The King Kong parrot cichlid

What a King Kong parrot is

The King Kong parrot is a premium type of parrot cichlid, the man-made hybrid family that includes the blood parrot. In a store tank the two look related, but a King Kong is built heavier. It grows larger, its forehead often rises into a hump instead of dipping into the blood parrot’s notch, and its mouth is usually closer to a normal cichlid mouth.

That combination makes it popular with keepers who like the parrot look but want a fish with more presence, and with keepers uneasy about the blood parrot’s deformities. It also tends to cost more than an ordinary blood parrot.

Where King Kongs come from

Here the honest answer is that nobody is certain. There is no breed standard, no published cross, and the name is applied by farms and sellers rather than by any registry. What you find instead are several explanations that circulate among breeders and keepers, and they may all be partly true:

• A higher grade of parrot. Some describe King Kongs as parrots selected from lines carrying more of the redhead cichlid (Vieja melanurus, sold as synspilum), keeping the parrot shape while losing much of the deformity. Keepers sometimes call this the Asian type.
• A backcross. Others describe crossing blood parrots, usually fertile females, back to a Midas cichlid or red devil. The result looks like a stocky, short Midas, sometimes called the American type.
• A trade label. In practice, “King Kong” is also used for almost any large, robust parrot with a working mouth and a raised forehead.

You will find care sheets that state a precise origin, such as a specific year in Taiwan. Treat those with caution: they usually borrow the blood parrot’s history. What most accounts agree on is that the King Kong belongs to the same Midas, red devil and redhead family as the blood parrot, with more of the parents’ build showing through. For how these families were crossed into the flowerhorn, see origins.

King Kong parrot vs blood parrot

Side by side, the differences are clear enough. Young fish are harder, since juveniles of both are small, round and orange.

Pet Zone’s own descriptions note that the King Kong mouth can still be slightly parrot-shaped while letting the fish feed normally, which matches what keepers report: the mouth is on a spectrum, and the best King Kongs are close to a normal cichlid.

The head: a kok-like hump

The feature that sells many King Kongs is the head. Where a blood parrot’s forehead dips, a King Kong’s tends to rise, and some adults develop a real nuchal hump, the same fatty swelling flowerhorn keepers call the kok. It is a trait inherited from the Midas and red devil side.

How big it gets varies a great deal. Some fish grow a round, obvious hump by their second year, and others stay flat-headed their whole lives. Males are more likely to show a pronounced one, and hump size in cichlids can swell and shrink with condition and breeding mood. Don’t expect flowerhorn-sized results, and don’t pay extra for a promise of one on a young fish. Keepers chasing a big head usually end up with a flowerhorn strain instead; the mechanics are covered in kok growth.

Temperament

Young King Kongs are often timid. They hide, dart for cover when you approach and color up slowly. Give them caves and a few weeks and that changes.

Adults are a different fish. Reports range from peaceful community fish to keepers describing behavior as nasty as a Midas or red devil. The most useful way to think about it is that a King Kong has more working equipment than a blood parrot: a bigger body, a real bite and more of its parents’ territorial wiring. Expect more chasing and more damage when it does fight.

• Spawning makes it worse. A male with a female present, or a female guarding eggs, can turn on everything in the tank.
• Space helps. Most trouble comes from crowded tanks. Longer tanks with broken sight lines keep the peace.
• Individuals vary. Plan for the pushy version, and have a divider or spare tank ready.

Like blood parrots, King Kongs learn their keeper, beg at the glass, and many will take food from fingers. They are not flowerhorn-level interactive, but they are good company.

Care and feeding

Care sits between a blood parrot and a flowerhorn. The water chemistry is forgiving; the size and waste output are not.

• Tank. 55 gallons (208 L) is the floor for one adult. For a pair or a few tank mates, 75 gallons (284 L) or more, and a 4-foot footprint at minimum.
• Filtration. Heavy. These fish eat a lot and dig constantly, so use filters rated well beyond the tank volume and clean prefilters often.
• Water. 78 to 82°F (26 to 28°C), pH around 6.5 to 7.5, and 25 to 30 percent water changes weekly. Details in water and temperature.
• Decor. Heavy caves and smooth rock set on the tank bottom, not stacked on gravel, since King Kongs will excavate. A tight lid.

Feeding is easier than with blood parrots because most King Kongs can bite. A quality cichlid pellet sized to the fish is the staple, with frozen shrimp, krill and bloodworms as treats and some vegetable matter. Feed two or three small meals a day to juveniles and one or two to adults, only what is eaten in a minute or two. If your fish has a narrower parrot-type mouth, use smaller or soaked pellets as you would for a blood parrot. Color foods with natural astaxanthin deepen the red; see feeding for more.

Tank mates

Choose robust fish of similar size that can hold their own without starting wars: severums, silver dollars, larger rainbowfish, bristlenose or larger plecos, and other parrots in a big tank. Avoid small fish, slow long-finned fish and aggressive Central Americans such as red devils and flowerhorns. For flowerhorns specifically, the tank mates guide explains why solo is the rule.

Pet Zone sells King Kong parrots, shipped nationwide from flowerhorn.co. For how they fit into the wider world of crosses, see hybrid cichlids explained, or compare with the Kirin parrot.