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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

green severums

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28 Apr 2010 00:51 #1 by bbbico (igor)
green severums was created by bbbico (igor)
I just got 2 green severums,breeding pair...beautifull fish!!!!
I have tank just for them...has anyone kept them?
I've keeping malawis for years,so i just put them in with my malawis 2day,but i will start settin up the tank for them 2mrw....how to set up the water for them, what decoration and gravel to use?
any advice would be more than helpfull!:)
thanx lads

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28 Apr 2010 16:59 #2 by Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
Hey there,

Ive kept Severums in the past and my first was a big male Green Severum. Lots of folks will say they are easy going fish and will police a tank but this guy was a nutjob. He would attack other fish at random and then just vanish for an hour or so before going at them again. And by "them" I mean 5 inch Oscars! My next brush with a Severum was when I picked up a cracking Gold Sev at a rock bottom price and he too was an aggressive specimen. Mabey I was unlucky but in my experience they can be difficult to keep with fish smaller than they are and I would recommend big tankmates if you have the room.
If you plan on keeping them as a mated pair in their own tank I would suggest a tank no smaller than a 240ltr, preferably 300ltr with good water and plenty of cover like bogwood/roots etc. To intice spawning, try them on a high protein diet and raise the temperature to about 27 degrees. It will help if your water is on the soft side but just be sure to do regular water changes, at least 50% Bi-weekly. They will lip lock and mock fight but this is normal before a spawn so dont worry. Seeing as you were lucky enough to get a mated pair aggression shouldnt be too much of a problem but just keep an eye on the male to be sure. These cichlids are great parents so you wont have to remove the fry as they will take care of them. Hope this helps and best of luck with them.

Jay

Location: Finglas, North Dublin.

Life
may not be the party we hoped for, but while we
are here we might as well dance.

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29 Apr 2010 00:56 #3 by bbbico (igor)
Replied by bbbico (igor) on topic Re:green severums
Jay thanx a lot for your time...
any advice is good,as i never kept them....
Would they be ok with Malawis for a while you think?

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29 Apr 2010 08:17 #4 by CJackson (Frank Farrell)
How long do you think before they can move into their new tank? I've never kept severums, but I would think the water conditions in a Malawi set up may stress them. Ph for Malawi tank should be up around 8+, or so, whereas the Severum would ideally be in water with a Ph no higher than 6.5. Again, not having kept them I'm not 100% sure, but the diets of the types of fish may not match up. Improper diet can be a cause of Malawi bloat. The other factor I would consider is that generally (though perhaps not in your case) Malawi set ups are overstocked to control aggression, but this, along with a higher Ph, may put the Severum under stress. If they are just there temporarily just keep an eye to make sure they are not suffering.

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29 Apr 2010 11:53 #5 by 2poc (2poc)
Replied by 2poc (2poc) on topic Re:green severums
CJackson wrote:

How long do you think before they can move into their new tank? I've never kept severums, but I would think the water conditions in a Malawi set up may stress them. Ph for Malawi tank should be up around 8+, or so, whereas the Severum would ideally be in water with a Ph no higher than 6.5. Again, not having kept them I'm not 100% sure, but the diets of the types of fish may not match up. Improper diet can be a cause of Malawi bloat. The other factor I would consider is that generally (though perhaps not in your case) Malawi set ups are overstocked to control aggression, but this, along with a higher Ph, may put the Severum under stress. If they are just there temporarily just keep an eye to make sure they are not suffering.



Agree totally - unfortunately they are a soft water fish so totally unsuitable for a Malawi tank.
Same with all South American cichlids. I'd love to keep some myself but honestly couldn't be arsed maintaining water chemistry that’s different from my tap water.

Central American cichlids like similar water chemistry to Malawis, I've been keeping a big Jack Dempsey for over a year with my haps and all is well. I'm also growing on some Texas cichlids to go in with the haps.

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29 Apr 2010 22:03 #6 by Viperbot (Jason Hughes)
Yeah, mixing them would be far from ideal. Any chance the seller can hang on to them for you until you get a tank up and running? Failing that, mabey ask a buddy to house them for you for a while.

Jay

Location: Finglas, North Dublin.

Life
may not be the party we hoped for, but while we
are here we might as well dance.

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