Severum advice needed

[Artichoke]

We have currently two tanks: 90 and 75. We will start cycling a 55 next week.
Tank params: 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites, 7.3 ph. 0 ammonia

The 90 is filtered with two cannisters. The 75 has an AC 110 and a second will be installed shortly.

Originally we were very interested in Buffalo heads. We tried unsuccessfully three groups. The tank mates still exist. They are barbs of all sorts, a female peacock, BN plecos, gouramis, and rams. We have discovered severums and 6 small nickel sized fry inhabit the 75. They were introduced last week and are doing very well.
On introduction, the barbs in the tank began to circle the sevs and I noted a few nips. These barbs numbered about 15 and had never bothered other fish before. We immediately put those barbs into the 90. Our goal is to use all three tanks for the sevs and tank mates. We had been told that barbs made good dither fish for cichlids. What we want to know is whether the barbs and sevs will ever get along. What if the sevs are introduced when they are larger?

Any advice or suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[severum mama]

Hello, and welcome to AA! Glad you found us.

I kept barbs with a severum for several years. I think it's going to be fine once your severums get bigger. Young severums grow pretty fast and your barbs shouldn't be able to pick on them for long. The barbs I had were a mix of tiger barbs and black ruby barbs, about 15 total in the tank.

 

[Artichoke]

Thank you!
Okay here is my confession: we purchased 12 more. They are really small. They arrive on Monday. What happened was that we thought our first group was red. They are red wedge. When we looked up red wedge, we found that these are rotkeil, beautiful fish but we decided that we wanted color variation. The 12 coming in are gold and red spot gold. Our hope is that we can keep as many as possible and give the rest away. In our defense, finding one or two juveniles in each color was not possible and the cost of them all was hardly more than two saltwater fish.
Our plan is to put all of the juvie sevs into the 75 together until the new 55 is cycled and they are big enough to hold their own with the inhabitants of the 90. We hope that you will inform us of how many we should put into each tank. I have no problems rehoming some of the other inhabitants. The rams would be the hardest on my heart to give away but will do it if necessary.

Perhaps we sort of sound like a couple of bumbling fools but we have been on a mission to find the sort of fish that we can care for and that would make us happy. We do understand how to care appropriately for (non saltwater) fish and we keep our tanks and water parameters as good as possible. We think that severums would be fine in our PH and our tanks are big enough.

Questions prefaced with thanks in advance:
1. How many in each tank?
2. Does it matter which colors in each tank?
3. What are the best foods for them?
4. Any sev lovers live in Kentucky who might be willing to rehome the extras? I am not willing to even attempt shipping.

 

[severum mama]

So you have 18 severums, correct? And you have a 75 and 90 gallon, plus a 55 that is cycling?

Your fish are going to grow quickly at first, but the growth rate will taper off quite a bit once they reach 4 inches or so. What I would probably do is watch for pairing- with that many fish, it's pretty much a given that you will end up with some pairs. If you want to keep the rotkeils, red spots, and golds separate (I would- I believe rotkeils are a different species that is yet undescribed, IMO you should not allow them to breed with the others), then I would suggest separating them when they are large enough to live in the 90, but too small still to pair off.

I would not keep more than one pair in your 75 and your 90, and a single specimen in the 55. I used to have an adult rotkeil pair about 8" each- sadly, they jumped- and they could be really rough on each other even though I kept them in a 120 gallon. Of course, you have plenty of time to figure this out as it will probably be a couple of years before you would start to have issues with aggression, overstocking, etc. When you notice pairs IMO it is time to look for new homes for the rest.

As far as feeding, I would choose a high quality staple pellet such as New Life Spectrum, Xtreme, etc. and mix it up with some frozen or live foods like bloodworms, mysis, blackworms.

Hope this helps.

 

[Artichoke]

Thank you!

Thank you so much for your advisement. The little secs arrived today and already are eating well. Nobody in the tank is bothering them and they seem to be fitting in well. I need to research where to get that special food.

 

[Artichoke]

Auto correct is a pain. Sec=sev