Quote Originally Posted by Tiggy View Post
I think your confusion on how to gain ranks proves the point since food is the only method to really raise your stats. So if you eliminate the other options then this must be the only way.

TLDR: Yes, stats raised by food can be passed to the child.
Excuse me, but I am not confused about how to gain ranks. Ranks have nothing to do with the topic in the first place. Ranks raise your Chocobo's stats, allow you to Feed them, and at rank 40 you can retire them to be used for breeding. But what affects their breeding effectiveness is not their Rank, but their Pedigree. And raising stats with food does not influence Pedigree, as it seems.

Pedigree is measured in Stars. Every bought Chocobo has 2 stars in everything. Gold Saucer Chocobos for breeding purposes have a random amount of stars, therefore, breeding with those does affect your offspring and enable you to attempt to get a Chocobo with 4 stars in everything in the long run. This seems to be entirely impossible by only breeding your own Chocobos though, as you'll be stuck at 2 stars for everything, forever.