Green Severums

[Jaiden]

I have 2 Green Severums that are about 5" right now. When we first got them, one was a solid green with a stripe at the base of its tail. The other had beautiful dark stripes down its whole body. Now, neither has stripes and some days they're completely black with a goldish tinge to their bottom fins...all yesterday they were black. Today, they're shimmery green again but both just have the stripe at the base of the tail.

Is it normal for them to go through such drastic changes in such a short time? I thought my boyfriend had switched them on me...I didn't even recognize them when they went black.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Sometimes when fish darken it's a sign of stress. It was kind of hard to understand what you where saying, but do you mean the fish darkens up, or are you talking about the black bars on him fading, then coming back? Those bars are called stress bars, they come and go depending on the fishes mood, nothing to worry about. If its the fish turning black, it still probably isn't anything too important and still probably related to mood!

 

[Jaiden]

Sorry lol I know I didn't make sense lol I was trying to type as I was keeping two babies from fighting lol

When we bought them, one had bars, the other just had one bar at the base of its tail.

Right now, they're both just green, no bars. All yesterday, they were pure black. I didn't think they were even my fish.

So the bars are related to stress or mood?

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Sorry lol I know I didn't make sense lol I was trying to type as I was keeping two babies from fighting lol

When we bought them, one had bars, the other just had one bar at the base of its tail.

Right now, they're both just green, no bars. All yesterday, they were pure black. I didn't think they were even my fish.

So the bars are related to stress or mood?

Yes, that is correct. Blackening of fish points more towards stress I believe, in Discus this is quite common with certain strains.

 

[Tobigara]

Don't be alarmed by the bars disappearing. When severums are young(2" or less) they all have those bars. one of the older name for sevs is banded cichlid. The bars fade as they mature, keeping only the one by the tail. the bars will only show up if stressed.

Unfortunately i'm not sure what turning black signifies. I've seen mine do it once or twice. Maybe it's stress but i don't think so.

I'm sorry i can't be more help

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

If it looks something like this, then it may be stress related. Mind you, Discus and Severum are completely different fish.

Here are links to some quick googled images

Un-stressed Discus:

http/www.discusnada.org/graphics/DiscusF...es/discus27.jpg

Stressed (and sick) Discus

http/www.reefs.org/library/aquarium_net/...images/Pr59.jpg

You can see how black that Discus is, although that looks like a severe case of stress.

 

[ox5477]

everybody is half right here. The darkening is a mood signal by all cichlids. It can mean stressed but more often it is an auto reaction when faced with a pred or rival to show how tough they can be. This is usually accompanied by flaring of all the fins to try to increase their size. I would worry more about stress when the fish becomes a lighter color. If the fish becomes lighter, usually it is a sign of bad health and/or fright.

No one has asked about your tank. What size is it? If the tank is too small, then the two sevs will try to intimidate eachother for territory and mating rights (even if no female is present, and presuming they are both male).

 

[Jaiden]

It's a 75 gal and it's just them with a 2" Firemouth and two little Corys. There were three Pink Convicts (from 1-3" in size) in there until recently. I rehomed those guys, though. I've been watching the Severums closely and they seem to go black at night...but mornings and most of the day/early evenings, they're green.

It's strange...but I guess as long as they're not going to die on me, that's a good thing lol I don't know what may be causing them to be moody, though.

 

[untitled]

my green severum normally has spots along its belly but when it get chased by an oscar the spots turn into stripes its amazing to watch. I was gettin worried about the severum being picked on by the 2 oscars but I am happy to say that the severum is now doing most of the chasing!

 

[shroob]

Might be worth saying that I have seen breeding severums go this colour, a very dark blackish colour, with an intenser orange pectoral fins than normal. I don't know if this is the case with yours but if there are no signs of stress, no aggression and water quality is Ok then this may be a possibility. I'll try and find the picture which shows a breeding pair in the colours you describe.

 

[ox5477]

As with humans, the fish can get very emotional during breeding and as cichlids show alot of their emotion on their skin, it would not be suprising if the fish are going through rapid color/mood changes during breeding.

Also, they may get dark at night as part of a natural camoflouge. Many of the medium to large species are carnivorous to partly omnivorous so they would hunt at night. This darker complextion will hide them a little easier from the glow of the moon at night when hunting... nothing to worry about I would say.

But, in relation to breeding, do you know if you have a male and female? or what combo of sex do you have?

 

[Ryan_R]

We also have a pair of (well two) severums in a 75 gallon tank... both males I think, one is for sure. One is more dominant, and rather agressive, he shows very bold coloring (blues, reds, and greens), despite being slightly smaller than the other. The less dominant one is usually a bit more pale, and more readily will show dark vertical stripes. A few weeks ago, the less dominant one turned completely black shortly after a water change... and stayed that way for a few days. The agressive one was as boldly colored as always, and water quality was all OK across the board, so I just waited it out. Checked for any sign of disease, but everyone else seems happy. I did notice that the aggressive fish seemed a bit more of a bully.

After a few days, the one that turned black, started showing his/her usual colors again. One night when I was feeding, the two severums were acting really weird: the less agressive, previously black, severum suddenly showed very brilliant colors, anal fins were a bold, bright orange. The two fish did some funny tail shaking and waving... and finally locked lips for 5-10 seconds. One of our cats was watching with me, and our jaws both dropped. It looked like the typical courtship dance, but probably was more of a show of strength between two males. After that the aggression between them seems to have subsided a lot.

With your fish, I'd say wait it out and keep an eye on them from afar to keep tabs on their behavior. Spring is a weird time for all animals, and if your fish can see a window, they're probably locked into the cycle of the seasons since day length works to calibrate their internal clock. Interestingly, during this phase for our severums, our red-eyed tetras also started to show agonistic behavior and developing a pecking order. Everything is back to normal now... I'm still keeping an eye on things and debating whether I should get another big tank and separate the two.

-Ryan

 

[Faythee]

Very interesting indeed