help, possible fry

[lorie]

Hello all, I hope I'm in the right forum I know this is long but worth the read.

Currently have two blood parrot fish, two paradise gouramis and a butis butis in 55 gallon for two months. WEekly water changes 1/4-1/3 per week. Live plants present. All chemistries normal


main question, two blood parrots I found out are hybrid fish made form different cichlids, firemouth, not sure other two.
I just love these little fish real personalities

I thought they were supposed to be sterile, I'm new at this I think I might have fry, have no idea what to do! Yesterday I noticed tadpole like entities with eyes in corner of my tank, my husband and I were shocked. The maybe male ate them all. within two minutes while we were watching. We were very upset?! Last week when we cleaned the tank we noticed maybe female being aggressive towards the glove used. Of course out parrots are only 1 1/2 " right now ha ha. This morning all the fry seem to be present, I'm not getting as close to the glass the blue guy isnt eating them. I guess he was protecting them. I have no idea what to do. At first I thought what the heck are these things, I was thinking it was bad. Now I'm pretty sure its the parrots fry, they are moving rocks with their mouths together creating a ledge against the glass. I even observed the maybe male spitting food out for the fry. this is so cool, but Im not sure how long it can last. The gouramis are definitely not getting to close, they are being chased away. Butis is staying on the other side of the tank he is carnivorous, only 3 " long. I dont feed him live food only carnivorous pellets.

Please help I know this is long but very exciting.

I defintely wont clean this area next time I siphon tank this coming monday

 

[morgan]

Hi, Hope you don't mind me saying but Monday isn't a good day to do a water change. I was told on another forum that water companies put extra chemicals in on a Friday, for the weekend. The extra does not wear off until Tuesday. My step-dad used to work for a water company and he said this is true. That is in th UK, don't know about other countries. Also I don't know if it really is harmful but the people who told me are very knowledgable.

 

[saxolady04]

good luck with the fry ive got a blood parrot and i just adore him
keep us posted

 

[Nik_boyd]

I was told on another forum that water companies put extra chemicals in on a Friday, for the weekend. The extra does not wear off until Tuesday.

very useful info - I'm in the UK and currently do water changes on a Sunday, thats soon gonna change thanks!

 

[lorie]

thank you all for your good advice . I will check out the water company idea. I live in United states not sure but what you say makes since.
thanks

I did find out information the blood parrots will guard the fry up to a certain point, my understanding average a month. THen I need to take them out put in small tank. I also bought small brine shrimp today. I read that after two days the yolk sack will be gone, and they will need their own food.

I'm really excited about this, they are really neat. I definitely wouldnt mind having more blood parrots they are one of my favorites.

 

[black angel]

i have read somewhere that parrots were thought to be sterile but its not always the case. good luck with them.
as for the water board it does vary, as mine put the stuff in on a wednesday. it pays to phone them and ask, also you can ask for a breakdown of what is actually in your water.

 

[Cullen aquanaut]

Hello everybody
Just for the record, blood parrots are a combination of Red Devils and Green Severums, both beautiful and fun to watch.
I also heard that blood parrots were sterile, but you know nature with its loop holes.
Also, out of curiousity, the butis butis you remarked about, do you mean the badis badis?
The reason I ask is because the badis badis are quite beautiful, but are known to be very docile eaters.
Usually they don't get any food and die from starvation, but maybe because you have them in such a large tank and such few fish, the agression toward food is minimalized.
Anyway, maybe your other fish spawned also.
The paradise fish are known to make bubble nests, which look like froth at the top of the water.
Males and females can be told apart when they reach around 2.5-3 inches.
Males are slim with long fins and brighter coloring.
Females are very large, they may look over fed in caparison to the male, and the fins are shorter.
Badis badis are difficult though to tell if they bred.
I don't think they would take care of their fry.
Also, i would very much like it if you would send me some pictures of the fish and the fry.
Later i want to start an internet scrap book of peoples fish and maybe i can help you in identifying the fry.
Check my profile for an e-mail adress.

 

[lorie]

thank you for the information.

Butis Butis is spelled like this headstander family, eleotridae family, or common name crazy fish. Carniverous fish only gets about 6 inches long. Very personable. Would eat live food I only feed two different carniverous pellets so far. Hes picky but eats about a 1 1/2 each time I feed within 5-10 minutes. He looks like a marine hawk fish except not colorful brown and off/white. I really like him.

I enjoyed your information on the paradise gouramis, you describe mine to a T. The very aggressive one may be the female big in the abdomen area, lighter color, the other one very slim and gets picked on all the time by the bigger one. Even recently a small flesh wound on each one. Which healed within two days, with a little TLC. Aloe and melafix. I'ave actually considered removing one of them if they cant get along better. I hate to do this, but I dont know what else to do.


I'm not really good with pictures and down loads, but I do own digital camera it would be neat to dowload at somepoint. The fry right now are 1-1.5mm so as long as things go well maybe I could take a picture at some point I can send a picture I hope the fry make it, once the parents no longer are guarding them I plan to hopefully catch this behaviour early and remove them to a smaller tank until they are big enough. I bought some small brine shrimp. I even observed the parents spitting food at them. WEll this is only the second day i've seen them Pretty neat!!!!!

 

[NinjaSmurf]

BUTIS BUTIS!!!! This was the fish I originally set up my thirty gallon for, but then I could never find one, not even on special order... If I may ask, where did you manage to find him in the US and for how much? The only one I could ever find was for thirty dollars on aquabid, and that didn't include shipping but did include another butis, which I read don't get along together...

Anyways, that's really cool about the parrots!!!






Note to Cullen-

1. The large typing is

a. as if you are yelling
b. hard to read
c. takes up a large amount of space

2. I notice that you have a tendency to post info about the types of fish people have in their tank even when they don't ask for this, it seems inappropriate to do this all the time. Perhaps tone it down to providing info just on the fish in question unless it is obvious the tank is overstocked, and only then if it seems that the person does not realize this?

 

[lorie]

I live in Kansas city Missouri. I have never seen hiim before my LFS carries him Northland Tropical fish in Riverside Missouri. He was in a tank with my parrots. He was 10.99 and worth everypenny. Personality plus. Very unique fish, one of my favorites.

Although very diffcult to find detailed information on him, or persoanal accounts. For example life span have a good clue. He was compared to sleeper gobies, 2-3 years. I hope longer!!!!!!!!! Yes I knew better kept singly which he is. He definitely holds his own, rarely gets messed with.