Possible Aggression Issue With Green Severum

My large green severum has recently turned a very very dark color and has not lightened up in a while. He has been acting really weird and shaking his head a lot. Also it sits at the big stump that my jack dempsey has claimed and just bites the stump over and over again until jack chases him away. He also very aggressively chases away anyone who comes near him besides jack. He has really bit my little turquoise severum hard and took chunks out I saw him do it. But he as long has damage to himself and I have no idea how it got there I thought before that I had parasites so I thought he was rubbing off scales but he's still doing I think and I treated for parasites which I'm pretty sure I never had anyways. But he also scoops up mouthfuls of sand and spits it out and his Anus is like protruded out. What do you guys think? He's the only one acting this way now, my jack hasnt been eating very well and was shaking his head at food before but no one else is acting weird whatsoever. He bites the stump and shakes his head constantly and he has never been so dark colored before.

 

That is, I believe, a female trying to clean a spot to lay eggs. That looks like her ovopositor out - the organs that eggs come out of. She wants to breed, desperately.

 

Awe poor thing what should I do? Do you think it paired with the gold one? She doesn't chase the gold severum away actually they kind of hang out together sometimes. Should I move them? Or just add more driftwood? I was gonna buy more in a few days

 

But do females have colorful faces? I thought females were supposed to have blank faces mine normally has lots of squiggles showing you can see in good lighting

 

They may be paired. It is a long time since I kept severum, and mine didn't breed successfully. I believe that the male's tube is sharper, which is why I am guessing female. Someone with more recent/direct experience could correct that, if needed.

If you want to raise fry, you'll need another large tank. These fish know how to spend your money! If not, it will probably get rowdy in there with each spawning cycle.

 

OK yeah if anyone else could confirm that would be cool. But that definitely makes sense, do you think a 45 gallon is too small to move them to by themselves to breed? I think I'll rearrange the tank and add the new driftwood when I buy it and just keep an eye on the aggression first

 

Well I just watched her lay eggs all over the piece of wood it was pretty cool but now she's fighting withe my jack dempsey and it's really bad she's getting torn up. I'm not sure what to do. Do severums lay non fertilized eggs? Or would they definitely be fertilized?

 

Any updates on how it's going? If the jack dempsey and severum are still going at it then I would definently separate them. If you don't have another tank then try adding more driftwood for the severum to take as her own area. If that doesn't stop them and someone is getting really beat up you might have to bring one in to your LFS. Good luck and hope it's going better!

 

She ate all the eggs already and calmed down. She has a few marks and torn fins but nothing serious but I will definitely add more wood so she can lay eggs away from jack next time. I think she wanted the gold severum to breed but I don't think its mature yet. She chased all other fish away from the eggs except the gold severum and so he just came up and started eating the eggs until she finally decided to chase him away too lol.

 

She ate all the eggs already and calmed down. She has a few marks and torn fins but nothing serious but I will definitely add more wood so she can lay eggs away from jack next time. I think she wanted the gold severum to breed but I don't think its mature yet. She chased all other fish away from the eggs except the gold severum and so he just came up and started eating the eggs until she finally decided to chase him away too lol.

That's good to hear that she's alright. Good luck!