Are 'Red Head Severums' Rotkeils?

[GS1981]

I bought 4 'Red head Severums' from a local 'know nothing' LFS today, they look like generic small natural coloured severums at the mo, yellow anal fin, black and grey pattern, few spots.

None have facial markings yet, they are about 1"

Just sold my Flowerhorn so thye got loads of space.

Anyway, are these going to grow into Rotkeil Severums or are they something different again? i have had Rotkeils before, i bought them from the net, but never seen them in a lfs before, in one of the other lfs's i have seen 'Orange Shoulder Severums - Heros Appendiculatus' which look nothing like Rotkeils but have an orange shoulder and are much bigger adult sizes.

Anyway, any idea? its pointless me putting up a pic because they just look like small green Severums but with darker stress bars and a yellow anal fin instead of orangey red.

 

[RobE]

I bought a severum labeled as red head and it is now about 2.5" and not showing any sign of red at all.

 

[GS1981]

They dont show any red till they are about 4" mate, i had a 3" female that showed some (rotkeils) in the past.

Anybody know the answer to my question?

 

[Fishaholicc]

I've seen Rotkeils labled as red shouldered severums before. It could be Rotkeils but only time will tell if it is indeed rotkeils. Most LFS are in it to make money so they often give you wrong informations. I bought 4 rotkeils from Jeff Rapps 2-2.5" and I'll try to get a pic and upload tonight if I can get a hold of them.. lol.. It's olny been 4 days since I got them so they are getting use to their new surroundings.

 

[GS1981]

I had true Rotkeils before, i know what they look like, i just want to know if 'red head severums' are Rotkeils or those weird big orange shouldered things labelled as 'Heros Appendiculatus' if they are i will sell them later on.

 

[ryansmith83]

I don't know what you mean by orange shouldered things. True rotkeils should have a red or orange shoulder. It sounds like what you're describing are rotkeils.

Heros appendiculatus is the scientific name for turquoise severums. Some have said that rotkeils are a variant of appendiculatus, hence the listing. Rotkeils are also commonly sold as Red Head severums, red shoulder severums, orange head severums, orange shoulder severums, red spot severums... the list goes on. Any distributor or LFS can pretty much call them whatever they want, which is the big problem with common names.

"True" rotkeils should only have eight vertical stress bars rather than nine like Heros notatus or Heros efasciatus, starting with one through the eye and ending with one on the caudal peduncle. If you post a picture we can verify.

If the fish has nine bars it's either a mislabeled green (H. efasciatus) or a hybrid, as rotkeils will readily spawn with non-rotkeils. True rotkeils won't show the red shoulders until 3 - 4", starting gradually as red spots behind the gills and on the face then slowly spreading and covering.

The only other eight-barred severum that I'm aware of is the recently available Heros sp. Inirida, but this fish will look more like notatus as it grows.

 

[still]

I bought a rotkeil labeled as a red shouldered severum a couple of years ago and it turned out to be a rotkeil so it could be. Mine looked like a green until it hit about the 4 inch mark so it might be too early to tell...

 

[notho2000]

Rotkeil in German means "red wedge" which makes reference to the shape of the red at the back of the head area. They are the same as a red shouldered severum. The severum imported as"corbata roja" (which means "red necktie" in Portuguese) is also a "rotkeil" and also believed to be a color variant of Heros efasciatus. The name again is in reference to the male’s spectacular breeding colors. They reach around ten inches in length and inhabit oxbow lakes. I've had some young that displayed some red as small as 2" but have had others that didn't develop their red (if at all) until larger than 4". I find that the red is quite variable in amount and intensity from fish to fish. Here's a pic of a "corbata roja" (not my fish, although I do have 4 WC ones) followed by a pic of one of my female and male 'Rotkeils'.

 

[GS1981]

The Orange Shoulder ones are much different.

In my LFS they have adult 'Orange Shoulders', they are most definitley orange, about 10-11" in size, bulky like a Efaciatus, the body and face colour is different from the true 8" Rotkeils that i had before, these orange Shoulders are common, i used to think they were a Green Sev x Rotkeil hybrid, my mate has a few of these and they look similar.

 

[GS1981]

By the way, my little Severum has 8 vertical bars.