Bower's Parrotfish is also sometimes called just Bower's Parrot and also frequently dubbed the Orange Blotch (or Spot) Parrotfish. When you see the adult male of the species, the orange bit makes sense, and while the females and juveniles also sport that coloration it is much less pronounced, so we stick to Bower's Parrotfish. Scientifically they're known as Chlorusus bowersi. They were not named for the notorious bad guy from the world of Super Mario, but instead named for an American Politician, George Meade Bowers, who also served as the Director of the US Bureau of Fisheries and the United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries at different times in his career.
Parrotfish are always at least two things, picturesque and polarizing. The first is easy, nearly all the species we lump within the group of Parrotfish are visually stunning and Bower's Parrot is no exception. They shine like a polished piece of turquoise with a bright orange spot and vertical dashes of peachy gold along their tail sections. This is a fish you aren't going to miss. They are often polarizing because they tend to get large, and some species can be hard (and/or very expensive) to feed in captivity, which in the end hurts their chances of success in the home aquarium.
This cocoon making takes some energy for the fish to do every night, and Chlorusus bowersi is an active fish, and so getting them good food, and enough of it, is paramount to keeping your Parrotfish happy and healthy. As we've touched on, a very important part of their diet is algae. That aside, they also eat a large amount of invertebrates, both incidentally as they eat small critters hidden in the algae, but also intentionally. So it is important to get these fish a broad-spectrum diet and plenty of it. Here we feed them a mix of meaty food from Gamma, as well as dried Algae and Pellets / Shots / Crumbles from Nutramar. The Nutramar Algae and Color Plus Shots are nearly perfect food. It offers pretty much everything your Bower's needs in a food that mimics the natural feeding style of the Parrotfish. We also like to use the Nori and Ogo to supplement the algae levels in their diet which is important for digestion as well. We feed them twice a day, and more would be okay too. Click here to learn more
Parrotfish are always at least two things, picturesque and polarizing. The first is easy, nearly all the species we lump within the group of Parrotfish are visually stunning and Bower's Parrot is no exception. They shine like a polished piece of turquoise with a bright orange spot and vertical dashes of peachy gold along their tail sections. This is a fish you aren't going to miss. They are often polarizing because they tend to get large, and some species can be hard (and/or very expensive) to feed in captivity, which in the end hurts their chances of success in the home aquarium.
This cocoon making takes some energy for the fish to do every night, and Chlorusus bowersi is an active fish, and so getting them good food, and enough of it, is paramount to keeping your Parrotfish happy and healthy. As we've touched on, a very important part of their diet is algae. That aside, they also eat a large amount of invertebrates, both incidentally as they eat small critters hidden in the algae, but also intentionally. So it is important to get these fish a broad-spectrum diet and plenty of it. Here we feed them a mix of meaty food from Gamma, as well as dried Algae and Pellets / Shots / Crumbles from Nutramar. The Nutramar Algae and Color Plus Shots are nearly perfect food. It offers pretty much everything your Bower's needs in a food that mimics the natural feeding style of the Parrotfish. We also like to use the Nori and Ogo to supplement the algae levels in their diet which is important for digestion as well. We feed them twice a day, and more would be okay too. Click here to learn more
