Discus w/ Severums

[Joshcat]

I'm sure I already know the consensus of my question but, I have been toying with the thought of placing 2 smaller none aggressive gold severums with 7 much larger discus.

They both come from Amazon, they both like softer water and lower ph, in addition to needing good quality water. In my opinion they both have very similar dispositions.

I have read through many of the threads trying to see if anyone else has ever considered this and couldn't find anything on the subject.

The only downfalls I can come up with, is that the severums will eventually grow to be much larger than the discus.

Has anyone had any experience with these two as tank mates?

Thanks, Cathy

[architect1]

Id do it. there not overly aggressive at least the ones i had. and if they can grow bigger the 7" u got me beet. Also ur throwing babies with adults so the adults will keep them in line. try it

[Moon]

I have both adult Severums and discus but in seperate tanks. I think it might work. The only probem is Severums require a vegetarian diet as well.

[Ed13]

The only downfalls I can come up with, is that the severums will eventually grow to be much larger than the discus.

They grow faster and will catch up, are more aggresive to the food and when they get the urge to breed will do damage. Not a huge difference but there is one.

If the tank is very large, with plenty of wood and territories I could see it work long term. Otherwsie it will work short term, evntually it may become a problem.
I would not do it my tank though, unless it's in the thousands of gallons:D

[rfeiller]

this post reminded me; 40 years ago severams were called the poor man's discus. more then one unwarey hobbyist ended up with baby severums instead of baby discus.

they've been kept together many times. bottom line discus are better kept by themselves. however, the discus could stand more vegetation in their diet for health, color and vitality.

[pherfect]

I had 3 full grown Severums for 5 years and were VERY peaceful with their tankmates i.e. angels, clown loaches, bala sharks, and even with some of my discus during the transition period when I switched to discus. I was thinking of keeping the severums till I started feeding bloodworms-THEY GOBBLED THEM UP Before the discus could get any!!! Non agressive-just pigs!

[Ryan]

I've kept severums with angels and discus several times in the past. You'll need a really big tank but it's possible. Severums are very similar to Uaru and I've also kept Uaru and discus successfully together. I think the trick is getting the severums when they're small and making sure they didn't come from an aggressive aquarium. If you'd raised severums with belligerent large cichlids, they'd probably be pushy with other fish.

My gold pair was quite large and spawned in my tank without touching or threatening the angelfish. I'm sure not all severums are that mellow when spawning, so that's the only issue I could see being a problem.

Ryan

[rfeiller]

i bought a wild royal blue in the early seventies that had been kept for a year in a 240 gal aquarium with african cichlids. it was a large fish over 6" and about 2 years old when I got him. it was the meanist discus i had ever seen. it viciously attacked every discus i put with it. Named him Nero. Finally he accepted a bland hormoned female we called Buffy.
He lived with me for 7 more years in fact he successfully spawned in what I believe to have been his 9th year of age with Buffy (by the way the only two discus i ever named). he died not too long after that.

association has a lot to do with their behavior.

[ShinShin]

My only experience with severums was with a roommates tank long ago. She had some nice angels about a year old and bought 2 severums about 2.75" long, and they brutalized the angels, tearing them all up.

Mat

[Joshcat]

I have had severums for many years, and I have found that most are not very aggressive. Some of them become more aggressive when spawning, but I'm not even sure the 2 that I have are male and female, their way to little to sex.

Realistically, my discus are much more aggressive that these 2 little guys. My discus beat on one another all the time! These guys are about 1.75" and the discus tank I was considering has discus that are all about 3.5" to 3.75" and a very rowdy bunch, might I add.

My severums that I have owned in the past have grown as large as 10" plus and at the larger size is where I'd be a little concerned. For short term I'm sure it would definitely work. For the long term I'm not so sure?!

My husband actually dissuaded me from doing this, as our discus are his babies. The funny thing is he had no prior aquarium knowledge before meeting me. Now he's an aquarium junkie too with a library of aquarium books laying around the house to prove it. And he hasn't read anywhere where these two make good tank mates.

The only reason this even crossed my mind was because I had them in a community tank where they were really getting picking on, so we pulled them out and they are now taking up my QT tank. All of our other tanks are discus tanks. Guess it's time to buy another tank...

[Ed13]

Now that I think abouit it I used to keep my severums in a pond for CA cichlids with few SA species, maybe that's why they were a bit aggressive, not that bad though.

[Ryan]

Severums and discus are both South American cichlids and come from the same waters in the wild. I know a lot of people don't like mixing discus with other fish, but it makes no sense to me. Why can't discus be mixed into a community tank when most other cichlids can? The trick is finding tankmates that appreciate the same water conditions (temperature is a big one).

Like I said, I've kept my discus and angels with other large cichlids. Uaru grow even larger than severums and they were fine. As far as the severums growing large, just remember that discus grow large, too. They may not be as long as severums, but they will get tall and thick.

It really boils down to the behaviors of your individual fish. All severums aren't aggressive in the same way that all discus aren't shy and peaceful.

My best advice is that, if you have a large enough tank and the fish have been quarantined properly, you just try it out. The only way to ever know for sure is to try. If you see a problem, separate them. I kept my juvenile festivums with my discus and things were great until the festivums got to about 2" long and decided they could bully the discus. And festivums are supposed to be really peaceful cichlids. No harm done -- I just removed the festivums and everything was fine.

Ryan

[FLGirl1977]

Hi Cathy,

Just wanted to let you know that I tried an adorable little gold severum with my guys. He started out teeny tiny and pigged out with my discus. So much, that within a couple of months doubled his size! He's going to be a real beauty when he finishes growing up, but even though before selling him to Rich yesterday, he was starting to push his (half size) weight around to my discus that were easily twice his size if not larger! I wasn't seeing any damage he was doing, but my discus were scared of him. That was enough for me. I loved the little guy, but if my discus were already afraid of him, who knows what he could have done one day when I wasn't home? So I decided that it would be better to rehome him. I'm not saying that it couldn't work, but then again... a much bigger tank than what I have would definitely be needed. Also I think individual temperments are a very large consideration. I think it could work, you just need to have a very large tank and the perfect fit personality wise.

Good luck Cathy and I hope you find a nice one. BTW, PM me... I've got some local info for you. :)

[Moon]

I think diet could be a problem in keeping discus, severums and uaru togather. I had a very large Uaru in with seven large severums. As a treat I fed them BH one day (one time only). The next day this large healthy Uaru was dead. So suspecting some sort of digestive problem, I disected the body and examined the gut. It was blocked with bh. My conclusion is death due to digestive tract blockage. Uaru and bh do not mix well.
Joe

[Ryan]

I think diet could be a problem in keeping discus, severums and uaru togather. I had a very large Uaru in with seven large severums. As a treat I fed them BH one day (one time only). The next day this large healthy Uaru was dead. So suspecting some sort of digestive problem, I disected the body and examined the gut. It was blocked with bh. My conclusion is death due to digestive tract blockage. Uaru and bh do not mix well.
Joe

I fed my Uaru beefheart once a week for six months with no problems. They mostly got bloodworms, mysis shrimp, and assorted pellets and spirulina wafers.

[Joshcat]

Actually severums don't digest beefheart well and it can and does cause blockage in their digestive track. I don't feed my discus beefheart because quite frankly, they despise it. They are on a diet of FBW, FBS, Frozen discus formula w/o beefheart, discus pellets and flakes in addition to frozen daphnia.

All of the above are acceptable foods for severums. In addition, I throw in blanched peas and zucchini because they are omnivores and need vegetation in their diets as well.

Believe it or not many a severum has died because people don't realize that they are unable to digest any type of fatty food.

This came right off a severum web site: Heros Severus Heckel is their proper name.
"Beef heart and liver are not suggested for Heros as they have a hard time digesting these fatty foods." Although many people have practiced feeding them in this manner it is a common misconception that it healthy for them.

Being that I am one of the few that don't feed my discus beefheart, I don't foresee a problem with diet. For those that do, I wouldn't suggest mixing the two species.