Parrot Fish.

[Daisy]

Hi Everybody...

Well, I bought a red parrotfish. A small one.

And THEN, I did some reading to discover that there's quite a bit of controversy in aquarium trade about the ethics related to production and marketing of these fish.

I'd be glad for perspectives from the club.

Have I perpetrated an injustice, here? 
Or should I enjoy my fish, now that it's done (and any tips on how to take the best care of him/her.. it?)

Thanks...
Daisy.

[markw]

Daisy, Its all really about what attracts you to the hobby. If they are attractive to you and you find them intriguing then enjoy them. The controversy arises with regard to the line breeding of some to produce the unique colour or the hybridizing required. And often times some of these fish are injected with dyes to produce the colours. It can shorten their lifespan and obviously is not natural. Anytime you see fish that aren't natural occurring you just need to ask yourself, if they are right for you. I can't offer much in the way of care for them as I've never had them. But good luck and let us know how they do.

[Daisy]

Thanks Mark... live and learn.  Normally I do "google" fish before I purchase them, but in this case I didn't. 

While I feel a bit neutrally about hybrid varieties of fish (so long as the result is not a fish that suffers, in some way), I am not at all keen about artificial dyes for fish. 

The fish that I bought is small (2 inches), and is not red at all (yet);  he seems to be orange and black and white, which I gather is the case for young parrot fish.   So, while he does not look dyed right now, I don't know whether he has be subject to that process or not.  (I will feel badly, if he has...)

For now, I won't buy any more, and I'll just try to take care of this one, properly.
Sigh... Thanks.
Daisy.

[markw]

Daisy, I didn't mean to imply that your fish was dyed. I was just referring to some of the new strains of fish that actually originate out of places like Singapore and Asia. It's really difficult to trace any lineage of these fish, but it is obvious with some how "unnatural" they are.

[dan2x38]

An issue with these because of the hybridizing their mouths are malformed. Some have issue eating and especially if they in with other fish. The more active the other fish the harder it gets too and as they age. The other thing is the ability to swim they have deformed bodies that make it difficult from their natural state.

The biggest fear of hybridizing fish is them breeding further. Strains can be totally lost especially if it is an endangered species we are dealing with. Plus the cichlid folks really are against any sort of hybridizing. Many cichlid aquarists are quite serious about their side of the hobby - real die hards!

Just make sure it gets it's food at feeding time if in a community setup.

[Daisy]

Thanks to you both for these additional comments.  Yes, now that I've looked, my parrot fish does have a differently shaped mouth (I had not noticed, initially).  I will be sure to watch and make sure he gets enough to eat, and doesn't miss out to faster tankmakes.  As for other challenges, he seems to be shaped like a regular fish and doesn't seem to have trouble swimming, at least so far. Thanks for the tips. 

And interesting notes on hybridization -  I'll have to learn more about all of that.

Cheers.
Daisy.

[karjean]

Daisy,
Enjoy your Parrot fish no matter what controversy is being said. I had seen on another site, somebody which had bought a tattooed fish and they were not well received by other members. They were first time user of the site and i am sure they never went back after all the comments. Just take good care of it, that only matters.

[Dorrie]

Well, all you can do now is take good care of your little one.

And maybe not buy any more hybridized/mutilated fish.

Parrotfish are sadly exposed to both aggravations.

I have heard that since the fish used to create the parrotfish are incompatible behaviour-wise, some parrotfish grow up to be very confused fish since they inherited two incompatible body languages and feeding behaviours, so they essentially have an identity crises and can't communicate with other fish and among themselves

In addition to dying, other mutilations are performed on these poor fish to create so-called Heart parrots, which are supposed to be a hybrid in which the tail gene has disappeared, but is more often than not just regular parrotfish who've had their tails cut off by shady breeders.

So this is why most fish enthusiasts refuse to buy these fish to not encourage further demand in them, and hopefully put a stop to these practices. Sadly, this in not that widely publicized, opening the door to rookie mistakes, because odds are if people knew about this, they would not buy these poor creatures.

So Daisy, your poor little fish has had a hard life, and is most likely in need of all the care you can give it.
Good luck with the little one

[ciaus]

Daisy; have you gone over to the dark side, Salt?  When I lived in Bermuda, there were wild Parrot Fish "EVERYWHERE", read marine, read coral eater.  The colors of the Marine fish are iridescent reds, blues, greens and yellows, when you scuba or snorkel with them you can actually hear them biting off pieces of coral, click click click really neat.  Oh, and they get to be very large, well in excess of 24 inches.....

Daisy do you have a red "blood" parrot, a chiclid? It is my understanding that the blood parrot chiclid is a hybrid fish and has never existed in the wild.  Either way, whatever you have purchased the important thing is to care for the critter you have and the advice given earlier in this thread is bang on for the feeding habits etc...

HTH
Ciaus