Severums locking lips

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
M

Mythic Figment

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 27, 2012
2,117
2
0
Florida
So I bought two super red severums many weeks ago and they were around 2.5-3". They are both now 4-4.5" (can't get them to sit still long enough to measure). I bought them separately. The first was bought about 6-7 weeks ago and not quarantined because I did not have a tank to do so at the time. It went in with my keyholes in a 55 and did very well. I did get an ich outbreak two days later, treated with Rid Ich+. Everyone pulled through without any signs of stress and all are doing fine. So right about the same time I had finished treatments for ich (two weeks later-ish), I decided I could afford another $30 red sev. So I picked up another. I had a 20 high free at that time and quarantined for the last 4-5 weeks with no issues. I finally got my 125 up and running two weeks ago and have been slowly moving my cichlids over. The rams went first (two weeks ago) followed by the keyholes the next day. All was perfectly fine. I added both red sevs last night and of course they were scared and went straight for the bottom.

This morning during feeding time, I watched them for half an hour. My first red sev follows the one recently out of QT everywhere and they lock lips every 2-3 minutes for 15-30 second intervals. I know lip locking is a sign of breeding and they are at their bare minimum size for sexual maturity, but are there other reasons for lip locking? I have read so much on super red sevs and never thought there was a chance of getting a pair (and even if they did pair, the eggs would not likely be fertile), especially since I stood a better chance of getting two of the same sex rather than two opposite sex that would actually choose to pair off. Any thoughts?


Sent from my iPad using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
as I understand it, red sevs will pair and spawn just like other types but 'the problem' is getting from eggs-to-free-swimming-fry alive.

I just had very young gold sevs spawn & the answer to my posted question was: female sevs are usually fertile about 6 months of age and males not until about 1 year old.
Indeed, mine cared for the batch but eggs weren't viable. thank God ;-)

I'm new to sevs, but the dominance aggression between mine was all chasing, diving at, and nipping. the bully turned out to be female.
they didn't lip lock until courtship began & a couple days later had eggs..
 
If this is the first time they've been introduced, it is a dominance display. They will do this for a few days until they work out who is dominant and who is submissive. At that point they should be fine. On occasion the dominant fish will then begin harassing the submissive fish so keep your eye out for that in case you have to separate them.
 
ryansmith83 said:
If this is the first time they've been introduced, it is a dominance display. They will do this for a few days until they work out who is dominant and who is submissive. At that point they should be fine. On occasion the dominant fish will then begin harassing the submissive fish so keep your eye out for that in case you have to separate them.
Click to expand...

Sweet. Thanks for the info, Ryan. I had my turquoise and even with dithers they were quite shy. They were always hiding, so I didn't get to see them interact with each other much. It's the biggest reason why I adopted them out and got the super reds. These two reds are smaller than my turquoise were and they are very active and already greet me when I come over. LOL

I will keep an eye on them and remove one to a 55 I have available if necessary.


Sent from my iPad using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom