Three new Blood Parrots

[RajunCajun06]

My girlfriend had to have blood parrot in the new tank so thats what we wound up with. Info on the tank its 100g with a fluvial FX5 canister, still need something else. sand substrate. some slate and driftwood. 24" bubble wand so everyone has enough oxygen, and all fake plants. Anyways we have three blood parrots about 3-4" and six green cory cats. the cory's are doing great but the parrots just hide and wont eat. i know they can go a while without eating but is this normal for blood parrots. I don't want these little guys to die, or just hide all the time either. i do reasearch everything i get and have been looking at these guys for about 3 weeks trying to get as much info before we bought but any info from someone with experiance with them would be appreciated

[Roman09]

hey hows is going congrats on your new fish. I purchased a blood parrot for my communtiy cichlid tank and at first it was really shy...always trying to hide when he saw somebody. She even turned black in alot of her body. I think i read beacuse of ammonia, stress, or breeding color. BUt anyhow she slowely but came out, and now begs for food and eats from my fingers. Ive only had her about a month or so. But yea give them time...theyll soon come out.

[RajunCajun06]

thanx. ammonia is 0 nitrite 0 and nitrate .01 so i dont thinknany of that would be the issue. i guess just shy. glad to know they will eventually beg for food. did you do anything special to get yours to start eating or to start comming out

[Roman09]

not really...i have other fish in there and they kinda just learn from the rest..or see that everything is ok because the others come and feed. Out of all my cichlids, my BP is the most lively one with a funny attitude. Pretty peaceful and really nosey with the other fish...when others are fighting she'll go and break them up! one of my oscars and her the blood parrot are the least shy. Oscar is the least shy and eats all the food...least shy im guessing because a couple of days after putting him in the tank, him being a gluttonist tryed to put 2 large pellets in his mouth and a couple of minutes later started choking, so i grab him and pick the pellets out of its mouth with a toothpick..it was classical! but yea i guess hes happy i saved his life. Ive observed that the more fish you have the faster they acclaime to the tank and you. Soon you'll be able to put your fingers in and some will let you caress them!

[Roman09]

they evetually have to start eating...or they will starve and die. But instinct, especially in animales, is much more alive. They know they have to eat so they eventually eat. If you throw in food for your other fish...just kinda make sure some floats down...and when you probably arent there they will scavange around looking for food. I had granules that i made float down in front of there face and they couldnt help but take a bite! If they dont eat in like a week or less or more that you know of..then they might be sick or really stressed out. how long have you had them?

[BoCoMo]

What! No pics!?

[Roman09]

i dont know how to post pics :( haha

[jpappy789]

Nice pickup! Once they get comfortable I would keep an eye one them for any aggression. BP's sometimes don't play nice with each other even given a large space. At first they may be trying to establish territories, but if it continues you may have to rethink your stock.

[Roman09]

yes ive heard they are a little more aggressive towards each than in a communty cichlid tank. Its funny because all of my fish respect her i think because shes dating the green terror...well i think theyre just boyfriend and girlfriend no love making yet! haha

[RajunCajun06]

sorry i dont have any pics and aparently my thread got highjaked lol. just kidding. no my big tank is with my parents about two hours away but next time i go in i will definatley get some. They have only been in there since Thursday so I am not to worrired yet. I just did not realize how shy these guys were. They almost jump out the tank whenever they see someone walk into the bed room. they have plents of hiding spots but still freak out. Only picture i have for now is of my salt tank. but cant seem to post pictures yet.

Just another thought was that there is three in their right now and two seem to hide together all the time while the other one is on his/her own. Would it be possible to keeo the "pair" or the single and add a smaller Oscar or could this be trouble.

[Roman09]

single specimen is pretty cool...they are so different with there personalities. I have a smaller oscar aswell and they get fine.. Well atleast right now they do

[severum mama]

sorry i dont have any pics and aparently my thread got highjaked lol. just kidding. no my big tank is with my parents about two hours away but next time i go in i will definatley get some. They have only been in there since Thursday so I am not to worrired yet. I just did not realize how shy these guys were. They almost jump out the tank whenever they see someone walk into the bed room. they have plents of hiding spots but still freak out. Only picture i have for now is of my salt tank. but cant seem to post pictures yet.

Just another thought was that there is three in their right now and two seem to hide together all the time while the other one is on his/her own. Would it be possible to keeo the "pair" or the single and add a smaller Oscar or could this be trouble.

I don't think you should add an oscar even if you return one of the parrots. An adult oscar needs 75 gallons minimum just by itself, and your parrots will grow to a bulky 8-9 inches at adult size, so you can see how a 100 gallon seems huge now but isn't really a ton of space for adult cichlids. If your parrots aren't getting along, watch for signs of aggression like nipped fins, darkening of coloration or black blotches appearing, and/or vertical stripes on the fishes' sides (applies more to fish with adult coloration). If you see aggression and it doesn't get better, you'll need to return one, probably the aggressor.

To draw your new fish out into the open, you could try adding dither fish if you want. Tiger barbs, Buenos Aires tetras, black ruby barbs, columbian tetras, and other hardy schoolers of similar size are good choices to keep with parrots. Add at least 6 of one species for a school.

Parrots are not picky eaters and generally accept any foods after they have gotten comfortable in your tank. Mine didn't eat for nearly a week after I got them, but I had one of them (RIP) eating out of my hand within a month. There are foods that are more likely to entice them to eat than others while they are settling in. Have you tried frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp? Live foods like brine shrimp or blackworms are even better for getting new fish to eat. Just don't feed brine shrimp too much, as it has little nutritional value. IMO, cichlid pellets or sticks are often preferred over flakes, so you could try that as well.

Good luck with your new fish, and be sure to post any other questions you might have. Welcome to AC! :)

[RajunCajun06]

Thanks for all the good advice. I really like congo tetras as I was worried about tiger barbs nipping fins. i didnt put any in yet because i figured it would be too much adding about 15 fish at one time. so maybe in about another week or so.

[BoCoMo]

i dont know how to post pics :( haha

Click post, then below the row of post icons you will see Additional Options, in this section you will see a "Manage Attachments" button. Click this button, it will open up a new window. In this window hit the browse button and pick the picture file you would like to upload. When you're all done click the upload button. When it finishes uploading close the window and click "submit reply"

Sounds a lot harder than it is! :thumbsup:

[BoCoMo]

sorry i dont have any pics and aparently my thread got highjaked lol. just kidding. no my big tank is with my parents about two hours away but next time i go in i will definatley get some. They have only been in there since Thursday so I am not to worrired yet. I just did not realize how shy these guys were. They almost jump out the tank whenever they see someone walk into the bed room. they have plents of hiding spots but still freak out. Only picture i have for now is of my salt tank. but cant seem to post pictures yet.

Just another thought was that there is three in their right now and two seem to hide together all the time while the other one is on his/her own. Would it be possible to keeo the "pair" or the single and add a smaller Oscar or could this be trouble.

Yeah sorry! Notorious thread hijacker here. :lipssealedsmilie: Back to your regularly scheduled topic! :)

[severum mama]

Thanks for all the good advice. I really like congo tetras as I was worried about tiger barbs nipping fins. i didnt put any in yet because i figured it would be too much adding about 15 fish at one time. so maybe in about another week or so.

Hmmm.... I really like Congo tetras as well but I'd be hesitant to put them in a tank with parrots. You could try it, but I'm not sure that they are as hardy as the species I mentioned (not that there aren't a ton of other great options, just throwing some out there off the top of my head), and they are quite pricey in comparison. That said, I've never kept them myself so take that for what it's worth. ;)

I suggested the barbs and Buenos Aires because they are tough as nails; giant danios would be another good option, or bleeding heart tetras, something like that. Provided you have enough barbs in a school you shouldn't have to worry about fin nipping, and trust me, your parrots can hold their own, LOL. I've kept mine with tiger barbs and black ruby barbs in the past with no problems.

[RajunCajun06]

Do neon tetras have any nutritional value to the blood parrots or would they basically be expensive feeders. I like them but know they will most likely get eaten but they might last a while. I know this may upset some people just throwing it out there.

[jpappy789]

Fish are high in fat, and not really nutritious. Expensive feeders...

Try frozen foods, with some flakes as a staple.

[Roman09]

I had a couple of tiger barbs in mine and they worked out fine.. They just picked on each other. And then one day I came home and couldn't find the smallest one anywhere, I thought it got eaten but then I found it in the filter! Haha he got sucked up. So I was down 3. I forgot whAt happened to the next one but then I was down to 2. I put them in a seperate tank with 2 convicts. I think the largest bard messed him up so I had to toss him. Leaving me with one left the biggest one surviving in the convict tank! The sucker is just as big as the female convicts

[RajunCajun06]

Well just an update the tank is now fully stocked in my opinon with the three blood parrots, 6 cory cats(green i think) and 9 tiger barbs. would love to do a birchi but thinnk this would be asking for trouble. I'll get some pics next time i head home.

[Roman09]

ya some pics would be great! if you want to put whatever you want in do it, you never know every fish is different so i can work if God lets it..lol. make sure your BPs dont get killed bc i know those suckers are one the priciest cichlids at like what 20 something bucks a pop?

[RajunCajun06]

got em for 18 so not that bad i had salt before and still have a small salt tank I had a $150 fish jump into the overflow and lost that fight, so 60 bucks would not be as devestating as that one little 3" fish.

[severum mama]

ya some pics would be great! if you want to put whatever you want in do it, you never know every fish is different so i can work if God lets it..lol. make sure your BPs dont get killed bc i know those suckers are one the priciest cichlids at like what 20 something bucks a pop?

But attempting a compatible, and not overcrowded, stocklist goes a long way toward success... and is a lot less stressful for the fish. Why risk it?

Cajun, I agree that you shouldn't add any more fish. You'll be pretty well stocked when your fish reach adult size. :)

[7itanium]

Grats on the new fish...


24" bubble wand so everyone has enough oxygen

Just an FYI because I cant keep my mouth shut... bubble wands do almost nothing as far as oxygenating the water

they certainly dont hurt anything... but 99% of your oxygen comes from normal gas exchange, and your filters flow breaking the surface-- bubbles from bubble wands are far to big to do much in the area of oxygenating the water

on that note.... GRATS!

[CWO4GUNNER]

severum mama is right. Unless you want to have an excuse for a bigger tank like me with 7 BP's, 4 angels, 10 neons, 9 Otto's, 3 Cory and 2 Silver Dollars in a 120 tank, you should stop where your at. Mine took a month to come out of hiding but it did help to associated my self with feeding time. Now I cant hold them back and they are constantly digging now but the plastic pots used as caves really helped settle them. Now Im adding a 2nd canister filter very soon so its established for my next tank a 150 minimum but I wish for a 300. I found one with a stand and all equipment for $1000 but my goodness how will I get it home.

[severum mama]

severum mama is right. Unless you want to have an excuse for a bigger tank like me with 7 BP's, 4 angels, 10 neons, 9 Otto's, 3 Cory and 2 Silver Dollars in a 120 tank, you should stop where your at. Mine took a month to come out of hiding but it did help to associated my self with feeding time. Now I cant hold them back and they are constantly digging now but the plastic pots used as caves really helped settle them. Now Im adding a 2nd canister filter very soon so its established for my next tank a 150 minimum but I wish for a 300. I found one with a stand and all equipment for $1000 but my goodness how will I get it home.

A U-Haul and some buddies! Pay them in beer and pizza. :D

[RajunCajun06]

For enough beer and pizza i might come to arizona again to help