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Hello all,

I just got a pair of severums. They were sold to me as severums but are not the same colour as the severum pics I have seen on the net. The male (or so I believe) is bluish with black stripes and orangey fins and the female is more golden with the same black markings. In shape, they do resemble severums however.

Anyhow, I have a pair, both about five inches long in a 55 gallon tank and pretty much as soon as I put them in, they started lip locking. They had been living very peacefully for many weeks at my local pet store in a much smaller tank (I had the owner hold them for me while my new tank finshed cycling) but now, the male is bullying the female. She started out facing him but now, she hides away under a plant while he seeks her out and flushes her from her hiding place. She sometimes ventures out when he is at the other end but he comes charging over and she goes back under the plant.

There is plenty of territory markers in my tank as well as some smaller fish (7 tiger barbs and 3 albino raibow sharks). Is this normal behaviour on the part of the Severums? Will they eventually settle down once they have staked out the territory or should I break up the pair and bring one back to the pet store (or perhaps try to exchange the male for another more sedate male?)I've had them for 24 hours now and they are still at it.

I was very eager to have them home finally but am now very concerned about the female's (Lizzy) well-being...

Daphnis

"Variants: Color variations include gold, bown, peruvian green, and on rare occasions possibly mixed with a bit of red."

Taken from the profile on this site. I don't know too much about this fish, but from what you have said it sounds like normal cichlid aggression.

Is the female smaller than the male? If so you might want to make some kind of hiding place with a hole thats just big enough to let the female through but not the male.

cichlids will often lip-lock to see if theyre opponent is a worthy mate. I would just give them more time and eventuallly they will either pair up or make seperate territories.

The female is the same size, even slightly larger than the male. They have been in there 36 hours now and he doesn't seem to harm her - just likes chasing her back to her hiding place if she ventures out. He is very peaceful with the other fish and doesn't chase anyone else though one of the two have gobbled up two of the smaller danios last night but I figured it would happen. The three that are left are larger and will probably survive.

I just don't want him to stake out the whole tank as his territory leaving her a tiny corner to call her own. Does anyone think she will assert her right to part of the tank with time? She is beautiful to look at if you are patient enough to wait 'til she comes out. It would be a pity to have her hide away all the time.

Thanks to anyone who has some experience to share with me at this point. I am very new to the cichlid world and "normal cichlid agression" has little meaning for me

Daphnis