# Thoughts on Blood Parrot Cichlid



## mdaniel84 (Jan 28, 2010)

I'm taking back my community tank Africans they are just not playing good together. I'm leaning towards a full speices tank of Africans or Blood Parrots.

Has anyone delt with Blood Parrots are they good fish what kind of decore are they into and any other information would be great!

Thanks


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Blood Parrots


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## mrs.som (Nov 14, 2009)

mdaniel84 the link DeadFishFloating provided pretty much summarizes how people feel about BPs on here. :?


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## ~Fish Guy~ (Feb 7, 2010)

A lot of people here are not in favor of the mutation and hybridization of already beautiful and fully functioning fish.

But, I stand on the other side of the argument. While I strongly disagree with the dyed and tailless versions I see no problem with the common orange or mottled brown parrot. conversely, they are still living thing who deserve a loving and happy home just as any other cichlid or even fish for that matter.

They have an amazing personality and they really do get to know you. As I said before, these fish deserve a good home just as any other fish. And I do understand that people boycott them in hopes that stores don't re-order them if they take forever to sell.

But that's the problem! the less knowledgeable and novice aquarists buy them all the time, dyed or un-dyed they are constantly moving them through at the fish/pet shops. A perfect example is the Prohibition of the 1920's it simply doesn't work. Period. People will still buy them, just as people still drank and made and sold alcohol during this period.

Every fish deserved a big home, not a crammed pet store tank that constantly has different fish in it, some of which could be diseased. I personally find them to be very affectionate and loving fish with a great personality compared to cichlids who are very aggressive and can't be kept with many other species of fish. I mean sure, of course parrots are going to eat guppies if you put them in their tank, but they are very compatible with many other fish like angels, gouramis, tinfoil barbs, silver dollars, and many other larger fish.

This is just my opinion, which like I said differs greatly from others opinions on this forum. 
~ Fish Guy~


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## bulldogg7 (Mar 3, 2003)

I personally can't stand them but to each his own. There's also a big flowerhorn craze now, nuchal humps are even called koks :roll: and banding is called flower spots or something. 
If you find that cichlids don't "play together good" then you might be better off with a single wet pet like an oscar or midas or another big new world. 
Many fish in the wild have bigger territories than our tanks can provide and when crammed together in little boxes they'll duke it out. With careful stocking or overstocking you can spread the aggression, but it's just their nature to be arrogant. Even "peaceful" species can kill each other when they start to spawn.


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## ~Fish Guy~ (Feb 7, 2010)

bulldogg7 said:


> If you find that cichlids don't "play together good" then you might be better off with a single wet pet like an oscar or midas or another big new world.
> Many fish in the wild have bigger territories than our tanks can provide and when crammed together in little boxes they'll duke it out. With careful stocking or overstocking you can spread the aggression, but it's just their nature to be arrogant. Even "peaceful" species can kill each other when they start to spawn.


Thanks for the helpful advice. As you said, each to his own =]


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## aquariam (Feb 11, 2010)

If you want something like a parrot, you might want to consider:

Heros (severum, rotkeil, etc)
Gets bigger than a parrot, so gentle you can keep them with tetras.

Flowerhorn
Best kept alone, really. Beautiful interactive fish

Buttofikeri tilapia
Beautiful friendly wonderful fish. Get a bunch grow them out keep the nicest one as an aquatic puppy.

None of these look like a parrot, but honestly, parrots are kind of a bad thing. They tend to have mis-shapen mouths and some swimming issues. I don't really see the point of supporting the parrot industry but its up to you.


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## ~Fish Guy~ (Feb 7, 2010)

oh, I'm not looking for parrot alternatives, I already have them and thoroughly enjoy them. thanks anyway though =]


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## mrs.som (Nov 14, 2009)

> I'm leaning towards a full speices tank of Africans or Blood Parrots.


This is why we gave you opinions and alternatives as we assumed you had not gotten them yet.
Best of luck with your parrots though...


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## mrs.som (Nov 14, 2009)

Oops, I'm sorry, I thought FishGuy was the OP...really sorry about that...please disregard!


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## ~Fish Guy~ (Feb 7, 2010)

no problem =]


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

aquariam said:


> Flowerhorn
> Best kept alone, really. Beautiful interactive fish


What the!?!...

Seriously, if the problem here is the issue of Blood Parrots being a hybrid, then how on earth can you mention a Flowerhorn.


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

I have not read the other discussion on Blood Parrots, so I do not know if this has already been discussed.

For those who do not like Blood Parrots becuase they are a hybrid, please remember that the vast majority of Angels and Discus on the market are hybrids. There are hybrid blue acara cross goldsaums out there.

50% of the "orange head" geos I see pictured on here look more like G. sp. araguaia "orange head", not tapajos, yet it's only the Aussies here who recognise they keep araguaia. I know people have mixed the two variants/species and produced crosses.

Where do people stand on mixing different locational variants of the one species. This is one way line bred variants are produced.

I've only mentioned SA cichlids here, I know there are more CA hybrids out there and the situation with African cichlids is far worse.

I would advise caution when entering such a discussion. There are many hybrid species in the hobby, and many people do not know they are keeping them. If you believe hybrids are wrong, then in all seriousness you should also be against line bred colour variants such as gold and super red severums, German Blue rams/Gold rams/Electric blue rams, line bred apistogramma colour morphs, EBJD (yeah I know it's CA), most of the Oscar variants available are colour morphs. There are many more examples out there. And there are the line bred Longfin and Balloon species out there. All these _species_ are more detrimental to keeping species _pure_, rather than the out and out hybrids.

And before anyone tarrs me with the hybrid lover brush, I consider myself a purist, but it has only been achieved through education.


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

~Fish Guy~ said:


> A lot of people here are not in favor of the mutation and hybridization of already beautiful and fully functioning fish.
> 
> But, I stand on the other side of the argument. While I strongly disagree with the dyed and tailless versions I see no problem with the common orange or mottled brown parrot. conversely, they are still living thing who deserve a loving and happy home just as any other cichlid or even fish for that matter.
> 
> ...


It's pronounced Coke...

aside from the deformed aspect, they are a great and personable fish, I don't agree with how deformed they are, but we aren't able to stop it now, there are much to many people that like them, so the fish need homes.

also, do not say they are compatible with any fish, as it completely depends on the individual, parrots I've had in the past have been very aggressive, and lived with carpintis, parachromis, and many more. Had one in particular that killed my flowerhorn. Contrary to popular belief they CAN close there mouths, they just don't stay closed. Out of the approx. 10 I've had, 6 of them attained this aggressive trait.

They also CAN grow very large if kept in optimal conditions, attaining up to 8-10", possibly larger, mine grew to 9" or so.

As far as Decor, they don't seem to have a care in the world. I've kept them in Amazon like setups, and African Rift Lake like setups, of course, I prefer natural setups, as well as natural fish, but was big into the hybrids (Flowerhorns, BP's etc) for a long time.

*aquarium*, severums do NOT grow larger then a parrot. Both attain anywhere from 8-12", just the parrots are 3x as thick. I'm also sure he does not appreciate you pushing your views on him, your opinion on them being bad likely is not going to change his opinion. I agree with you, they should not have been bred in the first place. With that, severums usually eat most tetras.

as DFF said, it is NOT the known hybrids hurting the hobby, it is the random hybrids (ie, electric yellows x red zebra) that causes problems.


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## mdaniel84 (Jan 28, 2010)

Yea I actually bought some this past Friday and I'm taking them back there really cute/funny looking but my tank is just not going to handle them also they seem very shy and scared when I walk by always hideing which is not fun trying to look for your fish these fish def need a whole lot of space in my eyes which my tank can't really handel two maybe one but def not two.

I'm actually going to revamp my whole tank I went with Coral setup the first time "All Fake" and I just didn't feel there was enough hideing places. I really want an Oscar but I feel my tank is just way to small for him I mean I would only put him in it no other fish.

Tank Size - Size - 30"W x 18"D x 22"H 
Gallons - 56

So my idea is to go back with my orginal idea and stick with small Afrian Cichlids and make a more of a Amazon/River look I actually had one more question what are some good easy ways to make Homemade Caves for your cichlids I looked in the Library and found a few ideas just wondering if anyone else had any good ideas.

I will keep this topic up and running I feel this topic needs to be talked about so people can understand the Blood Parrot's.

Thanks Guys!


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

That is probably not a great idea. See, to make an Amazon biotope, you need driftwood. Driftwood will make your water soft which is not healthy and even deathly for a lot of africans, unless you go with westies (Pelvicachromis, Hemichromis, etc.).

Parrots take a long time to settle in, but once settled in is much like a Vieja/Amphilophus.

with that, a 30" tank is to small for them, as well as to small for an Oscar.


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## mdaniel84 (Jan 28, 2010)

Not looking for real driftwood more like fake dirft wood.


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## mdaniel84 (Jan 28, 2010)

How about a Jack Dempsey that would be the only fish in there with some rocks and plants?


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## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

I had my BP for over 10 years and loved her dearly (RIP Pinky)










She was a magnificant fish, swam just fine, could close her mouth just fine (drew blood from my hand on several occasions!) and grew big and mean!! Not all BP's are severely deformed, look for one with a "normal" type mouth and see what it grows into!
BTW, Pinky was a King Kong parrot and I wouldn't keep one in anything less than a 55g when full grown.

I have no problems with hybrids but the dyeing, tatooing, and mutilating of fish is something I really hate to see.


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

mdaniel84 said:


> How about a Jack Dempsey that would be the only fish in there with some rocks and plants?


Certainly not, grows way to large for this tank.

Here are a couple of my past big BP/KKP:

Pushing 10" or so:









Pushing 9" (Flowerhorn Killer)


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