TANKMATES

 This is an important subject, while many fish species are suitable for severums, quite a few will cause problems and are not recommended. I'll only cover fish that I've actually kept with my severums, or strongly suspect will or won't work with severums. I'll also explain some common terms as they apply to tropical fish. I'll start now with a few definitions.
 Dither Fish: Dithers are generally smaller fish than the showcased fish, that are put into the tank to give the bigger fish confidence that it's safe to be out and about. Dithers are used allot with shyer fish such as discus and angelfish. Most severums, in my experience anyway, are very confident fish anyway, and the only time they hide is when a bigger or tougher fish has chased them into cover. Needless to say a dither will not draw a severum out of the bushes under these circumstances. Others have reported shyness with severums, and such fish may like a few dithers to give them confidence, very young severums would likewise benefit.
 Feeder Fish: The name pretty much explains it. Any low cost, fairly harmless fish fills the bill nicely, guppies and goldfish being the most common. If you use feeder fish, try to size the feeders so that the severums won't gobble them up quickly. I try to get them so that they're barely big enough to eat, this way they provide hours, even days of activity of hunting them, they give your severums some exercise, and relieve their boredom. The feeders can also do double duty as scavengers, eating all those minute bits of food that severums are so good at blowing around during feeding. Be forewarned that feeder fish are a potential source of disease, so quarantining any feeders is recommended. Severums, being primarily vegetarian, don't need feeder fish, I only give them as treats.
 Target Fish: Target fish are the "kick me boys" of the tank. They're there for the severums to vent their aggression on, suitable fish for this roll need to be quick and tough, both mentally and physically. Target fish help mating fish by giving the pair something to unite against, rather than venting on each other. They also are good for spreading the aggressiveness of a dominant fish around, so it doesn't fix on a single fish. It tends to work like this, beta fish steals some food from alpha fish's space, alpha attacks beta, beta dashes through some target fish, alpha fish redirects anger at targets, beta lives to steal another day.
 Scavengers: These fish help keep the place clean by eating uneaten food and algae.
 Almost all fish added to your severum tank will fill one or more of the rolls above, a few, such as goldfish and convict cichlids do it all.

 Now I'll start a species by species list of suitable and unsuitable fish.
Cichlids :  More severums; If you have the tank space, severums get along with other severums tolerably, expect some fighting, and even targeted bullying. I had one female gold that pestered my green male until he got big enough to fight back, he finally beat her and became beta fish in the tank. She immediately zeroed in on a smaller gold male, until I sold her. In my experience, the females are more inclined to bully smaller fish than the males.

 African cichlids: I'd avoid these, for starters most are from the rift lakes and like much harder water than severums, and differ in body language, causing confusion and increased fighting from mixed messages. Humans tend to shout, gesture allot, and become angry when dealing with someone who speaks a different language, fish aren't much different. Some of the west African species like soft water, such as Jewel cichlids, but may be hostile, and they "don'ta speaka da language".
 
 South American cichlids: Most like the same water, I'll break them down farther.
 Oscars(Astronotus ocellatus); These fish do well together, I've not kept them, but I see and hear about them together all the time. Oscars, being even bigger than severums, need even more tank space, and create even more bioload on a system. Frankly, severums are more likely to be target fish for oscars, than the other way around.
 Eartheaters(Geophagus,Satanoperca,etc); They, as a group should do well with severums, again regrettably, I've got no experience keeping them.
 Acaras (Aequidens, Laetacara, etc.); The bigger ones should do ok, I'd avoid the really big guys like the Green Terror(Ae. rivulatus). The little "smiling acaras" would probably not cut it with the much bigger severums.
 Pike cichlids; I am not very familiar with these fish, and can only say that big, full grown severums would likely do ok, small severums would be looked at as lunch.
 Triangle Cichlid These guys should work great together, they're damn near the same fish as far as water, food, etc. They even look allot alike, back when I first got into severums, one was sold to me as a severum. Only after quite a bit of research did I find out what it was, I sold it, still looking for a green male. I wish I'd kept it in retrospect, maybe I'd be doing a Uaru(pronounced "waroo")
page instead. These fish get even bigger than severums though.
 Angel Fish ( Pterophyllum scalare); This fish is out unfortunately, when I tried two in my tank, my then young green female zeroed in on them and pestered them to death, I still feel guilt about those two poor angels.
 Discus (Symphysodon aequifasciatus); Not a chance, these fish are bigger sissies than angel fish! My wife put my smallest severum, about 3 inches, in her discus tank to eat some snails. In my tank he was at the bottom of the pecking order, hiding by the heater all day. In Joyce's tank, he was running the place after one hour. He didn't bully the discus, but they were so afraid they spent the day hiding, he did get to pound down allot of snails though.
 Rams (Apistogramma, and others); I haven't tried them, and I doubt they'd work, too small and not tough enough.

Central American Cichlids; This group generally likes harder water, but "speak" the same body language, so if a compromise on the water can be found, they should work out. I'd avoid the "Guapotes", most of these bruisers are too big and ornery for severums.
 Firemouths(Cichlasoma meeki) I raised my first severum, the boss female, with five firemouths. They got along ok, and the firemouths grew well in our soft water. I'd give this a thumbs up as long as the firemouths are smaller than the severums, they have enough moxie to get by with the larger severums.
 Convict Cichlids(Archocentrus nigrofasciatum); I've only had them a short while and so far they're great. They don't get real big, 4-6 inches for males, under 4 inches for females, they're tough as nails, they like most any water, they'll eat anything and like it, they're fairly handsome fish, and they don't cost much. They have all the prerequisites for being the perfect target fish, and they help the pleco gobble up uneaten food. My male is 2 1/2 inches, the female 2 inches, they set up house in a coconut shell the second day in the tank. I now have baby convicts grazing on the gravel, with harried parents dashing around. I expect that my severums will be hunting baby convicts when they get away from the scrappy parents, so this prolific breeder even provides feeder fish! The Honeymoon with this interesting little fish isn't over yet, but so far I highly recommend them.

Catfish
 Plecostomus; While Plecostomus is a genus name, it's become a generic name for the family of "suckermouth" catfishes. Most are a great addition to your severum tank. They eat the overlooked, or too small food that the severums pass over, they eat most algae growing on the glass and other surfaces of the tank. They are tough, covered with thick rough hides, the severums generally leave them alone, and the plecos tend to ignore the severums. Many people state that plecos need a piece of wood in the tank to chew on, mine has ignored any wood I've added to the tank, but in regard to the experience of others, I recommend the wood in the tank. This wood can be bought at the fish stores, Old grape vine stumps work well to, boil it first to sanitize, remove excess acids, and to help water log it. Coconut shells are also a cheap alternative. Plecos also like caves to hide in during the day, piled rocks, flower pots, and pieces of plastic pipe will fill the bill nicely. If your pleco just lies around during the day, don't worry, they're nocturnal, and are just waiting for a dark tank to feed. I'd stick with the larger breeds of pleco, the smaller ones, such as bristlenose and Otocinclus are too small, to stand up to severums in my opinion. The poor little otos would probably be eaten. Plecos are reported to eat fish eggs and wriggler stage fry, so I'd cordon off your pleco from severums with eggs or wrigglers, I doubt they'd be any threat to swimming fry though. Your pleco would like algae wafers added to his diet if the tank doesn't provide enough to algae on it's own.
 Corydoras; All these great little cats are too small for severums.
 Large to medium predatory catfish; I've lumped all the Pimelodids, Shovelnose, Redtail, and other big predatory cats here. I've got no experience with any of them, I'd  imagine they'd do ok with nonbreeding severums, as long as they aren't so big they'd eat the severums. I can't see how they'd add anything useful to the severum tank, but suspect they may be detrimental instead. However, if you like these big guys, it'd be worth  a try, they could always be fenced off with "egg crate" if you wanted to save the fry of breeding severums.
 Loaches; While these aren't catfish, they are similar in habit and habitat in the tank. The clown loaches(Botia macarantha) are very common in fish stores, only the larger ones should be considered for adding to a tank of severums. Clown loaches are also schooling fish so a large tank would be needed for enough space to keep several. The big horseface loach(Acanthopsis choirorhynchus) is reported to do great in a tank of cichlids, they like to bury themselves in the gravel, out of harms way. My wife has a skunk loach(Botia almorhae) in her tank for snail eating duty, while it's on the small side, it to has a tough guy attitude, and I suspect would do all right in with the severums. All the loaches mentioned have little "switchblade" spines on the sides of their heads that pop out when the fish feels threatened. These spines allow them respect beyond that given normally to a fish of their size. Loaches are also avid snail eaters, but so are severums, so this normally good selling point is lost in a severum tank.

Characins
A South and Central American Family of fish that generally like the same pH and hardness of water that severums prefer.
 Tetras ; only the largest tetras should be considered, I've tried Buenos Aires Tetras(Hemigrammus caudovittatus) when my severums where younger and smaller, I consider them barely large enough. The congo tetras(Phenacogrammus interruptus) may also work ok, I haven't tried them.
 Exodon paradoxus; I had some Exodons in the tank for a short time, they both came down with what appeared to be mouth fungus, so I quickly got rid of them. They did get along great in the severum tank for the short time I had them, if I can find healthy specimens, I'll try them again. Very striking colored fish, with huge mouths for their size, reputed to be bad actors in a tank of smaller fish, they did bully each other allot. They're said to be predatory, and could be a problem in a tank with small fry.
 Silver dollars; (Mylossoma, Colossoma, Metynnis, Genus) This is a common name for several genus of large, silver colored characins. These are great fish for a severum tank! They're medium size, tough speedy, and too dumb to suffer from hassling from the severums, they make perfect target fish. They also like the same water and food as the severums. They clean up the bits of lettuce that the severums leave floating about the tank, and sneak in to grab a bite off the lettuce clip when the severums aren't looking. Silver dollars are tough on any plants in the tank, but so are severums, so there probably won't be any plants anyway. I highly recommend silver dollars.
  Pacu; These fish are similar to the silver dollars, but grow way too large for most home aquariums, and are tough to sell, or even give away when they outgrow their tank. They should otherwise make a good tankmate for severums, don't be surprised though when you end up throwing that giant Pacu on the barbecue just to get rid of it;-)
 Piranha(Serrasalmus sprilipleura); I'm sure this has been tried, but I'm not ever going to subject my severums to having chunks taken out of them by a piranha.
Striped Headstander( Anostomus anostomus); I bought this fish out of a 99 cent tank on a whim, it's worked out great. It's a beautiful fish with black and yellow stripes, and red fins. It forages with it's tiny mouth in the crevices in the plastic plants that the pleco can't reach. It also nibbles on the pea skins that my male severum spits out. It enjoys shrimp pellets, I understand they eat insect larvae and such in the wild. It likes to hide in the pleco's caves. At 4 inches it won't grow too big. All in all, a peaceful, colorful fish that's big and fast enough to make a good target fish, my severums gave up trying to catch it the first day. I rank it up there with the silver dollar, I'll keep an eye out for more.

Colombian Tetras; I had high hopes for these beautiful fish, they look like a silver dollar with red fins and brilliant blue iridescence on the back. They are apparently a new fish on the market, and I have no genus or species name for them. Mine are two inches long, but they were still getting targeted by my big female as a meal, they now live happily in my wife's discus tank.

Carps and Minnows
A huge family of fish with members world wide except for South America and Australia.
 Goldfish; A brightly colored sport of the common carp, goldfish are really temperate water fish rather than tropical, but are tolerant of most any water condition. They usually find there way into a severum tank as feeder fish. Much maligned by most as polluters and disease hosts, I frankly like goldfish in the tank. They add a little color, are hardy, and give the severums some entertainment by being victims of their hunting activities. They are also excellent scavengers, always hungry, eating anything remotely edible, and really work over the plastic plants to get those bits that other fish are too large for. Goldfish are guilty of carrying disease, generally from the poor conditions that they're kept under, treated right goldfish are very healthy, but should be quarantined before adding to the tank. Goldfish do defecate heavily, but no worse than plecos, and all that manure is from food that they've scrounged from the tank, so less harmful in my opinion than it was as rotting food. I expect goldfish to fend for themselves in my tank, eating what they find with no supplemental feeding from me. They usually are around for a week or less, before a severum catches them anyway. I do feed them in the quarantine tank though, and any old fish food fills the bill,  they'll happily pound down that can of off brand your severums refused to touch. I may even go real cheap next time and try crushing dry dog food for them.
 Giant Danios(Danio malabaricus); At first I liked these fish, medium size, fast and colorful, I thought I'd found another good target fish. The problem is they hang out at the surface of the water, and my big female learned to stalk, kill, and eat them at night. I now avoid any surface loving fish, being sky lighted like that is doom. I still like giant danios, but now only enjoy them in my wife's discus tank.
 Tinfoil Barbs(Barbus schwanenfeldii); I had some for awhile that had grown too large for my wife's tank. It was apparent that they were eventually going to do the same in my tank, so I sold them. Otherwise they were good citizens, and I'd recommend them to anyone with a big enough tank.
 Other barbs; There are many other medium to large barbs, and most should work. Barbs in general are good tank mates, I've only mentioned the ones I've kept.

Killifishes and Gambusinos
 Most of these fish are too small to go with severums, and most like hard water too. I've given up on trying to keep them in our soft water. The only exemptions being platties and feeder guppies, the fancy ones wasted away like the mollies. I had guppies for awhile in another tank and fed the fry to my young severums. I tried to eliminate the middleman(me) by putting platties in the tank of half grown severums, thinking they'd breed and provide fry for the severums to eat. Instead, the boss female tried eating the adult platties! So off to the feeder tank they went before she killed them all, I eventually gave up on the feeder tank too, it was a 10 gallon and more work than it was worth. One plattie still lives in the quarantine tank, keeping a convict company until it's large enough to go in the severum tank.

Anabantids
Paradise Fish(Macropodus opercularis); This is the only anabantid I've kept with the severums, and then it was when they were half grown. They did ok, but tended to hide in the bushes, so might as well not have been in the tank. I don't think I'd try them again with the severums.
Others; Some of the large Gouramis may work, stay away from Bettas, too small and slow I'd guess.

Others
Australian Rainbow Fish(Melanotaenia mcccullochi); These are popular with Rift Lake cichlid keepers, but it's because they like the hard water loved by rift lake fish. They'd probably work otherwise.

 Plants
 Plants don't do well in the same tank with severums, the severums always try to make a meal out of them. I'll mention a few that lived through the first day, the list is very small. I'll also list a few that are definitely out.
Cryptocoryne; This one has done the best for me, it must taste bad, because they only nip a piece off occasionally, I suppose they're testing to see if they've started tasting good. I've had a few in the tank about a year, they slowly get smaller, but are still trying to live.
 Java Fern(Microsorium pteropus); They won't eat this one, but my boss female spent hours gleefully swimming through it and tore it to shreds. Your fish may leave it alone.
Anacharis; This one could possibly live a long time. The severums love to graze on it, but it doesn't die, and even grows. I gave up on it because they kept pulling it up, and I didn't like the grazed look. it might work if you planted a big patch of it.
 Sword Plant(Echinodorus); They munched this one down like it was salad, I pulled the stump after a week.
Water wisteria(Hygrophila difformis); salad
Cabomba; More salad, in fact they munched this plant the fastest, it didn't make it through the night!
Plastic Plants; If you must have plants in your tank, these are guaranteed to make it. They'll still rip 'em up though. I glued mine to pieces of slate with silicone, now they can't pull  them out, no matter how hard they try. Success at last with plants :-)
 

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