Blood Parrot & Convict Breeding Project

[fishblahblah]

As the second part of a just for fun breeding project I am trying to cross a female blood parrot with a male convict. They are both around 3” and currently set up in a cycled 30 gallon. They have lots of plants and hides but have been pretty shy. I added 2 cory cats to their tank as dithers and it has helped a lot. The first part was crossing an undyed male jellybean parrot with a female convict. They successfully bred and were moved to a larger tank with other fish. I am raising the fry in a 10 gallon grow out. They’re still too small to get a good read on color and body shape but they’re a lot of fun to watch and raise. Some are larger and a little longer, some have darker markings, some are still completely pink/ pale so we’ll see.
Now on to the dilemma...
My blood parrot is very nasty and territorial towards the convict. When she is ready to breed will this attitude change or does this mean she’s not interested in him as a mate? Should I introduce a different male convict or wait it out? There haven’t been any injuries but if she sees him near her, she’ll chase him away.

 

[Dadstoys2]

Pretty cool hybrid. Share pics as they grow

 

[fishblahblah]

Here are the parents (the fat pink dude in the first 2 pics is the dad, black con is the mom) and some fry (there are between 30-40) from the first part of the project. I was inspired to mess around with this cross bcuz I saw a few blood parrot/black con hybrids at a lfs. The owner liked them so much that he wouldn’t sell them and instead put them in the display tank at the store. After unsuccessfully trying to get him to sell one, I decided to try to make my own.

 

[Ozenc]

New photo?

 

[fishblahblah]

New photo?

Here are some pics from today. They’re not the best but I’m only working with a phone camera. It looks like they are all regular length (no short body fish) but a good percentage of them are pale while the others are darker in color. When they are larger I want to try to cross breed them with a large female parrot. Up until this point she’s painfully shy and hasn’t laid yet but I hope that changes with time. I’ll post more pics as they grow.

 

[SouthTxAquaman]

Very interesting! Keep posting pics I'd love to see how they look grown up a bit

 

[Moore_Aquatics]

Very interested in following your progress with this!

 

[fishblahblah]

Here are some pics from today. Some are still pink while others are dark striped. There’s even one with a dark blotch at his tail. I haven’t lost any as far as I can tell. There are between 35-40 fry. I’m still feeding them baby brine shrimp and also started to crush up some flake food for a total of 3 feedings per day along with twice weekly water changes.