Severum

Question
I have been searching for about a month to locate a green and gold severum to add to my new chiclid tank. I have not had any luck, do you know where I can purchase them?  I live in Washington State and am willing to pay what it takes to get them.  I sold my fish about 10 years ago when I had kids and I finally dug my 135 gal tank back out and only have 3 fish in it.  What other chiclids would you recommend, I am looking for a good variety of color also.

Thanks for the help,

Brandi Haug
509-760-4362

Answer
Hi Brandi,
Sorry you can't find a green or gold severum.

Those fish are so awesome, I love them!
Sometimes they are only occasionally offered for sale by petstores. You could try asking local petstores if they could order some severums for you. Sometimes you can get lucky.

But you could always order them online. I've never ordered fish online but I do know some good places you can try -

Liveaquaria.com {Just search for "Severums")

There's another place too-

http://fish2u.com/index.html

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As far as tankmates for Severums.. Most other similar sized cichlids with closely matching temperaments usually work fine. You could also likely keep Silver dollars and sometimes other large Tetra species as well as barbs with them. Please avoid Tinfoil barbs though. Some good cichlids you can try are Firemouth cichlids, Blue Acaras, Green Terrors, convicts, Armored Catfish and most other non-cichlid species are ok as long as they are too big to eat and not too aggressive themselves. Oscars are also good tankmates for Severums in most cases. Just keep in mind Severums can be tricky to find tankmates for. Individual personality plays a major part in determining tankmates. I've had severums who were peaceful and would live with even very small fish. While others were quite aggressive and had to be kept alone. I have found that Gold Severums are much more placid and can even live in community aquariums with small fish. But then again it just depends upon individual personality.

I really hope this helps!

Best of luck with everything!
Karen~