[AquaAurora]

Has anyone had experience with keeping Madagascar rainbow fish (Bedotia madagascarensis)with severum? I've read severum are fairly peaceful as far as cichlids go, but may eat small fish they can fit in their mouths. I am looking at this from the perspective of both species at full size; Madagascars are a skinnier breed of rainbow fish so I'm not sure if their max sized 6 inch skinny bodies will fit in a full grown severum mouth?
I've not settled on my final stock for the upcoming tank (120+ gallons) but I want to minimize the possibility of fish getting eaten or bullied to death as much as possible. Thank you for any of your feedback, comments, or suggestions.

 

[mr.bigglesworth]

Careful.. severum are total plant eaters. About as plant-safe as tinfoil barbs and goldfish. Also somewhat agressive in my experience though robust schooling fish should do fine.

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[AquaAurora]

Careful.. severum are total plant eaters. About as plant-safe as tinfoil barbs and goldfish. Also somewhat agressive in my experience though robust schooling fish should do fine.

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I am considering a hard scape tank as my sailfin pleco (which the tank is for) keeps eating all the plants I put in his current (smaller) tank including anubia, swords, hornwort, and (tragically) java fern, which I had hoped he'd leave alone. So that's why I looked into Severus as a possibility.
Thank you for the info.

 

[Roshan8768]

Most rainbows can usually hold their own if there are enough of them so that they can school. I have no experience with the Madagascar rainbows, but personally I would shoot for a bigger fish with severums. Any of the boesmani, red irian, or turquoise rainbows are great but they get big and are fairly active

 

[JustJen]

I'm speaking from a friend's experience, not my own, but she has a full grown red severum in her 90g community, and he is one of the more peaceful fish in her house. He's active and personable, but totally ignores everyone else in his tank (angels that started out tiny, glowlights, swords, dojo loaches, bristlenose plecos, etc) and always has. It's a heavily planted tank too, and he's never caused a bit of issue in that regard either. Maybe from what others have said, it just depends on the fish, but based on what I've personally seen, I wouldn't have any issue putting the rainbows with one.

 

[AquaAurora]

Most rainbows can usually hold their own if there are enough of them so that they can school. I have no experience with the Madagascar rainbows, but personally I would shoot for a bigger fish with severums. Any of the boesmani, red irian, or turquoise rainbows are great but they get big and are fairly active

If I did choose to use Madagascars I'd get 8-12 probably, I know a lfs nearby that sells them occasionally. I'd love to try turquoise but I am hesitant about mail-ordered fish (can't find them around here). Thank you for the suggestions though, I will look into those rainbows some more.

I'm speaking from a friend's experience, not my own, but she has a full grown red severum in her 90g community, and he is one of the more peaceful fish in her house. He's active and personable, but totally ignores everyone else in his tank (angels that started out tiny, glowlights, swords, dojo loaches, bristlenose plecos, etc) and always has. It's a heavily planted tank too, and he's never caused a bit of issue in that regard either. Maybe from what others have said, it just depends on the fish, but based on what I've personally seen, I wouldn't have any issue putting the rainbows with one.

If I did get a severum I hope I'm lucky enough to get one with her's personality. Out of curiosity, might I ask what some of the plant species are in the tank with that severum?

 

[JustJen]

Out of curiosity, might I ask what some of the plant species are in the tank with that severum?

A variety of lowish light/low tech stuff - an absolute jungle of corkscrew val, various crypts, some ludwegia of some sort, dwarf sag, I think some cabomba, and probably a few other things, but as it's not my tank, I can't remember off the top of my head