Texas Cichlid wanting to breed

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
L

Lols182

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 4, 2012
53
0
0
Indiana
Hello everyone,

A few weeks ago I purchased a young Texas Cichlid (less than 1.5 inches) and after a few days, he put on what I've read to be a breeding dress and has been all giddy ever since.

With that said, I only have 3 fish in my tank. A Geophagus Brasil, Blood Parrot, and the Texas. The Parrot is the female apparently, as that is the fish of choice that the Texas is now spending every waking minute around. At first he'd at least go do his own thing for a while and so on in the tank. Now though he spends every moment he can within a few inches max distance of the Parrot. The Parrot is considerably larger than him, so it's not like he's pushing it around or beating it up etc. But I do know that fish can get stressed out by other factors than just brute force. Should I be concerned about this, particularly as the fish gets bigger? Will this phase pass eventually? I'm not really interested in the whole breeding aspect of it all, so there's no benefit to that. I am just interested in the safety of my fish. And with a cichlid tank, I feel it's a little harder to just say OK well I will go and introduce another female to the tank. Everything has different aggression, new issues and so force. There's peace within the tank, oddly enough. Just a lot of sexual desire by one of the fish lol. And to note, the Geo is male as well, but if he spends time around the Parrot, it's never too much and he still goes off into the tank minding his own business.

Let me know what you think
Thanks
 
Sounds to small to be breeding. Do you have a pic? Smallest I've heard them breeding is 3". Do you have pictures of him? He might just be changing colors because of mood or stress.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
it's a 4 foot 55 gallon tank. All of the fish are less than a year old. The reason I believe this is a breeding desire is he has all of the standard looks of a Texas wanting to breed. I've reached in to move around some vegetation and he will lose that white color in the front and replace it with a deep, almost dark gray color. After 20-30 minutes of being back to calm, he will get his pure white front back with his dark black read end. He is defensive towards the Geophagus if he comes around the Parrot, and then he will always swim near the front of the Parrot and if the Parrot goes stationary, he'll go under it (since he's so small still) and shake, a lot. When he's shaking it's almost a violent shake, I can't help but be humored by it. There's zero aggression towards the Parrot. I don't really know what to think. I can get a picture tomorrow and post it if necessary. But just imagine a young Texas with jet black with the back half of the body, white on the front half.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
And to emphasize, it's just the three fish. The Parrot, Geo and Texas

Sent from my Nexus 10 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
So its a girl? Interesting haha. Well too bad parrots are sterile :/

Sent from my MB860 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
Better pics would help but it does look female. Not all parrots are sterile the only real way of knowing their fertile is breeding them to a fish that's fertile. It's definitely bigger then 1.5" or it's stunted


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom