hey hows it going. I got a 29 gallon with a couple of different cichlids. Right now the biggest one is my green terror who rules the tank right not but never picks on the second biggest which is the blood parrot..they actually seem like the like each other alot. My question is that has anybody ever heard of them mating? And sexing my green terror and blood parrot is a little hard
Green Terror and Blood Parrot cross?
- Thread starter Roman09
- Start date
It's already been done...in the world of flowerhorn cichlids, parrots are used quite a bit to shorten the flowerhorn body and give it a thicker appearance...sometimes called bonsai flowerhorn. There are many flowerhorn keepers and breeders in Asia that cross parrots with other cichlids.
Therefore, it's very possible to breed the two together IF the parrotfish is the female. Male parrots are sterile for the most part. There are a couple of other types such as a King Kong Parrot, Red Mammon, or Red Ingot where the males are fertile. There is a slight chance of you having a King Kong parrot as they are sometimes sold in stores. However, I highly doubt you have the latter two...in fact, if you did purchase an Ingot or Mammon, they would have cost hundreds of dollars and come with a certificate of authenticity.
Never heard of these?...check these out and you'll be amazed! http://www.happybreed.com/en/species.htm
BTW: There are many ways of sexing cichlids...especially the green terror. However, the best way is to look at their papillae...that little tube next to the fishes' anus. If they are in breeding condition or if they ever pair off, the one with the shorter, broader tube is the female. The one with the longer, thinner tube is the male. Look up how to sex Green Terrors on Google..shouldn't be too hard. If it's got a lot of color and pointed top and bottom fins, chances are it's a male.
Therefore, it's very possible to breed the two together IF the parrotfish is the female. Male parrots are sterile for the most part. There are a couple of other types such as a King Kong Parrot, Red Mammon, or Red Ingot where the males are fertile. There is a slight chance of you having a King Kong parrot as they are sometimes sold in stores. However, I highly doubt you have the latter two...in fact, if you did purchase an Ingot or Mammon, they would have cost hundreds of dollars and come with a certificate of authenticity.
Never heard of these?...check these out and you'll be amazed! http://www.happybreed.com/en/species.htm
BTW: There are many ways of sexing cichlids...especially the green terror. However, the best way is to look at their papillae...that little tube next to the fishes' anus. If they are in breeding condition or if they ever pair off, the one with the shorter, broader tube is the female. The one with the longer, thinner tube is the male. Look up how to sex Green Terrors on Google..shouldn't be too hard. If it's got a lot of color and pointed top and bottom fins, chances are it's a male.
Thanks guys! Ya my green terror is pretty vivid with colors and it's dorsal and anal fins are pretty pointy and long, I just haven't really spotted that thing below the anus. I don't quite see a big bump growing on it's head either. It is very territorial just looking who to terrorize! The one that never gets it or rarely ever does is my blood parrot.. They seem to rub on each other from time to time, which leads me to my other question of sexing my blood parrot .... How?
Do to the stocking of my tank, that's why I don't beleive they have "paired off" could it be because of other fish in the tank? Would it be better or likely if I seperate them into another tank or simply remove the ones he hates most which are my jack dempseys? Which I also think have a crush on each other... With the female being the bigger of the 2. They 2 haven't paired off but they dance around each other flairing up.. The one I think is a female always seems to bother and turn pitch black on the smaller male, who now turns almost completely black but has very beautiful color spots along his whole body
Parrots are hard or next to impossible to sex based on dimorphism. They are hybrids of a number of fish so looking at fins or the nuchal bump is no indicator.
Cichlids, in a community environment, will fight to establish a pecking order. Generally, the strongest (largest) of the group will bully the most likely competitor...another cichlid that's about the same size and will tend to leave smaller (less competition) cichlids alone.
Therefore, if your Green Terror and Parrot are about the same size and he leaves the parrot alone, it's a good chance that the parrot is a female. If the parrot is much smaller and the Terror spends most of the time chasing off a large dempsey, then I'm not so sure.
You also mentioned that the Green Terror is chasing everyone away but the parrot....that may be a good sign as well and he may be courting her. Cichlids will pair off even in a community setting....one of the key things to look for is heightened aggression, lots of digging in the gravel in a particular spot, cleaning and fanning of a rock, etc.
Cichlids, in a community environment, will fight to establish a pecking order. Generally, the strongest (largest) of the group will bully the most likely competitor...another cichlid that's about the same size and will tend to leave smaller (less competition) cichlids alone.
Therefore, if your Green Terror and Parrot are about the same size and he leaves the parrot alone, it's a good chance that the parrot is a female. If the parrot is much smaller and the Terror spends most of the time chasing off a large dempsey, then I'm not so sure.
You also mentioned that the Green Terror is chasing everyone away but the parrot....that may be a good sign as well and he may be courting her. Cichlids will pair off even in a community setting....one of the key things to look for is heightened aggression, lots of digging in the gravel in a particular spot, cleaning and fanning of a rock, etc.
There is no rock cleaning as far as I know.. The green terror does put a rock or two in his mouth and then spits it out but I think it's just to be looking for food! My blood parrot would be the second biggest... It two having the respect of the whole tank, even by the longer jack Dempsey.. The blood parrot seems like it would get beat up if the JD tried, I mean come on it has no mouth to fight! But it seems to be the moderater, usually trying to calm down the JD's when they get excited with each other. The blood parrot is pretty robust coMing out to be just a tad thicker than the green terror
But yes the blood parrot and the green terror are the kings of the tank. The green terror most of the time chasing the JD's more so now the male.. It used to be more the female.. They have fought a couple of times both being pretty good fights. The blood parrot just minds it's own business not really bugging anybody just being nosey when the jack dempseys show off and circulate each other... Trying to break away what I think is the female JD. Maybe to be like "no you guys aint hitting it off in this tank because I want to" or like " calm down don't be so aggressive to the smaller male you won't get some that way" LOL I don't know