frozen Brine, Frozen Bloodworms, and occasional algae wafers. Oh, and eggs and fry of whatever else lives in the tank. I am also pretty religious about regular water changes. I change between 30 and 50% of the volume of each tank each week, and both tanks are filtered by both sumps and canisters.


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## ktluvsfish

spxsk said:


> Here are a couple photos of my Rotkeil Pair. The male is about 8-9" lip to tail, and the female about 6-7" lip to tail:
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Your rotties are beautiful! I got my rottie a week ago and have him in with 2 marble angels and 2 scalare and so far there has been no aggression. I see that you have yours in with scalare too. I was just wondering how yours got along together


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## spxsk

They get along really well, but they are in a very large tank (84x24x31) 








Lots of places for everyone to spread out and get away when needed. I do not see much aggression toward different species, mostly just jockeying for social position amongst the species. The Angels were the first in the tank and were there for almost two months before the Rotkeil came and I think this helped.


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## ktluvsfish

That's good to hear. My I just added my sev in with my angels and things are fine so far. The angels have been in the tank for about 6 months already so that helps. Hopefully things will continue to be peaceful in my tank; however, in an 80 gallon they don't have as much room to spread out as yours do


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## Jake Levi

I added 4 small (1.5-2") Turquoise Severums to a tank with seven breeder angels about to be split up, next week half go to the Detroit spring auction and the others go to their own breeder tanks. One big pair is very dominant, but as the tank is heavily planted with corkscrew val and giant val I put the severums in, although hesitant. No worries, the little guys scoot in and take food before the angels can take it ! They are growing quite nicely.

They are faster then the angels, even though the angels are F1 wilds. They have a lot of personality too, they are keepers for sure.


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## dawgboy311

I am loving this thread and learning that their are several varities of Sevrum that I was not aware of. I am redoing a 125 soon and already have 5 angels, a gold ram, a red eye tetra, a green sevrum, and a gold sevrum.

Dawg


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## HiImSean

keepin the thread alive with my new guy. he's doing good but still recovering after being in a bucket for like 8 hrs when i picked him up.


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## Jake Levi

Nice looking guy, are you going to be getting him some company?

Last week I stopped in the big box store where I got mine from, they had some little Turquoises in a different tank then mine came from and I asked the clerk if they were new, she says 'no, we've had them a month or more, well, they are under a quarter size, mine were a quarter or more when I got them, the largest is now half dollar size, the smallest t over a quarter, and the others about half way between. Water changes and a lot of groceries.

This sat. they get a lot more space when half the angels leave and sunday when the others are moved to new tanks.


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## HiImSean

prolly not a mate. i have a pair in my other tank that frequently spawn. this is a community tank so i really dont want any spawning. i may add another male.


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## hey_wood1981

nice sean, how big it your rotkeil?


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## Hubbynz

spxsk said:


> Here are a couple of my Red Severums in a different tank from the Red Heads above:


The colours on these quys are absolutely stunning


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## Hubbynz

spxsk said:


> They get along really well, but they are in a very large tank (84x24x31)
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absolutely beautiful tank, simple but extremely effective


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## spxsk

Thanks for the compliments HubbyNZ. The fish actually spend a lot time in the the open space between the wood but in the photo of the tank everyone moved LOL.


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## Guest




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## Sencion88

Just came in today


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## chally

Heres my 4-5" severum


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## HiImSean

Sencion88 said:


> Just came in today


is that the notatus rapps had? i want one so badly :thumb: :thumb:


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## HiImSean

hey_wood1981 said:


> nice sean, how big it your rotkeil?


he's a good 6" maybe a little more


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## Sencion88

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Click to expand...

Yea thats the one


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## ryansmith

Sencion88 said:


> Yea thats the one


So _you're_ the one who scooped him up before I could email Rapps! :lol: I'm glad you posted pictures of him. He's going to be beautiful once he fully settles in. Keep us updated.


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## japes

As some of you may know I sold off my two males to a fantastic breeder (one that actually cares for fish - amazing I know). Larger off the two was put in a tank beside my old Female who used to beat the absolute piss out of him - which is why I sold here. After a week of them flaring at eachother through the glass they were introduced.

Not my photos, sorry. Here's what that strangely coloured greeny/gold pale male looks like when he's in a good mood. 



















Should be nice babies.

Edit: Photograph of the Female when I had her, in non-breeding dress (July 25 2007).


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## mambee

What's the deal with Gold Severums? The ones in my area look nothing like the beautiful ones that I see here. Instead, they look like Gold Convicts, neither of which look gold.

Mike


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## peathenster

mambee said:


> What's the deal with Gold Severums? The ones in my area look nothing like the beautiful ones that I see here. Instead, they look like Gold Convicts, neither of which look gold.
> 
> Mike


How big are they? Juvie golds look very plain.


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## HONDO

japes, that last pic of the non breeding dressed female may be my favorite sev pic i have ever seen. really, really nice picture. i have never quite seen coloring on a severum like that, thanks for sharing.


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## mambee

The ones for sale in my area are a little over a quarter sized. They look albino and not gold and are almost indistinguishable from gold Convicts.


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## petslover

*grumps*

Hi Dave,

This is kent from chennai.Just a week back i started to keep my first severum. Saw your tank setup its awesome dude. Can you post me the entire tank setup and other stuffs in your aquarium. Also i need your valuable suggestions in keeping severums in future. I have a plan of breeding severums in future maybe in the next 6 months or so...

Thanks,
Kent


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