Severums And Festivums (i Hope That's The Fish I Mean)

[CPQ]

Hey, I'm setting up a 180l tank next week and wondered if anyone could tell me what other fish these cichlids are compatible with. I'm not planning on getting a cichlid tank and was originally thinking of having angels and some dwarf cichlids (apistos i think and maybe move my rams over) with rainbowfish. I'm sure they probably wont, but I wondered if either a severum or festivum would work in that set up? or would it just be too aggressive??

Thanks

 

[The-Wolf]

they are fine together
here is my red severum with my adult festivum

severum is slightly bigger than the festivum now and both are still ok together.

 

[CPQ]

Thanks, but would they work with the other fish I have planned too? or not??

 

[nmonks]

Festivums should be fine with rainbows and dwarf cichlids. They're very peaceful, and while they are about as predatory as angels, in the sense of happily eating neon-sized fish given the chance, they will be fine with rainbowfish. Festivums are lovely cichlids, and great characters.

Severums are basically similar, but breeding pairs at least can be quite aggressive.

Both species are herbivores in the wild, eating a lot of plant material alongside the usual insect larvae. So you'll need to offer a variety of foods to keep them both healthy. Lots of people neglect the plant aspect of their diet, and then wonder why their fish lose colour. Duckweed is a favourite, but Sushi Nori, vegetarian flake food, thinly sliced courgette, spinach, etc all work well. Don't give either species high-protein foods like beef heart. There's reasonably good anecdotal evidence that giving herbivorous cichlids meaty foods causes serious health problems. While these are unlike to be as bad as, say, bloating in Tropheus, it's not worth the risk. Obviously, they will view a planted aquarium as a buffet, so choose any aquatic plants with care.

Cheers, Neale

 

[JEC96]

Depends on the fish. I had two severums and 2 festivums in my tank along with a mixture of barbs (tigers, gold, rubys). One of the severums became very aggressive towards the other cichlids, killed one of the festivums, and was in the process of harassing the other severum and festivum to death when I got rid of all three. There was never any aggression towards the smaller fish.

 

[scrappy]

Severums are lovely fish, I have been keeping (and breeding) Severums for a fair while and find they are not as aggressive as some have you believe, while breeding yes they can be aggressive but then you dont normally put a breeding pair into a community setup.

I have previously kept my males in community tanks with other fish including other medium sized cichlids like Sajica, Jack Dempseys, Firemouths and Rainbow Cichlids without any problems. They go well with any bottom dwellers like Synos and even Cories.

My guess is that they would be ok with the fish you have specified although I havent tried it out myself, just trying to give you an insight into the behaviour of Severums. My main concern would be space, 180 litres inst very big and Severums can get to 10" and are pretty rounded so take up a fair amount of space. They could get slightly edgey and have the occasional pop at other fish if they feel confined.