queenbobby

hello i have had some small severums are 4-5cm long. i want them to show off thoer colours as they were fi parents caught frm the wild. i am feeding thm2 times a day and they are not growing or showing any colour just boring brownich colour. sometimes they have stripes going down them that are bright than other times nothing. im feeding them good qulity flake and blood worm what can ido?the temp is 24

Dozey

Here's a link that should help you out. Severums need a vary diverse feeding regiment, explain here as well.

http://www.worldcichlids.com/fishprofiles/severums.html

Slug

Welcome to the world of New World Cichlids! Severums, discus, angels, Uaru, etc all of their fry are brown with no color at first. Thats how they hide in the wild. Give it time, the color won't really show until they get close to maturity. Which would be about 4-5" in length.

Along with the feedings do more WCs. As feeding over and over again can pile up waste. The more WCs you do and the more you feed, the faster they grow.

The bars you talk about are stress bars. When stressed or scared the fish will show these bars to try and blend it self with its surroundings (In the wild, sticks and branches). A lot of times juvis will show this almost constantly.

So what can you do? Just live with it until they grow. It will change i assure you. Its quite possible they are growing, but its hard to tell from your eyes because you see them every day.