Difference between convicts and green severum

[MiamiCuse]

They look almost identical?

Except the convicts have darker stripes and the fins are not as pronounced?

What are some other differences?

Thanks,

[cocoa_pleco]

severums are south american, convicts are central american, convicts are smaller than severums and are more aggressive, severums are more peaceful

to be honest, they dont look identical to me

[MiamiCuse]

why are convicts named convicts?

Is it because they behave like one?

[Nautilus29]

Yes they are known as one of the most aggressive cichlids. Severums are more lateraly compressed then convicts, convicts are longer but shorter heigth wise, and severums are more of a disk shape.

[cocoa_pleco]

when breeding, theyre aggressive. they will kill EVERYTHING that goes by the eggs. i bought a rare pair of white convicts, and i didnt want them to breed yet, so i put the female with my old oscar, and the female laid eggs, and took on my oscar in a fight, who was 6" at the time.

otherwise alone, theyre docile. i have my female in my 90g without issues, she just cruises around the bottom looking for something to peck at. i have smaller schooling fish in the tank like tigerbarbs, and i have fish like rainbow sharks in the tank and she leaves everyone alone

[siymdapolio]

when breeding, theyre aggressive. they will kill EVERYTHING that goes by the eggs. i bought a rare pair of white convicts, and i didnt want them to breed yet, so i put the female with my old oscar, and the female laid eggs, and took on my oscar in a fight, who was 6" at the time.

otherwise alone, theyre docile. i have my female in my 90g without issues, she just cruises around the bottom looking for something to peck at. i have smaller schooling fish in the tank like tigerbarbs, and i have fish like rainbow sharks in the tank and she leaves everyone alone
woah! Thats crazy! A little convict taking off a half grown oscar!!! Thats one bad A fish man!

[Nautilus29]

they are crazy I had a small 2 inch pink convict (I think It was stunted from the store) that would fight my salvini which is extreamly aggressive and he was close to 2 times the size of the convict, the salvini actually ran and would stay on the other side of the tank. Now that I got rid of my breeding pair of convicts the savini owns the tank and trys to kill anything new that comes into his territory(the whole 75g tank).

[cocoa_pleco]

woah! Thats crazy! A little convict taking off a half grown oscar!!! Thats one bad A fish man!

bad thing is the convict almost won, after that i had to throw the convict and eggs in a 20g alone

[MiamiCuse]

bad thing is the convict almost won, after that i had to throw the convict and eggs in a 20g alone

how big was the convict at the time of the battle?

[Nautilus29]

This is perhaps one of the most forgiving fish in the pet trade... they are amazing survivors and adaptors! However, they are not for the weak of heart and for those fishkeepers with peaceful community tank fish. These fish are NOT known for their gentle dispositions, and need to be kept with other aggressive, larger fish that will hold their own (it can and will harass some fish to death). They have been known to pick fights with Oscars more than 3X's their size, and win! Best kept alone or with their own kind, but fascinating fish to watch.

I got this from badmanstropicalfish.com

[cocoa_pleco]

how big was the convict at the time of the battle?

about 3", so not too big.

[siymdapolio]

geeese man I would love to get a pair of them and see how they doo.. Would they be suitable for piranha?? or is that a stupid question?

Man big ol oscars get even screwed by these little guys

[cocoa_pleco]

a piranha would basically own them, if you have a crapload of hiding spaces and a huge tank a syndontis catfish might work with piranhas, but pretty much everything else is screwed

[MiamiCuse]

Is it even possible to catch a convict in a tank with a net without uprooting all the plants and removing all the rocks?

They don't make it easy don't they?

[cocoa_pleco]

its pretty much impossible to catch any fish in a tank with plants. lol

[MiamiCuse]

not true, the slower moving ones are not a problem especially if they come to the mid water level from time to time.

The ones who hides in caves and under rocks and when you approach dart in short spurts are impossible.

So how would you do it? The only thing I can think of, is to use a 24oz size plastic bottle, cut the bottom off and use it to ever so slowly hover over the 1" convict without being noticed and once I have it almost inside then drop it over the fish, he would be trapped inside the bottle, I will then wait for him to move up, then raise the bottle and put a net under it to seal off the bottom escape. Cap the bottle top, turn it upside down, then transfer to another tank.

I can't think of another way. I have tried...

[Lady Hobbs]

I have caught cave dwellers rather easily by putting a net over both openings in their cave and just tipping one end into the net. My catfish are easy to catch in this way.

[Demjor19]

a piranha would basically own them, if you have a crapload of hiding spaces and a huge tank a syndontis catfish might work with piranhas, but pretty much everything else is screwed

even with a syno cat or pleco the Piranha will ventually make a meal of it. this will sometimes take days or even moths, but it will happen. small neons are the best fish i have found that can survive with a piranha. i have had 14 at a time with my Rhom and in 3 months i have only lost 1 to the piranha and 1 to the filter intake.

sorry for the slight derail...as for the convict and severum...i dont think they look that similar either. other than they are both semi-flat and and tall bodied they are quite different from one another.