Gold Severum Care Guide - Aquarium Setup, Diet & Breeding

Gold Severums are a striking cultivated variety of the banded severum, with a warm yellow to golden body that may deepen to orange or show subtle darker markings around the fins and face. Their tall, laterally compressed shape gives them an elegant appearance, while the long dorsal and anal fins create a rounded, powerful silhouette as they swim.

Gold Severums are a selectively bred colour form of Heros efasciatus, a South American cichlid native to slow-moving rivers, floodplain lakes and forest waterways across parts of the Amazon and adjacent river basins. The original wild form occurs in countries including Brazil, Peru and Bolivia, although the exact range of aquarium-bred strains is not always documented.

A single Gold Severum needs at least 300 litres, with a tank measuring around 120 cm long by 45 cm wide or larger; a pair or community group benefits from a substantially larger aquarium. Use a sturdy fine-gravel or sand substrate, smooth rocks, driftwood and robust plants attached to wood or decor, as these cichlids may rearrange the layout and uproot delicate vegetation. Leave open swimming space and provide caves or visual barriers to help establish territories.

Males can reach about 25 cm (10 in) in length, while females are usually smaller at around 20–22 cm (8–8.5 in).

Gold Severums are omnivores with a strong preference for plant matter. Offer a quality cichlid pellet or granule as the staple, supplemented with spirulina, blanched spinach, peas, courgette and other suitable vegetable foods. Frozen or live foods such as brine shrimp, bloodworm and mysis can provide variety, but rich meaty foods should remain occasional rather than forming the main diet.

Gold Severums are generally peaceful for their size and can live with similarly sized, robust South American fish such as larger tetras, peaceful barbs, hoplo catfish, medium to large Corydoras, plecos and compatible geophagus species. Avoid very small fish that may be swallowed, fin-nipping species and highly aggressive cichlids. They can become territorial when spawning, and a bonded pair may need additional space or separation from other cichlids.

Gold Severums are substrate-spawning cichlids that usually breed as a bonded pair. The female lays several hundred eggs on a smooth, carefully cleaned stone or other flat surface, and the male fertilises them. Both parents commonly fan and guard the eggs, which hatch after roughly two to three days. The fry become free-swimming a few days later and can be raised on newly hatched brine shrimp or other suitably fine foods while the parents continue to defend them.

Males are typically larger and may develop slightly longer, more pointed dorsal and anal fins, along with stronger facial markings and patterning. Females are generally shorter-bodied with rounder fin profiles, although colour-form variation and individual differences can make sexing Gold Severums difficult until they mature or form a breeding pair.