WATER, FOOD & PATIENCE

.... I recommend a 40 gallon breeders tank minimum ... larger is always better ..... if there are other fish in the aquarium as long as there's lot's of room the parents will keep everyone on the oppisite end of where they've layed the eggs ....

obtaining a pait takes patience ... if you have budgetary contraints purchase a group of 6 to 8 smaller fish .... keep them in a large tank & feed them well and often .... as they approach the 5" to 7" range watch for pairing off .... when it happens, segregate the pair(s) into their own aquarium(s)

sexing the fish is fairly easy ..... males have a colorful series of striations surrounding their mouth, forehead, cheeks ..... females are more unifirmly colored in that area .... getting a m & f to pair off may not be automatic .... although putting them alone should help ..... since beggers can't be choosers ..

trick is to feed them well .... live food, frozen, dry .... variety .... keep the water quality very high ... PH in the 6 range ... and the temperature in upper 70's to low 80's ....

veggies are important to severums ... try duckweed if you can get it ....  earthworms are always extremely nutritious and good for conditioning ...

when fish are ready to spawn the colors of their fins and body highlights intensify ... their eyes are bright & they are active ....

the eggs will be obvious and one parent will fan them .... they can be attached to the the side of the aquarium or a flat rock .... they have a preference for laying eggs on vertical surfaces ....

once hatched they are a squiggly tale waving mass ... very small and hard to see except that they are bunched together .....

once they become free swimming siphon them out if you want max production  ... ot leave them up to the parents who will care for them .....

for food  ... take something nutritious and veggies based and grind it into a very fine powder with a pestal & mortar ... place the powder ina cup of water & stir it up ... tale a baster and squirt a cloud of foo at the school of babies ...

keep the water in the baby aquarium clean ... do 20% changes daily  and use a sponge filter that already has been used and has a population of bacterias as well as lot of stuff on it that they can nibble on .....

good luck ... but if you follow these intructions ... you won't need any luck! :-)