Severum tank mates

Severum: semi-aggressive, 7.9 in, fine on its own, swims in the middle of the tank and needs about 76 gallons. It eats fish that fit in its mouth. The list below checks every species in our catalog against it.

Each species is checked against severums both ways: mouth size, fin nipping, temperament, territory, water overlap and keeper reports.

Good tank mates

Angelfish
Pterophyllum scalare
Fits
Tall, graceful cichlids for tall tanks of 30 gallons and up; adults eat neon tetras and shrimp, so stock around them.
3.5 in · 32+ gal · 77–84°F · pH 6–7
Blood parrot cichlid
hybrid
Fits
A man-made hybrid cichlid with a round body and a beak-like mouth that barely closes; usually gentle and rarely able to swallow tank mates.
7.9 in · 36+ gal · 72–82°F · pH 6.5–8
Blue dolphin cichlid
Cyrtocara moorii
Fits
A sky-blue Malawi cichlid with a fatty forehead hump; calm and sociable over open sand, but no match for boisterous mbuna.
9.8 in · 80+ gal · 77–81°F · pH 8–8.5
Bristlenose pleco
Ancistrus cf. cirrhosus
Fits
The go-to glass cleaner: a compact 5-inch pleco with bushy whiskers on the males that needs a cave and vegetables, not just algae.
4.9 in · 17+ gal · 70–79°F · pH 5.5–7.5
Chinese algae eater
Gyrinocheilus aymonieri
Fits
A popular sucker-mouth 'cleaner' that reaches 11 inches and turns aggressive with age, sometimes rasping the slime coat off other fish.
11 in · 95+ gal · 72–79°F · pH 6–8
Clown loach
Chromobotia macracanthus
Fits
A bold orange-and-black loach that lives 20 years and grows over a foot long, so a proper group needs a 6-foot tank.
15.7 in · 202+ gal · 75–86°F · pH 5–7
Common pleco
Pterygoplichthys pardalis
Fits
The classic store 'algae eater' that grows to nearly two feet, fouls the water and eats less algae with age; a fish for very large tanks only.
22.8 in · 203+ gal · 77–82°F · pH 7–7.5
Convict cichlid
Amatitlania nigrofasciata
Fits
A tough Central American cichlid that breeds almost anywhere, and is aggressive enough to attack fish several times its size.
5.9 in · 34+ gal · 75–82°F · pH 7–8
Discus
Symphysodon aequifasciatus (species complex)
Fits
The 'king of the aquarium': a disc-shaped Amazon cichlid in countless bred colours that needs warm, soft, very clean water.
5.5 in · 80+ gal · 79–86°F · pH 5–7
Firemouth cichlid
Thorichthys meeki
Fits
A Central American cichlid with a fiery red throat it flares when threatened; fairly calm for a cichlid but territorial when breeding.
4.7 in · 34+ gal · 75–82°F · pH 6.5–8.5
Jewel cichlid
Rubricatochromis bimaculatus (syn. Hemichromis bimaculatus)
Fits
A blazing red West African cichlid that holds its territory year-round and turns extremely aggressive when spawning; best kept as a pair on its own.
5.9 in · 34+ gal · 72–82°F · pH 6–7.8
Leopard sailfin pleco
Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps
Fits
A tall-finned pleco with a brocade pattern that is sold at 2 inches and grows to about 20, needing a very large tank and heavy filtration.
19.7 in · 187+ gal · 77–86°F · pH 5–7
Oscar
Astronotus ocellatus
Fits
A big, intelligent Amazon cichlid that learns its owner and begs for food; it swallows any fish that fits and rearranges the tank.
13.8 in · 168+ gal · 72–77°F · pH 6–7.5
Peacock cichlid
Aulonocara jacobfreibergi
Fits
The peacocks of Lake Malawi: brilliant males, grey females, calmer than mbuna and gentle with plants, but they need fine sand to feed.
6.7 in · 135+ gal · 77–84°F · pH 7.5–9
Pearl gourami
Trichopodus leerii
Fits
One of the calmest and most beautiful gouramis, covered in pearly spots; ideal for a quiet planted tank with floating plants.
4.7 in · 26+ gal · 75–86°F · pH 5.5–8
Rainbow shark
Epalzeorhynchos frenatum
Fits
An olive 'shark' with red fins, most often sold in its albino form; territorial toward lookalike bottom fish and best kept alone.
5.9 in · 76+ gal · 75–79°F · pH 6.5–8
Red-tailed black shark
Epalzeorhynchos bicolor
Fits
A velvet-black 'shark' with a red tail; beautiful but territorial, chasing lookalike bottom fish and its own kind as it ages.
4.9 in · 76+ gal · 72–79°F · pH 6.5–7.5
Siamese algae eater
Crossocheilus oblongus
Fits
A slim silver fish with a black stripe and one of the few that eats black beard algae; grows to about 6 inches and loves to jump.
5.9 in · 95+ gal · 75–79°F · pH 6.5–8
Swordtail
Xiphophorus hellerii
Fits
A large, very active livebearer whose males carry a sword-shaped tail; it needs a long tank, a lid and hard water.
6.3 in · 34+ gal · 72–82°F · pH 7–8
Three spot gourami
Trichopodus trichopterus
Fits
The most common gourami: hardy, omnivorous and an air breather, though males can turn quarrelsome, especially when spawning.
5.9 in · 26+ gal · 75–86°F · pH 6–8
Zebra mbuna
Maylandia zebra
Fits
The classic blue-and-black rock cichlid of Lake Malawi; one of the more aggressive mbuna, it needs hard alkaline water, rocks and a crowded mbuna-only tank.
6 in · 64+ gal · 77–80°F · pH 8–8.5
Assassin snail
Anentome helena
Fits
A yellow-and-brown striped predatory snail kept to control bladder, ramshorn and trumpet snails; it breeds slowly and never becomes a pest.
1 in · 3+ gal · 70–81°F · pH 7.2–8
Bladder snail
Physella acuta
Fits
A small left-coiled snail that usually hitchhikes in on plants; a self-fertilising hermaphrodite, so a single one starts a colony.
0.6 in · 1+ gal · 63–84°F · pH 7–8
Malaysian trumpet snail
Melanoides tuberculata
Fits
A cone-shelled snail that lives in the substrate and stirs it; it breeds without a mate and gives birth to live young, so it fills a tank fast.
1 in · 2+ gal · 64–77°F · pH 7–8.5

And 27 more in the species catalog.

Risky

And 1 more in the species catalog.

Avoid

And 73 more in the species catalog.

Every tank is different. Set yours up once (size, water, who already lives there) and each species is checked against it.

Related guides