My newest fish

Your fish in about 2 years time. at 13"

deffinatly not a blood parrot. looks like a midas hybrid to me...with what i have no idea.

just be careful. could turn pretty agro

Nice fish, and although I know Nothing! about cichlids, I have to agree with Vip, Ron and mwm. That isn't a blood parrot, it's a midas, just by looking at the comparisons, and also knowing that vip is a cichlid fanatic!

LFS owners will lie to you. You have already said that if she didn't sell dyed fish, she would go out of business (I'm sure this is not true BTW). Think about this: if she didn't lie then she would go out of business too. Also, even the import places have a habit of labelling them wrong, so she might not even know...

NICE FISH ANYHOO!

Well... SWEET!!! Thanks guys. I would absolutely love it if this fella turned out to be a midas. I talked to my LFS owner about it, and she said she honestly didn't know... she had some blood parrots a while back that were supposedly severum/pink convict, and she said they looked very unlike blood parrots when she first got them but they eventually grew to look like normal blood parrots. She figured these would do the same, but admitted they do seem a bit old to start undergoing a drastic change of shape at this point.
The fish I bought was sold to her as a blood parrot, and given that, I'm pretty sure it is at least partially blood parrot (unless you guys have heard of people breeding tailless midas?) but I am actually hoping it turns out more midas-like than parrot-like. Maybe it's a blood parrot-midas cross?
As for his tail being cut off... Ron, you seem sure of yourself. I've seen fish with their tails manually removed in pictures and at my other LFS, and by comparison, I'd say this one is bred to have no tail. Admittedly, there's no way for me to be sure of that, but you can usually tell that there was a spot the tail used to be when it has been cut off, and by the way the fins and whatnot are positioned on my fish, I don't think that's the case. The less of a gap there is between the dorsal and anal fins at the back, the less likely the tail has been manually removed. My fish's fins actually touch back there... Here's a fish whose back end looks much like parrots I've seen with their tails manually removed. Either way, I have not "added" to the dyieng and torture of fish, because like I said before, my LFS was not planning to reorder any more of these anyway. They simply aren't selling fast enough. My LFS hasn't sold any sort of large fish in ages, it seems (to anyone but me, that is )

Considering my LFS owner knows how much I usually dislike blood parrots, I'm sure she wasn't telling me these things in order to get me to buy one ! I'm just rambling now, but I really do feel the need to defend her... she's a good woman who really cares about her fish, and wouldn't knowingly lie to anyone about them. She might neglect to tell you some things if you don't ask, but she's not going to lie to your face

Sorry to double post, but I finally found a pic of what are supposedly young baby blood parrots! I was looking for one before I bought my fish, to see if he looked like they do. From what I can see in that pic, those babies don't look like adult blood parrots yet... but they also don't look too much like my fish, so yeah, hopefully he'll look more like a midas
This is what I was confused about. I knew he didn't look anything like an adult blood parrot, but young severums don't look too much like the adults to me, so I figured maybe he was going to change as he grew, like they do. Having never seen really small blood parrots before, I didn't know what to expect.

I'm sorry guys.........

But I definitley see BP in this fish. The tail-less kind look a bit different. And I beg to differ but most tail-less fish ARE indeed bred that way.

Synirr,
I apolgize for the nastyness of some of these members. Sometimes I am appauled by some of the very people I respect............

go figure!!

I think it is a BP, but only time will tell I suppose.

I have NEVER in my life heard of a tail-less Midas, and that one BY FAR was not just lopped off

Uh-oh, conflicting opinions... now I don't know what to think!
I'm going to stick with my original hypothesis for now, which is that this is either a severum/midas blood parrot, or a blood parrot/midas hybrid. Hopefully the latter... but I guess we'll see in a few months
I'll post more pics of him as he starts to develop into... whatever he's going to be!

Thanks for backing me up about his tail, silver

it is definitely a midas cichlid
i think(not to be rude)your lfs has misinformed you
my lfs has done that from time to time and they are a very reputationable lfs.
if it was a blood parrot it would have a deformed mouth and be more wider.
ill post some pics to show you the difference

who cares what it is, she likes it and that's all that matters

yep your right enjoy your fish and it will reward you with a long,happy life

i think it looks like a hybrid but im no expert

blood parrots have the big cheeks and small round mouths... this one doesnt... i think its a midas too, but its not pure midas however..... looks partially koi

Its a Midas im 100% sure on it, its not pure because it does have Red Devil Lips on it but your not going to find a pure midas in a LFS so i wouldnt worry about that.
As for the tail part like ive said it could just be a mutant that was in line for a cull but some how made it to your LFS, belive me ive bred cichlids and some times you get the odd one that has no fins or eyes etc, but what i am stressing to you is the agression in this fish, take alook at my latest video with my midas you will see why he is in his own tank.

Vip said:

As for the tail part like ive said it could just be a mutant that was in line for a cull but some how made it to your LFS

Click to expand...

Not at all. There were about 10 others with exactly the same shape as mine... it was definitely a trait that was being bred for, as previously stated. Of that much, and only that much, I'm sure *lol*!
I've been watching it for signs of aggression, as I am fairly familiar with midas and understand how cranky they can be, but so far the only thing I've seen is one little quarrel in which my oscar won himself a split caudal
The oscar started it, actually... he didn't want the other fish hiding behind HIS plant!
Edit: My LFS had them labled as sweetheart parrots (sweetheart blood parrots have no tail, like mine.)

And to inform you about the mouth......

NOT ALL BLOOD PARROTS HAVE DEFORMED MOUTHS..........

Is everyone clear on this now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!