Severums Cichlids

[flavs]

Hi bros! Recently got some Blue Severums from H&K. I understand it was fished from Ayapua Lake in Purus River. Not sure if its described yet. But I can't seem to find any close to the fishes that I bought, on the Internet. Any experts out here with an opinion to share?:D

[Larry Bugg]

Send a copy of the link to Ryan. Pictures would help.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/member.php?8404-Ryan

[flavs]

Some pics here

http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy193/benjamingoh/null_zpse57d9af2.jpg
http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy193/benjamingoh/null_zps10991d12.jpg
http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy193/benjamingoh/null_zps94eae2ff.jpg

[Ryan]

This could turn into a really long post about severums, so I'll try to address your actual fish first.

Let me say that there are tons of regional/location variants of severums, just like there are of discus and pretty much every other cichlid. Whether these "races" are actually separate species is another question altogether. That would require a close examination of things like scale counts, fin counts, looking at the jaws and skeletal structure, body markings, etc.

My guess is that most people would label your severums Heros efasciatus. You can rule out a few species by the location and also the number of vertical bars, but more on that later. These particular severums would probably be labeled by the location they were caught in: Heros efasciatus 'Purus' or maybe even Heros cf. efasciatus 'Purus'.

A quick explanation of using cf in a scientific name, for those who aren't sure: It is often referred to as "color form" but this is actually not true. It's from the Latin word conferre which in this sense means "compare to." Basically, it's saying that the fish should be compared to a known species, but that it could be a new species. In other words, it's like saying, "This fish may not be the exact same species as Heros efasciatus but they are similar." You may also see this written sometimes using the Latin word affinis, so it could be written Heros sp. aff. efasciatus. This nomenclature is used to note that a particular fish may be a variant of a known species or a new species altogether.

In my opinion, the Heros genus is a bit of a mess, like a lot of South American cichlids. I'm sure someone will eventually tackle the chore of sorting it out but until then, you have:

Described

Heros efasciatus - The green severum, found in Brazil, Peru, and French Guiana
Heros appendiculatus - The turquoise severum, found in Peru
Heros severus - The 'true' severum, a mouthbrooder from Venezuela and Brazil
Heros notatus - The black spotted severum, found in Brazil, French Guiana, and Guyana
Heros spurius - This severum is from Rio Guapore, Brazil and I have never actually seen a live one


Undescribed

Heros sp. 'rotkeil' - The red-shouldered severum, found in Peru
Heros sp. 'Inirida' - A notatus-like severum with maroon/red spots, found in Rio Inirida, Colombia
Heros sp. 'Atabapo' - Another mouthbrooding fish similar in behavior and appearance to true H. severus, found in the Rio Atabapo in Colombia
Heros sp. 'Tapajos' - A blue-colored severum with a dark red nose/facial pattern from Rio Tapajos, Brazil


I have kept and bred all of the described species with the exception of H. spurius. To my knowledge, that fish has never been imported in any large quantities and I've never seen reports of hobbyists keeping or spawning them. To make things confusing, Kullander collapsed appendiculatus into efasciatus and essentially combined the green and turquoise severums. A lot of people disagree with that and think they should be left separate. I would tend to agree.

Heros sp. 'rotkeil' and Heros sp. 'Inirida' are unique in that they both have only 8 vertical stress bars, while all other species have 9.

There are other undescribed species floating around, including variants from Manaus, Tocantins, Santarem, etc but I listed the most commonly and widely distributed ones above. Again, though they may appear different, it's hard to say if they're just color variants or separate species. Although H. efasciatus is commonly called the "green severum," they range from brown, grey, olive, and blue in color. They are highly variable, just like wild discus, and they all can and will interbreed (with the exception of the mouthbrooding species, which will only spawn with other mouthbrooding severums).

[plecocicho]

The taxnomy of Heroinii tribus (Uaro, discus, angelfish, flagcichlid, severums) is preatty muddy. Conidering amazon biogeography and geology that diversity of this tribus is very underestimated and besides clearly different pattern cryptic species also exist. Prime example for this are angelfish, two psecies are very localized in specific habitats and one species is found all over amazo, orinoco and Guayanas in all three kinds of water? Yeah right. Once we thought only one species of flagcichlid exist, but today there are 4 species +2-3 udescribed.

[decoy50]

@ Ryan - these sevs look a little like the Rio Maica sevs that Jeff Rapps had in stock a couple months back. The OP's fish don't look fully colored up yet, but I can faintly see the blue body, red face and spots. You think these could be the same fish?

[flavs]

Wow. Thanks guys, for the detailed explanation!

From Hudson, I believe the adult fish is the one below,

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy107/HudsonHek/ErosseverumBlue2copy.jpg

Pic from this thread
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?100405-Sustainable-Fishing-in-the-Unini-river

[Ryan]

@ Ryan - these sevs look a little like the Rio Maica sevs that Jeff Rapps had in stock a couple months back. The OP's fish don't look fully colored up yet, but I can faintly see the blue body, red face and spots. You think these could be the same fish?

flavs says that the fish came from Rio Purus. The Rio Maica, according to Jeff, is a tributary of the Rio Tapajos, which is quite far away.


From Hudson, I believe the adult fish is the one below,

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/yy107/HudsonHek/ErosseverumBlue2copy.jpg

Pic from this thread
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?100405-Sustainable-Fishing-in-the-Unini-river

According to Hudson that fish was pulled from Rio Unini, which is again quite a distance from Rio Purus.

This is why so many importers refer to wild-caught fish as Heros efasciatus 'Collection Point'. All those fish do look similar, but they are spread over hundreds of miles.

Isn't it interesting that solid blue severums seem to come from the same areas as solid blue discus? I wonder if it's something in the geography/water quality/mineral content/food supply that have caused them all to evolve this way?

[flavs]

That picture was sent to the LFS I bought it from. So I'm kinda confused as to where the fishes are really from!

Now that you speak of it, it's really quite a coincidence that both blue Severums and discus are found in the same area.

Anyway, here is the latest pic!

http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy193/benjamingoh/null_zps7c57c794.jpg

[CrazyAngels]

Flavs, that is going to be a very nice Severum, colors are really beginning to show. Congrats on getting them.

[flavs]

An update of the dominant piece. I have since added two more females to the two males that I have.

http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy193/benjamingoh/null_zps15626147.jpg

[timmy82]

Very nice. I'm sure the water minerals and enviroment would be a strong contributing factor to the piment color of the fish and there for why Discus also share the same coloring in that region.