Should I buy a Parrot Fish?

[youronlysin]

My Betta eats out of my hand.

 

[severum mama]

My betta is still getting used to me.... maybe someday though!

 

[redwhiptailplec]

Not precisley sure if they are hormones but it is an injection of some sort apparently that is what the breeders now use in the fareast. I will try to get a picture, but unfortunately that will have to wait till Monday as I have to pop back to England for a bit....Thats where I am from.

 

[Toirtis]

Not precisley sure if they are hormones but it is an injection of some sort apparently that is what the breeders now use in the fareast. I will try to get a picture, but unfortunately that will have to wait till Monday as I have to pop back to England for a bit....Thats where I am from.

Hormone injections are used quite commonly in the fish farms to induce spawning in a number of species....in fact, I just happen to have a couple of syringes of the hormone in my fridge at the moment...a friend gave it to me in case I wanted to try it on some of the more difficult to spwn fish I have...never used it, though (my friend used it on some of his top-end fancy goldfish with lots of success).

 

[severum mama]

Oh, I had no idea! That sounds kinda mean... is it? And is it for fish that are difficult to breed but fertile, or would it work for fish that are infertile like most male parrots? :?

 

[fishplay]

I have four of them. I recently purchased another one. Couldn't help myself. They are the greatest. Mine like to hide alot. Will even lay sideways between leaves to hide. They also come up to the glass at feeding time and wiggle around for me. They are also very amusing when I clean thier tank. If they have eggs they try to attack my hand while I vac out the tank. They also attack my magnetic scaper,lol. My son once put his face up to the glass when they had eggs and they tried to attack him,lol. I think they are about one of the funniest fish I have.

I know there is alot of people out there that don't think you should purchase this fish. But, I would do what you want to do. It is your aquarium! Do what you want. But, I would say if your buying them because thier pink, I wouldn't. The one dyed one that I had lost all of it's color in about a year. Why they dye them is beyond me. Mine are bright pretty orange ... Much better than pink....

 

[frog girl]

As a biologist I have to agree mixing species is bad news. Some species have isolating mechanisms like their behavior is different so they won't cross but rainbowfish which come from all different drainages don't need to have different behaviors to avoid crossing in the wild.

I figure on of the things aquarium enthusiasts provide is a reason to keep the fish & their natural habitats around (though sometimes this backfires with overfishing). Maybe someday we might even have the stock to reintroduce a fish that has become extinct in the wild. I know this happens with pupfish not infrequently as they are limited to small springs & biologists who study them often keep a population in case something happens to the spring.

I know hybrids can be beautiful I just think we should be careful to maintian pure strains as well from known collecting localities. By buying hybrids we are encouraging those out to make a $ at the expense of genetic diversity. I can only agree wholeheartedly with Chile & Toirtis on this one.

 

[mattrox]

On that course of thinking.... Why is it OK in Discus circles to cross breed varieties from different locals to produce the many tank bred varieties we have today, but in African circles it is a sacrelige to cross to morph's of the same species?? Just a question that has puzzled me for some time now.

Sorry if it is too OT.

 

[ChileRelleno]

Why is it OK in Discus circles to cross breed varieties from different locals to produce the many tank bred varieties we have today, but in African circles it is a sacrelige to cross to morph's of the same species??

A Discus crossed with a Discus is still a Discus no matter the color morph attained, but say you cross it with a Red Hook Silver Dollar (I know its not likely to happen but just say...) trying to achieve a Red Hooked Discus?
You can have a fish that looks like a Discus but has SD genes.
Crossbreeding for desired traits within a species is one thing and done wrong can cause harm, but hybridizing is another ballgame with many more dangers.

I don't know about African color morphs "within specific species", but I do know that hybridization between African species in aquaria is all too common place, intentional and unintentional, and that it is causing a major ruckus.
Why?..... Because some folks buy a certain African believing it to be "insert species", and find out its not when they try to breed and it doesn't breed true, or even worse it breeds so close they sell fry and further damage the gene pools as others then raise and breed those fish with true species specimens.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I found an interesting link last night while I was researching for possible tankmates in my cichlid tank.

http://www.wetpetz.com/lakemalawi.htm

"DNA studies of 16 species, representing the major Malawian cichlid groups, suggest that all the Malawian cichlids arose from one single species within the past 700,000 years."

 

[frog girl]

Hope not to offend those religios folks out there by mentioning the e word . . .

BUT a lot of evolution (change in the genetic makeup of a species) & speciation (a new species evolving) can happen in 700,000 yrs. Its really quite amazing how fast this can happen. Anyway I still think we should try to keep some pure strains of fish from known collecting localities to preserve this genetic diversity even if it occured really quickly.

 

[redwhiptailplec]

Well I can certainly see the validity in your arguments Frog Girl...and yet, I do not see that Parrots are much of a genetic threat. Lets face it you can tell a Parrot from any other fish, and I believe that few if any hobbyists will ever be releasing fish into the wild.

My main concern is whether Parrots have a good quality of life....and from everything I have seen and read they do seem to. Now obviously that does not apply to dyed Parrots, but still.

I do not think I will purchase one as yet but they are very appealing fish with wonderful personalities.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

My parrots are happy and healthy in our tank with African Cichlids. I know that's not an idea situation (South American and African's together) but they are very happy. They rule the tank now that the Ice Blue died. We've had the yellow's for over a year and they have outlived any other fish.

 

[mattrox]

One LFS here has a HUGE tank with mostly Tanganika fish in, but interestingly there seems to be at least one Mawali Hap and several Firemouths (Central American) and they seem to get along. I spent a long time observing the tank, it had an awesome colony of Birchardis, a Bredding pair with a few 2 cm fry and a swarm of new hatchlings. They also have a Huge SAE and monstrous clown loach that is so lazy it lies on its side on the sand in a nook under the rock work.

 

[frog girl]

I'm not saying all hybrids are bad. Sounds like parrots aren't really a threat. I guess I was thinking more of rainbowfish (my latest obsession ). The species are really getting trashed in the fish farms unfortunately. But this isn't about them. As long as they don't get released & are sterile I don't see a problem.