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My green & gold severum paired off, beat the tar out of my festivum (I moved her to another tank), and they now have babies in the tail wagging stage (I know not a technical term). I am feeding baby brine shrimp and the parents are being very watchful. They haven't started to venture off on their own yet. If anyone has any insight as to what I should expect in the next few days I would appreciate it. I have no place to move the babies since the festivum is healing in the other tank. Since this is the 1st time they have spawned, will I get any survivors? I have one other fish in the tank, a striped raphael catfish who hides in the rock formation the eggs are on so it is nearly impossible to remove him without major trauma. How long do I feed baby brine to them? It is quite exciting to watch this parenting process. Wish me luck ~

it would be useful to know how big the tank is, taht obviously affects how soon you could move the festivum back in. if the pair are alone and hence unstressed in there then the chances of fry surviving are greater. the striped raphael shouldn't be a problem if the severum can't get at him. when the fry get to about a 1/2 inch long he might be inclined to prey on them, so feed him pellets last thing at night and he should hopefully ignore the fry.
well done anyway. are you going to keep the fry or sell the off?

Thanks for the reply They are in a 55. They don't seem too stressed since I took the pleco out and put with the festivum. Not certain I want to put the festivum back since they nearly bit her entire tail off. She's healing well. It depends on how many survive, I'm certain I will have to sell them since I have no more room. Or buy another tank and deal with hubby's wrath lol. The fry are still doing well it seems. Keeping my fingers crossed...

Well, I have about 30 swimmers
So far so good...great parents too.

Does anyone know how long I need to feed baby shrimp brine and when can I switch to crushed flake? Also, when is it safe to put the pleco back in. The algae is beginning to come out. Nothing like a pleco to keep it clean~

as long as there is somewhere for the plec to hide if they seek him out, i would have thought he'd be fine in there now. As long as it's not a fish that would swim right at the fry then i think parental defence gets a bit less total once the fry are free swimming. that was definitely the case with my friend's blue acara. A stationary fish like the plec would be fine as long as he could give the severum some room to move.

Just an update on the babies. I have 15-20 cool littles swimmers about ½". The parents raised them in there with a striped raphael (6" and a pleco. Been alternating baby brine shrimp & crushed flake. Also when I give the parents shrimp pellets they dissolve them in their mouths to feed the little ones! So great to watch. I've been waiting until morning to turn the lights off and leave the light on overnite so the parents can watch out for the fry. Also small water changes every other day. First attempt with this pair and success. My angels I have tried 3 times unsuccessfully These severums are great parents