So, quick back story. I have a mixed cichlid tank which includes a medium sized female BP. She used to live with another female BP who was more dominant, I thought she was male as she always displayed to the other and such. She once tried to spawn with the other female when it was laying solo. This didn't really go well and she got a bit of a beating. I gave away the other female. Since then she has lived with 3 definite male cichlids (sajica, spilurus and nicaraguensis) and more recently a younger male cutteri. She has never shown any interest in them. There is also EBJD in the tank, which she is at least quirw friendly with and they did often rest together. I suspect the JD is female but I'm not sure.
A month or so ago, I added a young male texas cichlid which almost immediately took a liking to the female parrot. As usual she completely ignored his advances and even nipped at him when he got too pushy.
A few weeks ago I added another small BP (much more midevil shaped with a normal mouth). The other male cichlids showed a lot of interest in it, particularly the texas. I assumed it was female but after a few days it began chasing off the males and trying to woo the big parrot. Male I then thought.
Well tonight I arrived home to both parrots breeding (no big surprise) in a clay pot .But the texas was right in about their business. I presumed maybe it was just jealous or wanting to eat the eggs. But no, both parrots were laying and the texas was nipping in to fertilize the eggs and chase off the other fish. Both parrots seem ok with this, with only the big one nudging him a little when he gets right in beside them. Right now the parrots seem to have pretty much finished laying and all 3 are hanging round the nest, the tex is making sure nothing gets too close.
So what do you think? Will the love triangle stay strong or is it a disaster waiting to happen? Has anyone had this kind of thing happen before? I once had a similar thing where a pair of parrots were breeding and a little male short body con nipped in an did what the male parrot couldn't. This is actually how I ended up with BP x convicts.
Here are a few pics.
A month or so ago, I added a young male texas cichlid which almost immediately took a liking to the female parrot. As usual she completely ignored his advances and even nipped at him when he got too pushy.
A few weeks ago I added another small BP (much more midevil shaped with a normal mouth). The other male cichlids showed a lot of interest in it, particularly the texas. I assumed it was female but after a few days it began chasing off the males and trying to woo the big parrot. Male I then thought.
Well tonight I arrived home to both parrots breeding (no big surprise) in a clay pot .But the texas was right in about their business. I presumed maybe it was just jealous or wanting to eat the eggs. But no, both parrots were laying and the texas was nipping in to fertilize the eggs and chase off the other fish. Both parrots seem ok with this, with only the big one nudging him a little when he gets right in beside them. Right now the parrots seem to have pretty much finished laying and all 3 are hanging round the nest, the tex is making sure nothing gets too close.
So what do you think? Will the love triangle stay strong or is it a disaster waiting to happen? Has anyone had this kind of thing happen before? I once had a similar thing where a pair of parrots were breeding and a little male short body con nipped in an did what the male parrot couldn't. This is actually how I ended up with BP x convicts.
Here are a few pics.
