# Blood Parrot Color Morphing



## Tomorrowland (Mar 9, 2012)

Hey all! Seeking the expertise of someone who is familiar with these fascinating creatures who might be able to lend some helpful advice.

About three months ago, my beautiful Blood Parrot passed from what I assume to be old age not long before his ninth birthday. I purchased him at my LFS when he was a baby, entirely striped in varying shades of brown, gray and black. By the time he reached a total head to tail length of 3", he had turned entirely orange.

Now, just over a month ago, I purchased a juvenile BP from a friend who raises them. He was entirely black with small bits of gray and a solid stripe of orange along his stomach, nothing like my previous BP in coloration. Still, I have happily witnessed Tom Waits (my new BP) fill the place that Venom (my last BP) occupied in my heart with his bubbly personality, low levels of aggression, and instant recognition of me (not to mention his amusing antics toward my roommates or fiancée, or when I bring "strangers" to see him).

He is now about 3.5" from head to tail and his gray/black coloring has seemed to give way to orange in an upward fashion (i.e., he is now mostly orange but for his arched back and a spot or two on his head) whereas my last BP just seemed to fade from his juvie colors to orange. Is this normal? Do BP's go through color morphing differently? I'm wondering if he will continue to turn orange, or if he will just stay this way with black coloration at the top. I've heard that black spots appearing on BP's can be signs of stress, but like I previously mentioned, he was almost entirely black when I purchased him, and is now losing the black coloration... Slowly.

Any insight would be appreciated!

Edit: If it helps any, the friend who I purchased my BP from originally bred his Parrots from Gold Severum and Red Devil Cichlids. He now breeds his female BP's with Gold Severums.


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## RoxMad (Nov 29, 2010)

I've been asking questions about BPs and color morphing on many different forums and no one has answered mine, either. My boy Russ has faded from orange to white. He used to change color when stressed (i.e., if I'd leave for the weekend), but it seems a bit permanent now. He usually turns more orange at night, and it's usually more orange on one side of his body than the other. Perhaps they just change as they get older?


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## zero (Mar 27, 2012)

i recently brought a neon pink one...i know i shouldnt of now but as ive been reading up about them it seems un dyed ones will either change colour totally as they get older or only slightly, so maybe lil Tom Waits will only half change? can you post a pictures???


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## zero (Mar 27, 2012)

id like to add, i did have an adult parrot for quite some time but i got him after he was fully grown so didnt see him change unfortunalty.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

I believe color changes are quite common in Blood Parrots as they grow.


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## Tomorrowland (Mar 9, 2012)

zero said:


> i recently brought a neon pink one...i know i shouldnt of now but as ive been reading up about them it seems un dyed ones will either change colour totally as they get older or only slightly, so maybe lil Tom Waits will only half change? can you post a pictures???


Can do, Zero. I'm about to feed them so I'll snap a picture of him.


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## Tomorrowland (Mar 9, 2012)

zero said:


> i recently brought a neon pink one...i know i shouldnt of now but as ive been reading up about them it seems un dyed ones will either change colour totally as they get older or only slightly, so maybe lil Tom Waits will only half change? can you post a pictures???


Here are a few shots of lil Tom Waits.


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## zero (Mar 27, 2012)

hes got the cutest face!!!!!!!

i took a couple pics of mine, first ones a bit blurry but its just to show how pink he is!!!


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Tomorrowland said:


> Here are a few shots of lil Tom Waits.


Unfortunately Blood Parrots are one of the fish subject to dyeing but that doesn't look like a dyed fish to me. They also a bred in a variely of yellow/orange colors which are not dyed. With a dyed fish, they usually take a pale colored fish and dye it a bright color, if the fish survives, eventually that bright color simply fades away leaving a fish it's original, paler, color. Your fish is developing darker coloring, not fading so it's color change is natural. Some blood parrots will become naturally paler too but that would be harder to know if it was natural or not.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

zero- Your fish is very cute and I'm sure you will take good care of it but it does look dyed so it will loose all that pink color as it gets older. You might consider reading about how they dye fish before you buy another one .


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## zero (Mar 27, 2012)

i found out that they dye them once i got him home when i done a bit of research to make sure i was feeding him the right food......i wish i never brought him now!!!! very stupidly i assumed that he would change to red as he got older like the orange ones change as they were labelled red parrots. i thought it was a bit odd that he was so bright but just thought it was the lighting and natural as our old orange adult parrot was so bright!


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

I thought you bought him knowing he had been dyed which I think is a bad idea because it supports the practice but now that you have him don't feel bad. It' nice that he's got a good home, it's not his fault he was dyed after all .


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## zero (Mar 27, 2012)

he was quite expensive too!! yep hes got a real good home, and him (powderpuff) and the gold severum (nigel) have already got a good relationship going....well, nigel will follow him around allll the time and when powderpuff notices he chases him away...then nigel sneakily swims back next to him!!!


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

This is an older thread you might find interesting:
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f51/black-cooloration-developing-my-blood-parrot-20003.html

And this is one someone just posted:
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f42/bl...campaign=Feed:+AquariumForum+(Aquarium+Forum)


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