Blood Parrot - problem or pigmentation?

[fishmommie]

Vacumming the gravel is always a good thing to do when you may have ick reproducing on the bottom. It is not necessary to move the rocks and stuff. I just thought it might be a good idea but that was before I knew your back was screwed up.

I lay a bath towel next to my tanks, throw all the stuff on the towel and vac the heck out of it. But you may want to wait until you feel better.

Take some Aleve! Good stuff.

if the direct steroid injection and the Vicodin aren't cutting it ... I don't think the Aleve is going to turn the tide either - but normally yes. Normally, however, I never would have mentioned the back. We'll blame the Vicodin for that ... sorry. I don't know how people can get hooked on this stuff. It's horrible

[Rocksor]

The origin of blood parrots is a mystery because they don't want us to know. Suspected parents are below. I suspect you have a gold severum mix and the orange one may be the red devil.

Severum (Heros severus) and the Midas Cichlid (Amphilophus citrinellus) or the Red Devil (Amphilophus labiatus)

Gold Severum (Cichlasoma severum) and Red Devil (Cichlasoma erythraeum)

Midas Cichlid (Cichlasoma citrinellum) and the Redhead Cichlid (Cichlasoma synspilum)

Severum (Heros severus) with the Red Devil (Cichlasoma erythraeum)

Red Devil (Cichlasoma erythraeum) +Gold Severum (Cichlasoma severum)

Red Devil (Cichlasoma erythraeum)+Green Severum (Cichlasoma severum)

Red Devil (Cichlasoma erythraeum)+Quetzel (Cichlasoma synspilum)

On the severum parentage, I have my doubts simply because I haven't read anyone being successful at breeding a severum with a parrot, which you should be able to do. Also, not a lot of SA cichlids interbreed with CA cichlids (festae can interbreed with CA cichlids as one exception). There are so many postings and pictures of hybrids from CA cichlids which lends to the credence that the BP should be more in line with CA cichlid lineage.

Although, I did find an interesting site about creating a blood parrot, and it was stated that there was a mistranslation from Cantonese when trying to decipher information about creating blood parrots

http://gregthecrazyfishguy.wordpress...arrot-cichlid/

Note: SB = short body, SRS = Super Red Synspilum

In the posters own words,

The myth of the severum in bp in my understanding comes from a lot of poorly translated websites and misnaming the particular fish crossed with SRS in the process as “gold severum”. This fish (again, just my understanding, you’d have to speak cantonese to really get a good picture), referred to as “jin gang ying wu” is a ‘sport’ed cross of midas x red devil that exhibits short body charachteristics. Therefore, people in asia started refering to this fish as something that roughly equivocates to “gold severum” in the respective languages, as it is a golden or red fish with a SB midas shape and shortened spine, which makes it look very much like a severum.

Coincidentally, “jin gang ying wu” translates to “macaw parrot”, which is the reason we today refer to them as “parrot” cichlids.

[Lady Hobbs]

It might be. With all the mystery surrounding these fish, we will most likely never know. There is a lot of bad information about them, too. Especially in the older articles when the fish first hit the market.

I know they breed with Flowerhorns and Convicts. They "may" spawn with Severum but if any fry come from it is another story.

If I had a larger tank, I'd like to have some King Kongs but that isn't gonna happen.

[fishmommie]

Thought I'd pop in with an update on the Blood Parrot. As of today, literally ALL of the dark splotches on the Blood Parrot are gone! Just vanished. The fish looks and acts perfectly healthy. At it's worse, there was so much dark brown/black around its eyes it looked like they were ringed with coal. The blotches had moved onto the dorsal and tail fins as well as the body and face. Then ... gradually, it just faded away over the last 2 days.

So - I'm inclined to agree with Lady Hobbs. The discoloration was stress induced because of the ich treatment in the tank. As soon as I started reducing the heat and added just a little salt for insurance, things started clearing up for the BP.

So -- yee haw!! A major success. The ich seems to be beaten, the 8 fish in the tank are all eating and moving about happily and the plan is that by Friday, I'll have the temp back down to 80 degrees, everything vacuumed and have completed two 20 - 25% water changes.
Big sigh. It appears I dodged a bullet.
thanks to everyone who weighed in on this. I really appreciate it.

[Lady Hobbs]

I am so happy for you and for you little fish.

[fishmommie]

I am so happy for you and for you little fish.

Thanks. I'm sooooo happy too

[Taurus]

So -- yee haw!! A major success. The ich seems to be beaten, the 8 fish in the tank are all eating and moving about happily and the plan is that by Friday, I'll have the temp back down to 80 degrees, everything vacuumed and have completed two 20 - 25% water changes.
Big sigh. It appears I dodged a bullet.
thanks to everyone who weighed in on this. I really appreciate it.

That's great to hear.

[fishmommie]

It's a HUGE relief. Thanks again for all your help.

That's great to hear.

[Taurus]

It's a HUGE relief. Thanks again for all your help.

Welcome. I'm just glad it all worked out.