Blood Parrots?

[Man of fish]

Hi I was at my LFS today and I saw some blood parrot cichlids. I wanted to know if I could get these fish. They had a mated pair. (the only 2 left) here's my current stocking and what I plan to stock. I would change the gouramis for the parrots if possible but if it won't work out that's ok I guess.
Current:
2 marble molly
1 platy
3 otoclinus

Plan:
2 marble Molly
6 platy
3 otos
8 black skirt or bleeding heart tetras
2 flame dwarf gouramis
29 gallon tank
Perimenters
Ph-7.6
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-unknown ran out of solution last week. I bought a new test kit but it showed up with the nitrate bottle leaking.

 

[onidrase]

Not an expert of blood parrots, but it seems like your tank will be quite stocked as it is. I wouldn't want to be adding 2 fish that get about (I believe) 8 inches long. I'd aim to have like 55 gallons for a pair due to their size.

 

[Man of fish]

Ok thanks! I'll skip them then. I just liked how they looked and the sign said 20 gallon + so just wanted to see if they'd be ok.

-matt

 

[snowflake311]

In sort NO.

Even if the parrot is a hybrid it is still very much a cichlids and they should never be trusted with smaller fish. I have seen Parrots get to be 6" they are not small. Getting on for this tank is a bad idea.

 

[onidrase]

In sort NO.

Even if the parrot is a hybrid it is still very much a cichlids and they should never be trusted with smaller fish. I have seen Parrots get to be 6" they are not small. Getting on for this tank is a bad idea.

Looking at his stock, not all of those fish are dangerously small. The oto's are the smallest, which may be of concern, but the rest of them get about 3 inches long and are rather full bodied. It's the tank size I'd be concerned of.

 

[GShorty1981]

I wish people would stop calling them hybrids with no proof, Heiko Bleher said himself that they are deformed Midas Cichlids and that he introduced them into the hobby personally.

I have seen Oscars and Green Terrors the same Parrot shape.

As for the size, i had a 6" Blood Parrot and he was humongous.

 

[onidrase]

I wish people would stop calling them hybrids with no proof, Heiko Bleher said himself that they are deformed Midas Cichlids and that he introduced them into the hobby personally.

I have seen Oscars and Green Terrors the same Parrot shape.

As for the size, i had a 6" Blood Parrot and he was humongous.

I woulda thought they were hybrids too, considering how much different they look, how much bigger midas cichlids get, and that most male blood parrots are sterile which is a common trait among hybrid fish. This is the first time I've heard of them being just a deformed midas cichlid.

 

[GShorty1981]

They look like deformed midas, i have kept both together and they have bred before, i have seen Oscar parrots and Green Terror Parrots that look exactly like a blood parrot but with each fishes normal colours and patterns, they were both posted on this site.

As for the sterile thing, only the males are sterile (not all of them) but the same goes for the Red Spotted Severum and many other line bred/deformed fish.

As for Hybrids being sterile, i used to be well into my hybrids years ago, i used to breed all kind of weird and wonderful things from different central american cichlids, it was like a little hobby, i used to cull most, grow a few out and then give them away to mates etc, like Texas x Jack Dempseys etc none of the resulting fry was ever infertile.

Infact up until last year i was breeding Flowerhorns which are cross breeds between Amphilophus (Trimacs, Midas) Vieja, Texas etc, again the 4 that i had were fertile and i had constant fry, I had 2 Red Dragon ZZ's, A Red Dragon ZZ x Texas female and a Rose Queen, i also crossed Texas with blood parrots and the flowerhorn with blood parrots.

I have never had a fertile male Parrot tho, my old female used to breed with a pink convict all the time, never kept the fry tho, i just used to hoover them out.

Anyways, Heiko Bleher is a very respected person in the trade, and the fact that he discovered the fish and gave them to the asian market.....i mean why would he lie? he collected the originals from the wild.

 

[snowflake311]

I do not believe this fish are or ever were found in the wild. I would like to see proof of that.

I will believe that they are not hybrids. They could be a genetic deformity that has been line bred. Maybe the first "parrot" was the offspring of a wild caught fish. Or maybe it was a deformed young fish that might have been caught. But there is No way this is a natural wild fish. No way can one of these fish survive in the wild.

The other fish might not be very small but they are still small and it being a cichlid will bully them and cause stress.

 

[walkers101]

If there are any in the wild 100% it has been released by someone but as said above no way would it last long out there

 

[GShorty1981]

Do you know who Heiko Bleher is?

 

[walkers101]

Do you know who Heiko Bleher is?

Yeah he is a repected bloke who also said that a flowerhorn isn't a hybrid lol

http/www.perthcichlid.com.au/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t27801.html

 

[GShorty1981]

No he said the original Flowerhorn was a mutant bright coloured Umbee, which was later crossed with Amphilophus and Vieja species in asia.

 

[walkers101]

"The Flowerhorn cichlid is not a hybrid, it is a mutant, like the parrot cichlid, it is also a mutant, and so on. If anyone tells you that those are hybrids, then that is simply wrong. Because I supplied the original species to the Taiwanese breeder how did both mutant forms and saw in details on trips over their what he did with it. (And unfortunately became world-famous and he made a lot of money with those terrible monsters...).
"

not my words

umfrierium is what he caught in the early 80's

he also says that flowerhorns are nothing to do with Vieja so i have no idea where you got that from

Anyway this has gone way off topic so i apologise to the op

 

[GShorty1981]

He is saying the original Flowerhorn idea came from a mutant Umbee, read the whole site, he doesnt once say all Flowerhorns are Umbees, or the original fish he caught in 1983.

Either way, why are you acting like you need to prove me wrong, all i said in the first place is nobody has any proof that Parrots are hybrids.