Breeding

[gscott]

will a breeding a pink convict and a red devil give me a parot fish? If so whats the best way to get them to do it

 

[wixx]

No, wont give you a parrot fish. I don't know of the best way to do it. Maybe using a divider because of the aggressiveness of a red devil.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

and neither of these are africans...

 

[freddyk]

A dividor is a good idea - you'll probably end up with a dead convict.

 

[GuppyDude]

are parrot fish even hybrids? i thoght they were a deformity that was bred out of convict fish?

i hear red devils can be pretty rough, should probably be very careful....

 

[Synirr]

Yes, blood parrots are said to be hybrids between either a red devil/midas (Cichlasoma erythraeum/citrinellum) and a severum (Heros severus) or a redhead cichlid (Cichlasoma synspilum). Though no one seems to know for sure what the parental species are, BPs are most definitely hybrids, evidenced by the fact that the vast majority of males are sterile

 

[afireinside]

Good luck with that. From what I've heard, Red Devils, aggressive. Territorial.

 

[Yenko]

I was under the impression that BPs were produced via artificial methods.

 

[freddyk]

We simply don't know, they never released their secrets - all we have are several theories. I believe it was a combination of multiple fish hybriding (of which species we'll probably never know) and line breeding.

 

[GuppyDude]

aside from being sterile, they are prolly one of the most perfect hybrid fish that have been created for aquariums, i imagine alot of work and planing went into such a project. "they never released their secrets", who is they?

 

[freddyk]

who is they?

They be the peoples in Taiwan who created the creature

 

[wixx]

I believe they were made in a dish... I'm sure it wasn't just stick sperm on egg and theres a parrot cichlid.. I'm sure it took them a long time to get to the parrot cichlid.

 

[Synirr]

I believe they were made in a dish... I'm sure it wasn't just stick sperm on egg and theres a parrot cichlid.. I'm sure it took them a long time to get to the parrot cichlid.

[snapback]888598[/snapback]​

Sorry, I know I bring this up every time someone mentions this theory, but it just gets my goat. I don't mean to offend.

Question: Why? Why wouldn't it be as simple as sticking sperm to an egg? What kind of technology do you think went on to produce these things? I mean really... when serious technology is involved in creating some sort of genetically engineered freak, there is a purpose behind it. When GloFish were first produced it was in hopes that they could serve to detect environmental pollutants. It just so happened that they became popular in the hobby, that is not what they were created for. What purpose, I ask, could bloodparrots possibly have?

It just doesn't make any sense to believe that when it is entirely likely that the parental species are simply not very closely related and thus the genes combine in a strange fashion to produce the freak we lovingly call the blood parrot. Blood parrots, like mules, are subject to hybrid sterility (in the males) so it is obvious there is quite a bit of divergence between the parental species. Generally crossing a hybrid back to other closely-related species will give you fertile offspring, as is the case with jellybean parrots and ti-tigons or li-ligers (tiger-lion hybrids crossed back to a parental species,) so I think it is not only possible but likely that blood parrots are first generation hybrids and nothing more. Maybe the eggs and sperm are collected from the fish and combined artificially to bypass the difficulty of getting the two parental species to breed, but I don't think the technology would go beyond that. Though, considering that my female midas-BP hybrid thinks my oscar is her mate and they display courtship behaviour on a regular basis, I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility for blood parrots to be created "the old-fashioned way".

 

[wixx]

I was told that theory by someone that said they read it in a fish magazine. I don't know why they would do it, I don't know why it hasn't happened more if that IS the way it was done... who knows really

 

[Synirr]

Almost makes me want to try breeding BPs just to solve the mystery