# Rotkeil Severums and Plants..



## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

I have some Rotkeil Juvies in a 90G heavilly planted tank (w/C02).

I understand that 90 is a bit tight but am planning on upgrading soon.

My questions is:

Do any of you have any experience with these guys and plants... Which plants should I stay away from and which plants are safe as far as them eating them all are concerned?

(I just spent like 3 hours planting small grass all through my foreground so I hope thats safe, lol)

I'd love to find out and cram it full of safe plants


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

mine was very well behaved with plants, i had him with Vallisneria, Anubias, Java Fern, and Amazon Swords (got nipped a little bit).

anubias and java fern are practically invincible, but the Val went unharmed and the Amazon Sword wasnt to bad off.


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## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

Hey thanks for your experiences Gage.. I hope these guys work out, I love em.

Heres a couple of FTS's I just took of the tank in question.

Click pic for bigger

No Flash:










Flash


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## Isis24 (Dec 10, 2008)

As far as Severums and plants go... I think it depends on the character of each individual fish. My Severum, for example, eats EVERYTHING! He shredded my anubias and java fern, even though he didn't actually eat them. The pieces were floating around the tank afterwards. Some Sevs, on the other hand, don't bother plants at all. If you have a bunch of juveniles and are planning to keep only some, you might (with a little detective work) be able to figure out who the plant shredders are.

But for the most part, anubias and java fern are the best way to go. I think the consensus is that anubias are really tough, and java fern (supposedly) tastes horrible.

Good luck


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

My sevs eat anacharis (elodea?) enough to keep it under control. Some sevs in the LFS have basically stripped the swords that were in with them.

My java fern, java moss, anubias, and crypt wendtii are untouched....so far :fish:


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## DiscusQueen (Jul 16, 2007)

Hi there... I had a lightly planted 120 gallon planted tank. I rescued 4 adult sevs and got a juvie sev rotk at about the same time. I found very quickly that the adults "taught" the juvie that the plants were theirs to play with. The juvie still did not do much to the plants however compared to the adults.The adults mostly just picked at them rather than eating them. Some they left totally alone but I kinda think it was placement rather than type of plant. They kinda ignored the crypt in one area and destroyed it in another. The amazon got munched but not destroyed. They never totally uprooted a plant just shall we say re decorated..
On another forum a guy even taught his rotk to stay away from certain plants and let him have the rest.. so who knows... Your tank is beautiful :thumb: and it will give you a chance to get the babies used to plants before you upgrade so it might just work... Just watch and see if any of them seem to be aquascaping on their own and then decide which is more important to you the fish or those particular plants..LOL..
I know that when I had another more heavily planted tank which was a 55 gallon mostly african cichlid tank , with a salvini thrown in, everyone told me the plants would not last. But I found, I think because there were so many, the fish just accepted them and I had no issues.

I think a lots gonna depend on your sevs temperments and it's gonna be trial and error. If the fish have lots of swimming room it might not be much of an issue. You might just get away with it. The sevs do like to hide in the plants. I would certainly give it a try before pulling anything out. It looks like you have enough varieties in their to see how the sevs tastes run..

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. HTH Sue


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## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

wow thanks for the great response Sue, actually so far they're doing great, they might takethe top off of a bacopa here and there but generally they're not bugging the plants at all so far.. I keep a close eye on them all too because I absolutely love this tank! wow what a treat!


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## CASACICHLIDS (Jan 5, 2009)

I just wanted to say I have 5 severums (3 green and 2 gold) in a fully planted 90 and they are doing very well. I have had them for 3 years now (all of them are between 8"-9") and they dont seemed cramped at all, but they are the only fish in the tank and I have regular spawnings form 1 pair (Green male and gold female) and the other female is green and spawns but infrequently with both of the other males. I have several melon swords, brizillian pennywort, water wisteria, hornwort, camboba, crypts and several types of grass.They do sometimes pick at the swords but other than that they leave everything else alone. Just keep in mind though that every single fish has a different personality and just because mine are ok does not mean yours will not eat your plants. I am not exactly sure what you are going to keep with your severums (In the pics it look like you have a few fish of the Thorichthys species) but as far as a 90 being to tight in my humble opinion I think it would do just fine as my fish seem very happy in my 90.


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## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

right on, thanks for the response Casa.. Ya you know they really don't seem that interested in the plants.. I'm really relieved to see that. Ya, I also have 6 juvenile Thor. Meeki in there, I'll thin it out as they improve in color and keep the best for mine, we'll see...

I'm just going to watch for a while and see how it goes in there.. I work from home so I have a good idea how all my fish behave.. super awesome benefit to work from home and have this hobby


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## CASACICHLIDS (Jan 5, 2009)

I also wanted to mention that the reason my severums dont eat my plants might be because I always have a leaf of romaine lettuce in with them and sometimes a slice of zucchini.


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

CASACICHLIDS, just out of curiosity, what is your filtration on the 90 gallon? I briefly kept two Rotkeils in a 55 gallon, and the amount of waste they produced was remarkable. I guess I could have been over feeding, but still seemed like a lot. My sevs were only about 6" too. I can't imagine how much waste 5 of the big sevs would produce. Pics?


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## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

Ya these guys eat all day! I have an XP3 and an AC70 on my 90 and I need to do bi-weekly WC's with these Juvies in there.. but then again I'm probably feeding too much too. But how can you not feed these guys every time you look at them! they all swim up the glass and beg for food.. poor little starving cichlids...

I didn't feed them the other morning before I left and they tore up all my grass looking for food.. I replanted it all but what a PITA.. I'll feed em before I go anywhere for a long period from now on..


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