1. To promote the reproduction of parrotfish, fish owners can add some equipment and create an environment suitable for spawning in the fish tank, such as rocks, tree holes, driftwood, aquatic plants and other obstacles. These items can provide a safe spawning environment for parrotfish.
2. Fish owners can feed parrotfish some protein-rich foods in advance, like water fleas, bloodworms, brine shrimp or other high-quality fish foods, to help parrotfish stay healthy and increase their reproduction rate.
3. Parrotfish are hybrid fish and they have congenital defects in their respiratory function. Therefore, during the breeding period, it's important to keep sufficient oxygen in the fish tank to ensure the normal respiratory metabolism of parrotfish and prevent them from lacking oxygen. In addition, make sure the water quality remains clean and fresh. It's best to provide soft water with a weak acidic nature, and the water temperature can be raised to around 25 °C.
4. When parrotfish spawn, if there are no other male fish to fertilize the eggs, the eggs won't be able to hatch. So, other varieties of male fish should be prepared in the fish tank, such as red devil cichlids, red mouth cichlids, flowerhorn cichlids, arhat fish, longevity fish and so on.
Once the parrotfish have successfully reproduced, the parent fish can be removed from the tank. At this time, raise the water temperature to 28 °C, supply oxygen appropriately and wait for about a week, and then the fish eggs will be able to hatch successfully.
All in all, usually, the reproduction of parrotfish doesn't require too much human intervention. Fish owners just need to put an appropriate number of male fish in the tank in time when the female parrotfish are in heat. During the breeding period of parrotfish, pay attention to keeping the water temperature and water quality of the breeding environment stable to avoid the fish from being stimulated.