How to Induce Central Americans to Breed

[fishblahblah]

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some tips/tricks from more experienced breeders of centrals. I have blood parrots and a few other CA cichlids that I’m interested in breeding. What types of setups do you use for breeding pairs? What changes, if any, do you make to the tank or types of food? If you don’t let a pair form naturally and are picking mates, how long do you wait for a bond to form? Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated.
I have 2 female blood parrots in separate tanks but have been unable to get them to lay eggs. So far, I’ve bumped the temp up a couple degrees, fed live a couple times a week, and provided more caves/hides in each tank.

 

[Brettnewell4454]

I believe blood parrots are sterile

 

[fishblahblah]

I believe blood parrots are sterile

I’m under the impression that most male bp are sterile but females can reproduce successfully with other cichlids. I’m trying to get to the egg laying stage to try it. From what I’ve read/seen the females lay eggs regularly.

 

[Brettnewell4454]

My mistake, I must have read over that I'm sorry. Yes the females will lay eggs but in my experience with other cichlids they won't drop eggs unless there is a Male in the tank. Maybe try a small Male peacock or something else that's not too agressive. My parrot has never laid eggs but I've also never vented it. What are you attempting to cross it with?

 

[Brettnewell4454]

I breed my Male ob peacock with 2 other peacocks. Other than picking the females I wanted I pretty much let them do their thing in the 135. They breed about every 3 weeks because I strip the eggs from her mouth and put them in a tumbler. If the parrot breeds for you then you will surely enjoy it. I love doing it and watching the 40 to 60 babies grow up and get color. My next project is trying to get my fronts to breed.

 

[fishblahblah]

Nice. I love frontosas. I had one a couple years back but am too impatient with their slow growth rate. I’m currently growing out a handful of babies that i kept from a convict courtship a few months back. But I’ve learned that convicts will breed as long as there’s water. Lol. The other cichlids are proving to be a little more particular.

 

[Gourami Swami]

If breeding is the goal, the best way is probably to start with a group of young fish and let them pair up naturally. Bigger tank is better, because depending on the fish and setup, you can keep the other fish around which will strengthen the pair's bond since they have to defend. But, I've never bred blood parrots or hybrids, and I think a lot of them are not fertile.

 

[Brettnewell4454]

Slow lol that's the understatement of the year. Mine are almost 2 and my Male is around 7 inches and the 2 females with him are around 5.5 and 4.5. And I'm growing out a couple more. I had an oscar for maybe 7 months and it was almost the size of my Male. Angelfish are pretty slow growers too. I'm currently growing out some fronts and 3 mbuna. I'm thinking I might try and cross breed my ob with mbuba and see what happens. My plan with the fronts is to ideally have 2 or 3 more females and 1 more Male to keep the dominant Male from being lazy

 

[Brettnewell4454]

At work in the body shop office there is a 150 that has some old fish. Sadly the Male front just died last week at 12 years and 13.5 inches. And a large parrot named timmy

 

[fishblahblah]

Great looking fish. Sry to hear about the death.

I was considering gettin a group of young bp and growing them out. I really would like to have a larger array of colors. I’ve only seen pics of yellow parrots but I would love to own one. I found a “panda parrot” at one of my lfs that I was considering picking up. It’s white with a few black splotches that it’ll probably outgrow. I’ve been selling off most of my larger fish and starting fresh so I have a few large tanks with little to no fish right now.