So today I made the decision to attempt to really breed my 2 severums. They're in a 55 long and for a while had a small convict, a rainbow shark, and a small firemouth in with them (firemouth and convict being grown out in there, not permanent). The severums had already laid 2 clutches of egges before, the 2nd getting as far as the wiggling fry stage, but I didn't really want to breed them so I let the fry get eaten. Well a few days ago, they laid their 3rd clutch and so I decided to move the other 3 fish out to give them the whole tank and the fry are now at the free-swimming stage (started today) and the sevs are being phenomenal parents. I was just curious if anyone knew how the babies could potentially look and if they might be worth selling, as the mother is a stunning turquoise severum and the male is a very pretty Red spot gold sev. Ideas?
Any clue on what my Severum's babies will look like?
- Thread starter Aidan.Kilgore02
- Start date
“Turquoise” is a common name that used to be associated with the Peruvian species Heros appendiculatus, but almost none of the fish sold under that name now are appendiculatus. Instead the name is used to describe more blue-hued green severums. The hobby greens/“turquoise” are all mixed lineage severums that have been farm-bred for generations.
Super reds, aka red spotted golds, are line-bred gold severums which were derived from greens. This is a leucistic mutation that is recessive, so if you breed a gold to a green with no recessive gold genes, all the fry will look like the green parent but carry a recessive gold gene. If you breed those fry with each other or to a gold/red fish, you’ll end up with a percentage of gold/red fry.
I would expect yours to be 100% green. If you end up with golds, it means the non-gold parent has gold genes in its lineage. Entirely possible with tank-bred lines.
Super reds, aka red spotted golds, are line-bred gold severums which were derived from greens. This is a leucistic mutation that is recessive, so if you breed a gold to a green with no recessive gold genes, all the fry will look like the green parent but carry a recessive gold gene. If you breed those fry with each other or to a gold/red fish, you’ll end up with a percentage of gold/red fry.
I would expect yours to be 100% green. If you end up with golds, it means the non-gold parent has gold genes in its lineage. Entirely possible with tank-bred lines.
Thank you for the information, that's very helpful. Regardless of how they turn out, I'm looking foward to these babies. The parents on only their 3rd batch are already so good with their babies, quite fun to watch.
Agreed, it's quite fascinating watching them try to contain the fry in one group, picking them up in their mouths and re-placing them, etc. Love watching it
That, and the moving/counting/washing process that they do moving from nest to nest and then when they shimmy in the substrate to stir up food- all of it. Love it.