Heros severus aka "Red Tiger Severum" aka "Rio Curare" from Wetspot?
- Thread starter peathenster
- Start date
So my question is what % did not have the diagnostic bar in your litters. Between the health concerns of these fish (I'm assuming the people who had problems are keeping them in good conditions) and the hybrid question I would personally probably not but from Wetspot. I'd be curious to hear whether severum can end up getting weird anomalies because of treatment or if hybrids will have the ability to be indistinguishable from the genuine article. Heros could be one of those fish we begin to lose to hybrids, and this concerns me.
Ryan Smith is a breeder, obviously not THE breeder. Although I haven't seen his juvis offered.
The first batch of fry I grew to 1/2 - 3/4" all developed their bars and a majority of them had correct barring. Even at that size the little half-seventh bar was noticeable. Go look at all the wild adults sold and you will see that almost all of them have this feature.
Severums, like discus, do sometimes have fused or forked bars. I've had Heros liberifer and H. efasciatus with crooked or forked bars. It's entirely possible. The thing is, it's usually a very small percentage of individuals.
You also have to consider that sometimes H. sp. Inirida shows a half seventh bar, and there are also severums from Rio Casiquiare with the same coloration as H. severus but with 9 full bars. So I'm wondering if some of these fish are all coming from the same area and being sold as H. severus when really they're a mix of types. It's hard to say.
It's no surprise to me that people are having trouble with the health of the fry. I have culled every batch of mine so far because they are weak and drop like flies after about two weeks. I think I know why, and I'm going to be testing that out on the next spawn. If it turns out to be right, I'll document it here.
These fish are not mouthbrooders. Here's my pair with day-old free swimmers.
Severums, like discus, do sometimes have fused or forked bars. I've had Heros liberifer and H. efasciatus with crooked or forked bars. It's entirely possible. The thing is, it's usually a very small percentage of individuals.
You also have to consider that sometimes H. sp. Inirida shows a half seventh bar, and there are also severums from Rio Casiquiare with the same coloration as H. severus but with 9 full bars. So I'm wondering if some of these fish are all coming from the same area and being sold as H. severus when really they're a mix of types. It's hard to say.
It's no surprise to me that people are having trouble with the health of the fry. I have culled every batch of mine so far because they are weak and drop like flies after about two weeks. I think I know why, and I'm going to be testing that out on the next spawn. If it turns out to be right, I'll document it here.
These fish are not mouthbrooders. Here's my pair with day-old free swimmers.
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I got four of these from Wet Spot last fall. I lost all but one of those. The one I have left is about 5 inches and looking very nice! I recently got 3 more hoping to end up with a pair. I have already lost one of them and the other two have been fighting Ich for the past couple weeks. Not sure if these two will survive or not. Here is a pic of my big guy.
Wow that looks great!
I literally just got mine today. Four of the little guys. Here is one of em. Super cute. Hoping for the best. Pre-treated the water and have the temp set in the low-80s. Two of them squrimed and swam away when I tried to gently pick them up for a pic. Two of them let me float my hand under them without a fight unfortunately. I was hoping for more energy from all of them. Fingers crossed.
Just as an FYI all 4 of the fry I got have the correct pattern of markings with the partial 7th bar. See example photo... The first photo I posted was too washed out from the light.
