Max size: 8", although I have heard 12"

Minimum tanks size: 55G

Water: Neutral pH, from 78-82 degrees is ideal (Mine has survived in 100 degrees, broken heater)

Breeding: The pair will protect the eggs. Males have more of the squiggle marks on their cheeks (see my photo)
If anyone has experience breeding these fish, please add it to this profile!

Origin: Amazon, South America

Feeding: Since these aren't picky fish, feed them the healthiest foods you can. Vegetables are needed in their diet.
What I feed my severum:
Cichlid sticks (staple) , crickets, mealworms, lettuce, peas, corn, freeze dried krill (Staple), and earthworms.

These are really amazing fish. They are beautiful, have character, and attain a pretty good size, so they can be kept with larger oddballs and catfish. They can become fairly aggressive toward similar fish that aren't very aggressive, so try not to keep too many other medium-large semi aggressive cichlids in a small tank with a territorial severum, I've seen what happens.

Sunny, my gold Red cheeked severum