This fish comes from somewhere in Venezuela, probably in the southwest near Colombia. This fish is most likely an open substrate spawner but they share rivers with a mouthbrooding severum known as Heros severus. If that name sounds familiar, it's because this was the "original" severum. Old literature refers to all severums under this name. It was decided later that the open substrate spawners common in the hobby were Heros efasciatus, the green severums. The mouthbrooding severum has been known as the true Heros severus for a long time. This is partly because they come from the location cited in the original description.
That may now change again. These new fish I got may in fact be the "true" Heros severus. In addition to fitting the location in the description, they have one very distinct feature that sets them apart from the mouthbrooders and all the other severums: a half seventh bar. If you look through my videos, you'll see that they all have it. The seventh bar starts in the middle of the body and extends down into the anal fin. These are not misbarred fish -- they're all that way. This diagnostic feature is mentioned in the original description of the fish. So that means these are probably the first described severums, and yet they're only coming into the hobby now.
There are two females in my group and the larger one has darkened up and gone into pre-spawning mode. She's showing the characteristic dark body and bright eyes which is typical of severums (and one of the characteristics they share with discus). The female is courting the largest male. They have been doing this for a couple weeks but I don't think they're settled enough to spawn yet. I thought about moving them to their own tank but the male is so large and boisterous that I really don't want to risk him in anything smaller than a 6' tank.