RonJ
- #1
I have two Blood parrot possibly Pink Convict Hybrids. The bigger one named Sarah(My son named them all hahahh) is about 5" and regularly lays egg when left with my true Blood Parrot George.
George like the 98% of all the true blood parrots, is possibly sterile.
This is George.

Because Sarah is a second gen hybrid, she is quite different looking from George. She has a Pink color, which is not common in true red blood parrots(they are usually yellow, pale/white or dark red unless died).
Some say Sarah is a Pink Convict true blood red parrot mix, some say she is a Red Devil mix with true red blood parrot.
Sarah also does not have a prominent parrot face, can close her mouth fully. Her mouth is very similar to Convict Cichlids.
This is Sarah with her batch of eggs that died.

After having seen her futile effort in laying eggs, having them get fungus and eating them in next few days; I decided to see what happens if I let her mate with a non-sterile Convict Cichlid.
My original choice was a pink Convict Cichlid. But could not find any adult ones to determine sex. I bought 2 very juvenile ones, and they both turned out to be female.
Fast forward to Robert
I found Robert yesterday placed in one of the marked containers as "male" and "female". Robert is a regular Convict Cichlid. I guess he is already 80% the max size convicts grow?
Same size as Sarah or slightly longer. I decided to get him as Sarah's new boyfriend. Sarah has been always gentle with George(Well most of the time, the day I introduced George, Sarah made him get lodged between the filter intake tubing).
This is Robert

Yesterday, as Sarah is alone in my 18G breeding tank, I decided to just plonk him there without QT. Also Robert was kept isolated as part of a breeding pair in the LFS.
As usual Sarah did not take kindly to the new comer. The territorial aggression was so bad that Robert was being pushed around like a dead-weight or a log.
He was breathing heavily, stopped fleeing and was just taking pecks after pecks and ramming like a dead fish.. She was pushing him around through the tank like a dead weight. Literally.
Here is Robert being pushed around.

I thought just like with George, she would stop after sometime. But she did not. Even this morning I saw Robert lodged between the canister filter intake tube. And Sarah every couple of minutes was going there ramming him or pecking him. So finally after 13 hours(I hope she didn't assault him through the night), this morning I put a barrier.

Convict females are usually much smaller. So I know the aggression is always from convict males. So poor Robert is finding tables have suddenly turned.
The question is when can I lift the barrier. May be tomorrow? Will Sarah reject Robert? So many questions in my mind! I thought convicts are usually the most easily paired fish.
I know Sarah paired in less than one day with George, But Robert being of different color and different type of pattern, I am afraid, what if Sarah doesn't see him as a potential mate at all?
Sarah still mock charges on the divider and every time she does that, Robert runs for the crevice between the intake tube and the tank wall.
Keeping my fingers crossed.
George like the 98% of all the true blood parrots, is possibly sterile.
This is George.

Because Sarah is a second gen hybrid, she is quite different looking from George. She has a Pink color, which is not common in true red blood parrots(they are usually yellow, pale/white or dark red unless died).
Some say Sarah is a Pink Convict true blood red parrot mix, some say she is a Red Devil mix with true red blood parrot.
Sarah also does not have a prominent parrot face, can close her mouth fully. Her mouth is very similar to Convict Cichlids.
This is Sarah with her batch of eggs that died.

After having seen her futile effort in laying eggs, having them get fungus and eating them in next few days; I decided to see what happens if I let her mate with a non-sterile Convict Cichlid.
My original choice was a pink Convict Cichlid. But could not find any adult ones to determine sex. I bought 2 very juvenile ones, and they both turned out to be female.
Fast forward to Robert
I found Robert yesterday placed in one of the marked containers as "male" and "female". Robert is a regular Convict Cichlid. I guess he is already 80% the max size convicts grow?
Same size as Sarah or slightly longer. I decided to get him as Sarah's new boyfriend. Sarah has been always gentle with George(Well most of the time, the day I introduced George, Sarah made him get lodged between the filter intake tubing).
This is Robert

Yesterday, as Sarah is alone in my 18G breeding tank, I decided to just plonk him there without QT. Also Robert was kept isolated as part of a breeding pair in the LFS.
As usual Sarah did not take kindly to the new comer. The territorial aggression was so bad that Robert was being pushed around like a dead-weight or a log.
He was breathing heavily, stopped fleeing and was just taking pecks after pecks and ramming like a dead fish.. She was pushing him around through the tank like a dead weight. Literally.
Here is Robert being pushed around.

I thought just like with George, she would stop after sometime. But she did not. Even this morning I saw Robert lodged between the canister filter intake tube. And Sarah every couple of minutes was going there ramming him or pecking him. So finally after 13 hours(I hope she didn't assault him through the night), this morning I put a barrier.

Convict females are usually much smaller. So I know the aggression is always from convict males. So poor Robert is finding tables have suddenly turned.
The question is when can I lift the barrier. May be tomorrow? Will Sarah reject Robert? So many questions in my mind! I thought convicts are usually the most easily paired fish.
I know Sarah paired in less than one day with George, But Robert being of different color and different type of pattern, I am afraid, what if Sarah doesn't see him as a potential mate at all?
Sarah still mock charges on the divider and every time she does that, Robert runs for the crevice between the intake tube and the tank wall.
Keeping my fingers crossed.