green severum breeding pair

Question
Hi.  I have 2 green and 2 gold severums.  The green ones breed and laid eggs,
they were white and the mother ate them.  They, along with one of the golds
were very aggressive and beat the crap out of the other gold one.  I removed
the 2 gold ones and put in a smaller tank as a temporary fix.  The greens ate
the eggs so I hope they will get over the aggression.  How long until I should
try putting the gold ones back in the tank?  How often do they spawn?  I liked
them better before they got girlfriends and boyfriends!!  LOL!!

Answer
Hi Mary,
Its a very common occurrence for cichlids such as Severums to become aggressive towards each-other. Often within a group of cichlids, there will be a weaker individual that becomes a target for the a cichlid pair's natural tendency to be territorial and aggressive. Sometimes you have to keep the weaker one separate for life. With cichlids its always a gamble and you never know how things may turn out. The Severums will remain aggressive as long as they continue to be in spawning mode. You probably wont have any luck right now. But you may try when they stop with their spawning. But even still--it will be difficult most likely for the outcast severum to be accepted back in the group. Sometimes re-arranging the tank may help mess up their territories but that doesn't work all the time.

Severums can spawn about every few weeks. Usually they make pretty good parents.

Sorry to hear about the trouble. I hope things work out for your fish! ;-)

Best wishes,
Karen~