Successful Parrot x Parrot Breeding!

[Stibnite]

OK, well, maybe not the best of success, but I have 8 small fry today as my parrots have made numerous spawning attempts and this one became a success.

There are two other parrots in my tank as a result of their first successful breeding on their first spawning.

The tank, however, has grown significantly in aggression as other cichlids have matured, though, and no other successes has taken place since the first one until now.

Their persistance paid off, and as most know, it's extraordinarily rare to have a fertile male Parrot.

Although, my parrots really don't look like the typical kind, as their mouths don't appear deformed like many others you see.

The male is a vibrant lemon color, and the female is deep orange with beautiful asian style eye colorations.

The two fry they first produced have since grown and appear to be a subtle mix directly inbetween the parents' colorations--having a distorted mix of lemon and orange colors randomly throughout.

I cannot wait to see the next 8 fry grow a bit larger. I do not think the other eggs are going to hatch at this point.

Water temperature, 81 degrees. Ph is at a steady 7.8 (female stops laying eggs at any Ph lower than that).

I'll get some pictures up soon.

Due to the male parrot guarding the brood, I made a video of him "kissing me" through the glass of the tank. It's quite cute, as someone who doesn't know about breeding behaviors would just think my parrot really loves me by offering kisses--hah!

Anyhow, fish are so fun--greatest hobby ever.

 

[fishfreak317]

wow that is a great story and fantastic that you have a fertile male parrot. like you said it's very, very rare for this. congrats!!

can you share some pictures of the parents?

 

[Alexxxxsv14]

wow ! THAT IS RARE ! but we need to see pics !! like now

 

[Stibnite]

How do I post pics on the forums? I can't figure it out.

 

[fishfreak317]

How do I post pics on the forums? I can't figure it out.

When you hit the reply or new topic buttons. The new post window/box should come up. At the bottom of this is 2 buttons named Submit Reply and Preview Post. Just under that is a area called Additional Options. With in that box is a button called Manage Attachments. Click that and it should bring up a additional box with options to upload photos from your computer.

 

[Hwarang_Samurai]

 

[Stibnite]

Alright, here are four pictures.

The deep orange parrot with the chinese eyes is the mother.

The pale lemon colored larger one at roughly 8" is the father.

The other two pictures are of their previous 2 offspring, and have both grown to about 2-3" allong with the other fish in the tank.

Don't panic at first glance of the fourth picture, as some might, since this tank "style" was an experiment a long time ago where I mixed together multiple species which are not "supposed" to be mixed together. Everyone said it couldn't be done, so of course I set out to bust the myth.

I have everything from Malawi and Tanganyika's, to Scats and South Americans in this setup. It's a beautiful tank with lots of color and activity. I do not recommend trying this style unless you know precisely what you're doing and mix the right setup of fishes. To make this work, you need South Americans which both cannot swallow your africans, can comfortably tolerate a flat 7.8 Ph, and can survive against flank-smacking aggressive africans. Raising the fishes together from youth gives you the best chances of reducing adulthood aggression.

The greatest challenge in this set up is proper feeding, as there are 6 different dietary demands represented here. The tank needs to be very large; and might I also state that I cannot add any new fish of any species or size to this community (except the blend-worthy yellow labs since many are inside already). I have tried a few times to add certain species (large ones as well), and the result was the ENTIRE tank ganging up on the newly introduced fish regardless of size--resulting in near death within seconds (usually before I can make it across the room to get the net for extraction). Yet, toward each other, nothing more than the occassional fin-nip.

I've never experienced these behavioral patterns in my species tanks. Additionally, "most" species tanks tend to present wild behaviors, whereas every single fish in this particular mixed community seems to play "outside of the box" and will all swim right into my hand if I place it inside.

Anyhow, now that I'm figuring out this photo process, perhaps I will post pictures of all the fish we own soon. Out of 14 aquariums (soon to be 15 when I get my 300g set up), we host 218 species of aquatic life--all fresh/brackish water.

Anyhow, back to topic--enjoy the Parrots!

 

[Stibnite]

Oh, here's some photos of the male parrot back when he was just a juvie.

He was always a smiling, happy fish!

Now he's old and weathered.

 

[beantickler]

U sure the parrot fertilized the eggs and not another male in that tank?

 

[Stibnite]

Yes, of course.

First of all, the two young parrots you see swimming with the other fish are offspring of theirs from back in January 2009.

Second, they'll not let any fish within a foot perimeter of that corner of the tank--no other male tankmate would have had a chance (or interest) to run over and fertilize those eggs.

Only other male SA's in the tank are a Black Belt Vieja , Yellowjacket, and a Convict--all three of these reside in territories 6 feet away on the other side of the tank. The rest of my SA's in this setup are all females--so no chance of that taking place.

By the way, here's a photo of the Male Parrot in his youth again, although this photo is the one where we derived his family name, "Sunset," because we were able to see the sunset in his eyes.

Certainly a lovely shot of him, even if the dim light phased it out some. Be sure to ignore the external water spots on the tank's exterior as well.