I never planned this, but the Male Red Texas cichlid and the Female Parrot Cichlid are breeding again. They are fairly young still and are only a few inches long. The Male Red Texas is finally molting. He has a small patch of orange starting to show under his chin/mouth/gill area. Can't wait to see him entirely orange with regular texas cichlid pearl. Anyway, I will never expect anything out of their mating habits and egg creation, but I thought I would show everyone a few of my photos.

Here you can see the orange patch under his mouth/chin area.


Here the Red Texas is guarding the egg cave (flower pot), and you can also see the light orange patch behind his mouth area.


Here the female Parrot is fanning her eggs.


Finally, the male Red Texas is guarding the egg cave while the Parrot is fanning them. I used flash in this photo, so you can notice the pronounced pearling.

Excellent Pics! Nice way to capture the iridescence
mike

thats why you use the flash i see now, how long ago did you take these pictures ? just wondering whats is going on with the eggs as they look infertile in the pics

I see the molting of the red texas cichlid in the same light as the color change of some parrot cichlids. Basically, both start off a dark color, and then change to an entirely different color, chunk by chunk. When they reach maturity, you will start seeing chunks of bright yellow/orange come out, and then eventually, they entire fish is yellow/orange. Here is one parrot I have who is about half way through its molting.

Cluckster, I agree with you. I don't think these eggs will hatch, but I think it is so cute they are trying. Maybe one day something will come out of their mating habits, but I am not betting on it.

parrot molting:

thank you for explaining! interesting!