Funny, Well It Is For Me!

[fry_lover]

Right

I have a beautiful (in my opinion) Bright Orange about 6" Parrot fish that i inherited with a recent tank purchase.

I also have 2x "strange" parrot-cross (hybrid of a hybrid ) fish. They are both about 1.5" and albino / white in colouring with slightly orange bellies. The guy in Maidenhead Aquatics said they were bought in by a customer who was closing his tank down. Apparently the customer bought these "parrots" 2 years ago and they havent grown at all since!!!! They def. not Parrots (the hybrid version), they have a "parrot-type" head, but a convict body, and the guy at Maidenhead reckons that they somehow are a parrot (hybrid-type) and convict cross that managed to hatch successfully. Although this is pure speculation but they DO look like 50% parrot and 50% convict, i reckon most peeps would see that

Anway, these "parrots" well one of them is fertile, coz one of my male albino Convicts has already bred with it (within 7-days of these parrots going into my tank, a male convict bred with one of them to produce wrigglers )

But, now the funny bit (well its funny watching it)

the female "parrot cross" is flirting MASSIVELY with my big orange Parrot. The orange parrot is 6" approx the the "parrot cross" is about 1.5 inch (and most of that size if because of its nice finnage)

Its funny, watching the size difference and the flirting (shimmying, rubbing up close, following closely etc). My Big Parrot, who is kind of "boss" of the tank, seems to like it!!!!

I wonder what will develop

PS - sorry about this but disclaimer time....

I have no problem with hybrid fish, not really interested in the politics of hybrid fish, apparently they "weaken" the gene pool or something, thats all very interesting, and maybe one day i will care but right now in this stage of my fish keeping career, all i care about is the FISH I HAVE, not whats happening in the bigger picture (sorry but thats me!!!)

BUT, saying that, i would never pass on fry from hybrids or stange combinations unless the buyer (or person getting them free) knew full well about this.

 

[cheesy feet]

Right

I also have 2x "strange" parrot-cross (hybrid of a hybrid ) fish. They are both about 1.5" and albino / white in colouring with slightly orange bellies. The guy in Maidenhead Aquatics said they were bought in by a customer who was closing his tank down. Apparently the customer bought these "parrots" 2 years ago and they havent grown at all since!!!! They def. not Parrots (the hybrid version), they have a "parrot-type" head, but a convict body, and the guy at Maidenhead reckons that they somehow are a parrot (hybrid-type) and convict cross that managed to hatch successfully. Although this is pure speculation but they DO look like 50% parrot and 50% convict, i reckon most peeps would see that

These are called jellybean parrots and rarely reach over 4 inches

Anway, these "parrots" well one of them is fertile, coz one of my male albino Convicts has already bred with it (within 7-days of these parrots going into my tank, a male convict bred with one of them to produce wrigglers )

But, now the funny bit (well its funny watching it)

the female "parrot cross" is flirting MASSIVELY with my big orange Parrot. The orange parrot is 6" approx the the "parrot cross" is about 1.5 inch (and most of that size if because of its nice finnage)

Its funny, watching the size difference and the flirting (shimmying, rubbing up close, following closely etc). My Big Parrot, who is kind of "boss" of the tank, seems to like it!!!!

I wonder what will develop

If you can breed them you could sell them on for quite a bit as most are infertile and you cannot breed them.Good luck and supply them with slate/flat rock to lay their eggs on.

 

[fry_lover]

thanks for response, didnt know about Jellybean parrots, will do some research

 

[~T~]

thanks for response, didnt know about Jellybean parrots, will do some research

These jellybeans are nothing more than short body pink convicts.Take a good look at them compared to your pink cons.The only thing parrot about them is their shape.They are also fertile and breed true which would also suggest they are just a mutation and not a hybrid.Now many cichlids can get this balloon/short body appearance, I have had rams and seen firemouths, geophagus, green terror, jack dempsey.

Now convicts and short body convicts(jellybeans)can cross with blood parrots(I have done this myself).However male parrots are sterile so since its a female con flirting with the parrot there will not be any fry.

 

[fry_lover]

thanks for response, didnt know about Jellybean parrots, will do some research

These jellybeans are nothing more than short body pink convicts.Take a good look at them compared to your pink cons.The only thing parrot about them is their shape.They are also fertile and breed true which would also suggest they are just a mutation and not a hybrid.Now many cichlids can get this balloon/short body appearance, I have had rams and seen firemouths, geophagus, green terror, jack dempsey.

Now convicts and short body convicts(jellybeans)can cross with blood parrots(I have done this myself).However male parrots are sterile so since its a female con flirting with the parrot there will not be any fry.

good point, yes i figured that as my bigger orange parrot is being flirted with by "what i know" is a female Jelly Bean, thanks to male parrots being mostly Jaffa's there will be no fry.

However, i do see your point about Pink Cons, BUT these two i have, i would say they even look slightly more Parrot than Con. You say "only thing parrot about them is their shape", what else could be "parrot like"? Colour? Personality (hard to tell)?

Am not bothered either way mate, dont really have an agenda, just very interested, these two "jellybeans" are some of the most interesting fish i have ever owned, lovely finnage, great to watch them flirting with different species, and like i said one laid eggs within days of coming into my tank, that were fertilised into wrigglers. Might not be everyones cup of tea, but for me, it gives fish keeping that extra incentive, "something different", or atleast unusual to me!!!!!

 

[fry_lover]

Also (and perhaps this isnt even relevant) the finnage on these 2x Jellybeans (one of which i know is female) is beautiful, you would never see this on a female convict, or i havent and i have seen over a 100 female convict in my time

 

[~T~]

thanks for response, didnt know about Jellybean parrots, will do some research

These jellybeans are nothing more than short body pink convicts.Take a good look at them compared to your pink cons.The only thing parrot about them is their shape.They are also fertile and breed true which would also suggest they are just a mutation and not a hybrid.Now many cichlids can get this balloon/short body appearance, I have had rams and seen firemouths, geophagus, green terror, jack dempsey.

Now convicts and short body convicts(jellybeans)can cross with blood parrots(I have done this myself).However male parrots are sterile so since its a female con flirting with the parrot there will not be any fry.

However, i do see your point about Pink Cons, BUT these two i have, i would say they even look slightly more Parrot than Con. You say "only thing parrot about them is their shape", what else could be "parrot like"? Colour? Personality (hard to tell)?

Their colour is of a pink convict, white, females with orange bellies.Their personality is of a convict(aggressive, wanting to breed often).Their size is like a convict(females smaller than males)although due to their shape they stay smaller than regular convicts.Also since the balloon/short body gene is recessive, if you breed a short body convict with a regular convict all the resulting fish are regular convicts.Not to mention I have bred a pink con with a parrot and the resulting fish were nothing like jellybeans(they are largeish, striped and are not round).

So what would you say makes them more like a parrot than a convict(apart from their shape?).

 

[fry_lover]

i am not arguing they are move convict than parrot or vice versa, i just think mine that i have (hope to get pics soon, but my pic taking skills are cr*p anyway) have such a parrot like look to them that i really like it, they might even be parrot looking with convict character, i am not too bothered either way, also, as i mentioned above, they have much longer and nicer finnage than i would expect from female convicts

You've mentioned a few things to argue that they are more like convicts than parrots, but what you've said applies to a lot of cichlids anyway, and would apply to parrots also if the males weren't such jaffa's i guess?

I see from your profile you have bred some funky convicts / cichlids, i am envious, i would love these type of fish, so i also appreciate your input here and educating me further on these (what i view as lovely fish).

EDIT: its not on your profile, perhaps on previous posts from you, but i am sure i seen some nice Convict mixed-breeds from you on this forum

 

[~T~]

Yep I would love to see pics but im guessing if the fish is coloured like a pink convict then theres no parrot in them(when pink cons hybridise the pink is not taken on by the offspring as the other fish would not carry the pink convict gene).

 

[cheesy feet]

Yeh,jellybeans seem to be slighty skinnier in shape and look more like ablino cons but they still have the parrot face.Not quite as much though.

 

[~T~]

Yeh,jellybeans seem to be slighty skinnier in shape and look more like ablino cons but they still have the parrot face.Not quite as much though.

They dont though, they have a normal mouth and the same eyes as a pink convict.

Heres my male short body convict(jellybean).

Heres his son.

 

[cheesy feet]

Very nice. ...others i have seen look more parrot like,i dunno...

 

[fry_lover]

Very nice. ...others i have seen look more parrot like,i dunno...

i have to say, my x2 look a bit more "parrot" than the ones pictured above, sorry i cant prove it yet (no digi cam) will try and get some pics ASAP, you might not think they look so different, we can see how the pics come out

i hear what your saying ~T~ but mine do like slightly more parrot like and have longer finnage (not that thats a parrot feature though), yours look like normal convicts just with more of a "disc" shape

 

[~T~]

Very nice. ...others i have seen look more parrot like,i dunno...

i have to say, my x2 look a bit more "parrot" than the ones pictured above, sorry i cant prove it yet (no digi cam) will try and get some pics ASAP, you might not think they look so different, we can see how the pics come out

i hear what your saying ~T~ but mine do like slightly more parrot like and have longer finnage (not that thats a parrot feature though), yours look like normal convicts just with more of a "disc" shape

Yep I would love to see pics, they get long fins though its a convict trait(not many people keep their cons long enough for them to develop).Does it look more like this?

I actually really like them because they are pink cons in miniture, you can get them in striped form but these are not seen as much(the pink ones make good blank canvases to dye )

 

[fry_lover]

yes they do have fins like that, in fact in fairness they do look like that one quite a bit, exception being the orange tint to the belly mine have (might just be breeding colours though?) - and a touch of shiny blue colour on top fins (again breeding colours?)

i still think mine have a slightly more parrot like head, but i guess thats quite debatable, borrowing a digi cam at weekend

i have mine in a tank full of bogwood (67 gallon) and with the tannins from the wood, the fish look stunning