Heros sp. 'Curare' - potentially the real Heros severus

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

ryansmith83

Silver Tier VIP
MFK Member
May 2, 2008
4,084
1,861
1,079
42
Florida
Seiichi Hamada mentioned these fish previously. Please check out his thread, too: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...-One-of-the-coolest-Severum-Red-Tiger-Severum

Several years ago, a couple pictures of an unusual severum popped up on the internet. We even had two threads about them here. There was very little information, and they were never shown or mentioned again. Here are the pictures from that time:

heros_sp_curare_zpsuqpjhgc1.jpg


bild277_zpsuscrh6f0.jpg


While the color is obviously adjusted in them, the patterns and color combinations were unique. They have characteristics of rotkeil, notatus, and even the mouthbrooding severums.

A month or two ago, the fish showed up as "Heros sp. 'Curare' / Red Tiger Severum" on Oliver Lucanus's price list. He posted a few pictures to Facebook and they were definitely the same fish. In addition to the red on the shoulders and faces, their vertical bars are overlapped with yellow-green iridescence. The seventh vertical bar is a half bar, extending from the middle of the fish down into the anal fin. While broken bars are often an anomaly in severums, it is a prominent feature of this severum -- every individual has it.

It is believed that this fish matches the original, first description of Heros severus, which is a name that is currently being widely used for the mouthbrooders from Colombia/Venezuela. The original description of H. severus points out that the fish have a half seventh bar, which is not a trait shown by the mouthbrooders. Also, according to Oliver, the mouthbrooders do share a river system with this fish from Curare. He actually had both species come in on the same shipment. If that's the case, we've mislabeled a lot of mouthbrooding severums. :ROFL:

Luckily I'd gotten an import license last year and I was able to buy a group from Oliver and have them imported into Miami. Their second day here, they started shedding slime coat and appeared to have a bacterial infection, leading to a 10-day treatment with salt and Furan-2. Things are looking better now. Here are the fish a few days after their Furan-2 treatment finished:

[video=youtube_share;YFvTwJrShc8]http://youtu.be/YFvTwJrShc8[/video]
 
  • Like
Reactions: xxw051 and eelsnot
I was a bit worried that I might not have any females because all of the fish show facial striping and spotting. In most species, females have a totally solid face. Then I walked into the fish room tonight and found a female, her tube halfway down, in breeding colors (dark body, bright eyes). She was busy chasing fish away from a flowerpot and displaying for the large male. After watching them for a few weeks, I've figured out that females do have facial markings, but they are very faint. At their brightest they're a pale red color, but most of the time they are barely visible and blend in with the yellow-green gill color. Males, on the other hand, have dark maroon spots and stripes on a blue face, as you can see.

This particular female came to me with a huge scar on her side. It looks like her scales were raked all the way down to the flesh. It has healed over but I do not think it will ever regain its original color. You'll notice the patch on her side in the video.

[video=youtube_share;2RF1dYmoa30]http://youtu.be/2RF1dYmoa30[/video]
 
I don't even ... can't say what I'm looking at! Looks like a turquoise head, rotkeil middle, and mouthbrooder body ... Beauties though despite the confusion they give off looking at them. Good call on bringing them in!
 
Ryan,

Great pick up !!!
it seems spawning would be close.
probably this Heros is not Curare. At least these female look different . Curare has any shorter bars on the body. This Heros is more colorful
BTW, I tried to PM to you several times, but I couldn't do becuuse your inbox seems full...
please check it.

Seiichi
 
I'm green with envy. Good luck getting viable spawn, I'm sure you could make a penny or two off a spawning.
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com