Polar Parrot Cichlid

[BigBurgassio]

What's your thoughts on these fish ?

Ive read about the aggression , best housed alone by the sounds of things but also seen reports they have genetic issues that can make them die quickly.

 

[GaryE]

I think they're more of a philosophical question than a fishkeeping one. They're a fish with no natural history, created for the hobby to sell. Right off, that makes them uninteresting to me, since there are so many more interesting, curious quirky Cichlids. At best, it's a bit like putting plastic flowers in a garden.

Some will get very passionate about hating them, and some really like them, so I figured I'd post to try to show moderation in my dislike of them. They are weird looking things, and they do have those faces. But they also have compressed, rounded bodies, as you know. This can cause some of the same physical problems that blood parrots suffer from as the intentionally deformed spine can compress the intestines. I believe they are banned as cruelty breeding in some areas, and I would support that. When a body shape chosen by a breeder causes active harm to the fish, that breeder doesn't get my money.

Choosing to breed fish that are unlike natural fish is one thing, but breeding them with harmful deformities crosses a line.

So by now, you see I think buying any is a bad idea...

 

[BigBurgassio]

I think they're more of a philosophical question than a fishkeeping one. They're a fish with no natural history, created for the hobby to sell. Right off, that makes them uninteresting to me, since there are so many more interesting, curious quirky Cichlids. At best, it's a bit like putting plastic flowers in a garden.

Some will get very passionate about hating them, and some really like them, so I figured I'd post to try to show moderation in my dislike of them. They are weird looking things, and they do have those faces. But they also have compressed, rounded bodies, as you know. This can cause some of the same physical problems that blood parrots suffer from as the intentionally deformed spine can compress the intestines. I believe they are banned as cruelty breeding in some areas, and I would support that. When a body shape chosen by a breeder causes active harm to the fish, that breeder doesn't get my money.

Choosing to breed fish that are unlike natural fish is one thing, but breeding them with harmful deformities crosses a line.

So by now, you see I think buying any is a bad idea...

Thanks for the feedback, after reading your thoughts i am more inclined to go for a convict cichlid or similar. Always good to get some viewpoints

 

[anewbie]

I heard they get really cold and therefore need a blanket on them at all time. Personally I prefer fishes that are or can be wild caught and other fishes aren't really fishes.

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

There are over 1700 scientifically described species of cichlid and it is estimated the total number of species is over 3000.
With that many choices of natural fish why would anyone select a man made monstrosity?

 

[gwand]

Frankenfish

 

[Jennet]

Personally I like the Kribensis Cichlid, small fish with big personality and interesting to watch.

 

[anewbie]

Personally I like the Kribensis Cichlid, small fish with big personality and interesting to watch.

You mean these ugly things:

 

[Jennet]

Mine looked more like this with a little less orange and more silver with the black dot on the cheek more prominent, unless that is just your light??

 

[anewbie]

Mine looked more like this with a little less orange and more silver with the black dot on the cheek more prominent, unless that is just your light??
View attachment 384396

Nope mine are wild caught and the colour are heavily dependent on catch location. This is another one I have totally different colour; the ones above are from polongwe and the one below is from lokuenji. I believe yours is known as nigerian red and it might actually be a pulcher. Mine were sold as p. kribensis.

 

[GaryE]

The hobby kribensis is Pelvicachromis pulcher. The names of it and Pelvicachromis kribensis got crossed up by suppliers decades ago and so the two fish are constantly mixed up. They are very similar, but the 'real' kribensis is smaller and differently coloured.

If you go for the common krib (P. pulcher) you can't just look at colours. They are really variable. I have seen half the rainbow on them - right now I have some wild caught ones that are deep blue and unlike any I've seen before in many years of looking at the species.

@Newbie has P kribensis (from Cameroon)and @Jennet has P pulcher (Nigeria and Benin). There's a third closely related species, P taeniatus found only in NIgeria and Benin.

It looks complicated, but all the complexity s based on someone long ago receiving them from the wild, putting the wrong name on them and having that catch on.

Common kribs (pulcher) do best in tanks with at least 30 inches/75 cm of front glass, with hiding places, soft to medium hard water and a temperature around 26c for breeding, and 23-26 for keeping. As you may guess from my nerdiness here, I love this group of fish. Convicts are boring, violent little things people generally keep for a short time and grow frustrated with because of their aggression. The krib group are keepers.

 

[gwand]

I have a pair of Nigerian Red P. taeniatus. Lovely fish. Monogamous.

 

[Jennet]

@GaryE Thanks for that information. That picture of the fish I put up was off the internet because it looked closest to the one I kept previously. I am back researching them again in case that is the way I want to go when I get my bigger aquarium sorted. I only had the one fish in a community tank. Don't normally look to breed (except for my guppies from 70's and used to sell them to local aquatics store). Am going to go with just male guppies in my 80 litre tank, probably down to a useful 65 litre now more rocks and branches are in there.

I have to keep going into google and pasting in the names of the fish people mention as I'm not used to their correct nomenclatures, which means I tend to have loads of tabs building on side of page whenever I am on here. All good learning, just not very good at remembering nowadays.

 

[anewbie]

I actually am not a fan of nigerian red - i think there are prettier and more interesting options from the Pelvicachromis family of fishes.

I still haven't detected a large divergant in behavior but some are more aggressive then others that is fer sure. For me 1/2 the game with them is eye candy and that is in the eyes of the beholder so what i find as candy you might deem turpentine. Having said that they are a lot easier to keep then some of the more exotic south american dwarf cichild. And those members of dicrossus genus can be a hand full of both.