# Gold Severum and Polar Blue Parrot breeding



## xanflisher (Dec 4, 2021)

I recently started a 55 gallon central american cichlid tank with the intent to upgrade to a 75 or 120 at some point. While I intended to have 2 blood parrots with the group, I saw a terribly taken care of Polar Blue Parrot at this one of the shops I check every week so I decided to take her home and just have 1 other Blood Parrot. I’m assuming it’s a her at this point because as the weeks have gone on I’ve been introducing a gold severum, platinum angelfish, and electric blue acara after they’ve gone through their quarantine process in the different 10 gallons I have, it appears the gold severum and polar parrot have bred and the gold severum is the male. Aggression has been pretty minimal until the last few days, now the Polar Parrot seems to have laid eggs (I’m not 100% certain however there’s tons of brown dots on the inside of this skull) and chases down the acara or angel, but not the severum if they come near it. Also, the gold severum has random spurts where it’ll chase down the acara, which almost concludes that the severum is the one breeding with the polar parrot. What should I do from here? I don’t really want to get rid of this Polar Parrot because it was my first cichlid but I don’t want to cause all sorts of aggression as I still need to add my blood parrot and some corys. Should I just leave the fry in there once they hatch and let them get eaten? Will they just continue to breed and chase each other away from the ornament with eggs in it? There hasn’t been any chase down or attack that’s led to torn fins or injury, so I’m not leaning towards setting up the Polar Parrots own tank, however, I will raise the fry (if they're even a viable hybrid but I cannot find anything online) if necessary because I feel like that’s my responsibility as a fish keeper, let me know what you think.


----------



## Auballagh (Jan 29, 2003)

Since you posted this in the CA section of the forum, I suspect you already know that your 'Polar Blue Parrot Cichlid' has got a robust amount of_ Amatitlania nigrofasciatus_, (Black Convict Cichlid) in it. That is, one of the most fecund Cichlid species - On The Planet! Not surprised your female hybrid thought she was a 'real' Convict Cichlid, and just wanted to spawn like crazy.
That is indeed, one of the things that particular Cichlid species does best. So,

The eggs may prove to be non-viable anyway. If they turn white after a day or two, well that problem was a non-starter.
If you get any wrigglers hatched out, I wouldn't sweat it quite yet. Deformities are almost certain in those babies, so ultimately they may also prove non-viable.
But... if any get to the free-swimming stage in there? You could possibly just pull both the male and female BP and male Severum out of the tank and just, well... let nature take its course, I suppose. Without parents to protect the free-swimming fry it's doubtful they will live very long.
-
And if you wind up raising out the fry, you may want to separate the Severum from the BP at least. Otherwise you WILL get more - More - And MORE! - possibly unwanted spawns from that BP.


----------



## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

xanflisher said:


> now the Polar Parrot seems to have laid eggs (I’m not 100% certain however there’s tons of brown dots on the inside of this skull)


Eggs are not brown. They are clear with sort of a white tinge.(really white means they have fungus-ed). Not sure what your second picture (the one with only the skull and no fish) is suppose to show; if there is eggs they are not visible in the picture.
If they hang out together a lot and interact with each other and chase the other fish away from a territory then they have paired up. Based on your description might be breeding behavior, though they may have yet to actually breed.
Need a better picture of your Severum. I think it is a severum, but I really can't tell for sure from your picture whether it is a pink convict or a Severum(?).


----------



## xanflisher (Dec 4, 2021)

Auballagh said:


> Since you posted this in the CA section of the forum, I suspect you already know that your 'Polar Blue Parrot Cichlid' has got a robust amount of_ Amatitlania nigrofasciatus_, (Black Convict Cichlid) in it. That is, one of the most fecund Cichlid species - On The Planet! Not surprised your female hybrid thought she was a 'real' Convict Cichlid, and just wanted to spawn like crazy.
> That is indeed, one of the things that particular Cichlid species does best. So,
> 
> The eggs may prove to be non-viable anyway. If they turn white after a day or two, well that problem was a non-starter.
> ...


Do you think everything will be okay in terms of aggression getting worse? Should I be looking to get a male Polar Parrot instead and do you think a LFS would even trade for one? This is the only one I've seen recently so I'm a bit frustrated that it ended up being a female and I don't really want to give up this parrot but I will if I have to for the safety of the other fish. The Polar Parrot is also the smallest fish in the tank.


----------



## xanflisher (Dec 4, 2021)

BC in SK said:


> Eggs are not brown. They are clear with sort of a white tinge.(really white means they have fungus-ed). Not sure what your second picture (the one with only the skull and no fish) is suppose to show; if there is eggs they are not visible in the picture.
> If they hang out together a lot and interact with each other and chase the other fish away from a territory then they have paired up. Based on your description might be breeding behavior, though they may have yet to actually breed.
> Need a better picture of your Severum. I think it is a severum, but I really can't tell for sure from your picture whether it is a pink convict or a Severum(?).


Oh really? I thought they were brown. There are about 50-100 brown dots along the back of the inside of the skull ornament, which I believed to be eggs. The severum doesn't really hang out around the skull but the parrot won't chase him away whenever he comes by like she does to the EBA and Angelfish. There's just poor lighting in that first photo, it's definitely a severum and not a pink convict. I've attached a better photo of what I believe to be eggs and a better photo of the Severum.


----------



## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

xanflisher said:


> Oh really? I thought they were brown. There are about 50-100 brown dots along the back of the inside of the skull ornament, which I believed to be eggs.


Ah, I didn't look closely enough in the right place. Your new picture clearly shows eggs. Since they are clear colored, they can be 'brownish' dependent on the type of surface they are laid on.
And your knew picture clearly shows you have a severum.
Now, whether or not the severum managed to fertilize the eggs is the question. A polar blue parrot is a Convict cichlid with a short body deformity. It is a Convict cichlid. A Convict X Severum cross might be possible as they are from the same tribe (Theraspini) though a Severum is a little more distantly related from cichlids of Central America. I seen one thread in the past where an aquarist claimed to have crossed a convict with a severum and the one resulting offspring did appear to have traits of both a severum and convict, but because there was no pictures of the pair protecting fry the cross was not believed by many on fish forums.
Both gold coloration of the severum and the short body of the polar blue convict are recessive traits so both parents have to be carrying these traits to be expressed.


----------



## xanflisher (Dec 4, 2021)

BC in SK said:


> Ah, I didn't look closely enough in the right place. Your new picture clearly shows eggs. Since they are clear colored, they can be 'brownish' dependent on the type of surface they are laid on.
> And your knew picture clearly shows you have a severum.
> Now, whether or not the severum managed to fertilize the eggs is the question. A polar blue parrot is a Convict cichlid with a short body deformity. It is a Convict cichlid. A Convict X Severum cross might be possible as they are from the same tribe (Theraspini) though a Severum is a little more distantly related from cichlids of Central America. I seen one thread in the past where an aquarist claimed to have crossed a convict with a severum and the one resulting offspring did appear to have traits of both a severum and convict, but because there was no pictures of the pair protecting fry the cross was not believed by many on fish forums.
> Both gold coloration of the severum and the short body of the polar blue convict are recessive traits so both parents have to be carrying these traits to be expressed.


Alrighty, am I just saying f it and basically attempting to see if I can create a cool hybrid? I guess that would be cool. I have 2 10-gallon quarantine tanks so I could simply move the skull or scoop the fry if they hatch and put them in the 10 gallon and hope they survive? What's my end game solution here? Should I be looking to get a new male and try and swap it out for the female I have?


----------



## BC in SK (Aug 11, 2012)

xanflisher said:


> I guess that would be cool. I have 2 10-gallon quarantine tanks so I could simply move the skull or scoop the fry if they hatch and put them in the 10 gallon and hope they survive?


I think first, see if you do get fry. Eggs hatch in 2-4 days. If they are not fertilized, they will fungus and turn white. If they hatch they will be in larvae stage (wrigglers) and be free swimming usually between 4-10 days after hatching. Then from there you could decide whether you want to remove some (usually easiest to siphon them out unless they are months old). If you don't want them, leave them in the tank and it is unlikely that they will survive predation after the parents stop protecting them. Now if the parents protect them for 4 weeks or longer then the chances of a few surviving in the community tank are quite a bit higher, though protecting fry for long spans of time are unlikely for young new parents.
Long term, you might decide that you don't want breeding aggression ( depending on the situation and how severe it becomes?). Probably the only real solution then, would be to remove the female as females can sometimes lay eggs with out males.Though it's short lived as the eggs fungus with in a few days if not fertilized.


----------

