How do I set up a tank for breeding Parrot Fish?

Question

I have two females and one male parrot in a community tank. The females are obsessed with making hills and valleys with the stones at the bottom of the tank and then proceeds to attack any fish that dares to approach their claimed territory. I presume they are making nests to produce their eggs. What do I do about this since the other fish are all carnivores.

Answer 1

As far as breeding tips, mostly the fish handle everything themselves. All you need to do is provide clean water by doing regular partial water changes of about 25% of the water once a week, every week. Also, they need a hard surface on which to lay the eggs. Most people take a large flowerpot, knock out the bottom and lie that on its side in the tank. The fish will usually lay their eggs on the inside surface. You can buy a simple aquarium divider to protect the parents and fry from the other fish
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A

Answer 2

Conditions must be right in the aquarium for you parrot cichlids to spawn, and even then, it's not guaranteed that after the female lays eggs they will hatch. I've heard of several ways to encourage Spawning. They are as follows:

Raise the temperature in the tank 2-3º (do not exceed 84º)
Do a 10-15% water change using R/O or distilled water
Feed Live brine shrimp a couple times a week

PH for spawning should be no higher than 7.2. Optimally you should shoot for a 6.6-6.8 PH. Anything higher than 7.2 the birth rate will be low to nonexistent, because the covering on the egg will become to "tough" due to excess calcium in the water and the sperm will not be able to penetrate the egg to fertilize it. At an excessively low PH, the acidic water will damage the sperm and suffer the same fertilization problems. PH should me monitored closely and never changed more than .2 in a 24 hour period or you risk stressing your fish.

Answer 3

Probably about 98% of male parrot fish are sterile. Most likely the eggs will eventually turn white(fungus) and the female should get rid of them. If she doesn't after a few days, you'll need to remove them. I've even had 2 females "mate", and one laid eggs. They're fun to watch, they get so territorial. Watch them, soon they'll start doing the "mating dance" they'll start shaking and wiggling. I have one that would do loop-d-loops complete sommersaults in the tank. They're so fun to watch.

Answer 4

parrot fish will mate and lay eggs but the eggs will not hatch b/c true parrots are a hybrid.