[Amnesia101]

Hi I adopted this beauty and would like to know it’s sex pls? Someone also mentioned it’s stunted 😞 is this true? Thank you so much!

 

[Mazan]

I am pretty sure it’s a female. Not sure about stunted, though the eyes do look quite big in proportion to the body.

 

[Auballagh]

Agree with @Mazan, that you PROBABLY have a female. However, this looks like a young Severum, so the gender ID is not going to be 100 percent. Not sure about the dwarf thing you mention.... The red (chewed) one in the background looks like a male.

 

[Amnesia101]

Thanks @Auballagh and @Mazan ☺ I do suspect she’s female due to lack of color in around her face. And yeah the red one by her side is a male or that’s what they per store told me. She has in fact been lip locking with him ever since I put him in the tank. They don’t look like they are hurting each other but they so it for a long time 5 mins plus. What could this be? To make this a little more complicated I also have another female that I purchased alongside the male. Will this cause me a problem to have 2 females and 1 male? Or should I get another male? Tia x

 

[Amnesia101]

Re the severum age. I have her for 6 months and the previous owners for roughly the same time and it came in the aquarium of a house they bought so I suspect it’s at least 2 yrs old +/-

 

[Auballagh]

It looks like a young fish. But at approximately 2 years in age, maybe she's just a slow grower/little one? The 2 females in with the single male shouldn't be a problem. Severum don't get really picky about those pair bonds like some other Cichlid species do. The size of the aquarium will mostly determine how compatible everyone is at this point. With three Severum, they should be in a tank with a minimum bottom size of 48 inches X 12 Inches (122 X 30cm). If the tank is too small, the fights in there with your Severum could get more and more intense.
And definitely, keep a close eye on your red Severum. I've noted that those have a tendency to be much more aggressive in the aquarium than their green counterparts. They have beaten down C-F member's other Severum, Oscars and even Green Terror Cichlids to the point of requiring a quarantine/hospital tank to place the injured fish in! So, if your red one just will not stop and is almost continually set on thrashing one or both of your green Severum? You will have to make some decisions to remove either the single red one or both green ones, before he winds up killing them both.

 

[Amnesia101]

It looks like a young fish. But at approximately 2 years in age, maybe she's just a slow grower/little one? The 2 females in with the single male shouldn't be a problem. Severum don't get really picky about those pair bonds like some other Cichlid species do. The size of the aquarium will mostly determine how compatible everyone is at this point. With three Severum, they should be in a tank with a minimum bottom size of 48 inches X 12 Inches (122 X 30cm). If the tank is too small, the fights in there with your Severum could get more and more intense.
And definitely, keep a close eye on your red Severum. I've noted that those have a tendency to be much more aggressive in the aquarium than their green counterparts. They have beaten down C-F member's other Severum, Oscars and even Green Terror Cichlids to the point of requiring a quarantine/hospital tank to place the injured fish in! So, if your red one just will not stop and is almost continually set on thrashing one or both of your green Severum? You will have to make some decisions to remove either the single red one or both green ones, before he winds up killing them both.

Wow yeah right now the red are very peaceful, it’s the green one that’s the bully and by that I mean she chases both of them around but not really injuring or biting them. The tank size is exactly what you just mentioned so I think that’s fine. They also have 2 different caves to hang out in. I will keep an eye on the red ones though esp as they get older. What’s the lip locking that’s going on? I read it could be a mating ritual could this be the case?

 

[Auballagh]

Yep, lip locking is definitely on the list of pre-spawning activities. It's also something Cichlids will often do with each other, just to check strength and dominance. So no..... might wanna hold your reservations for the baby shower register and all that.
Your green Severum is probably just checking little junior Red out at this point. But, if they start picking at and cleaning things in there, or both of them start 'tag-teaming' the non-paired one in joined attacks? Then you might be observing some actual pre-spawning behaviors.

 

[Amnesia101]

So this happened today!!! Am I seeing right? Is that eggs against the rock and he’s inseminating them????

 

[Amnesia101]

Sorry these are the pics!!

 

[Auballagh]

Wow!
Could definitely be. Or, your Red 'male' well.... isn't. And SHE is laying eggs on that rock!
Is one of the Green Ones helping out any with this spawning activity?

 

[Amnesia101]

Yea my green one is there hanging out and fanning the eggs ❤

 

[Amnesia101]

Yea my green one is there hanging out and fanning the eggs ❤ Also I have noticed her tummy is much lighter color now

 

[Auballagh]

Well.... I guess you DO need to set up those reservations for the upcoming Severum baby shower?!!
My goodness!
So, did you see the Green Severum actually laying the eggs? Typically it takes a few passes, with the female laying down a strip of eggs and then the male following up and passing close over them to fertilize. They take turns on the rock, piece of wood, flower pot or sometimes even the aquarium glass where the eggs get laid.
So, without actually seeing the eggs being laid down, I guess you can assume that the Green one in this case is the female. If she sits tight on those eggs, and fans them? That is definitely female Severum behavior. Be careful - the Red one (ore even the other Green one) might get thrashed by the Mom fish at this time. If the other two Cichlids can't get out of her line of sight when she is protecting those eggs, sometimes in an aquarium a very protective Mom fish will do just that.

Why did the female Convict kill the male?

My female Convict Chichlid had about 30 fry. After spawning, she killed the male. Why did she do this?

www.cichlid-forum.com

Or hopefully, you have a relatively calm female and she'll (mostly) just sit tight on that clutch of eggs.
Congratulations!

 

[EricTheRed]

Congratulations! Your fish must be very healthy and happy with your set up and fish care.