I just purchased two parrot cichlids over the weekend. They were swimming very nicely and doing the feed me dance in the pet store. I got them home and transfered them into my 29 gallon. A great setup, ph leval is perfect and the temp is 78, compareable to the stores tank. For almost three days now they have only been hiding, and the one's color seems to be alot more pale. They havent eaten yet, and are not swimming around at all. Is this normal? And is there anything that I can do to make them a little more comfortable?
Help with parrot cichlid's
- Thread starter chefstoli
- Start date
The same thing happened to me. They were swimming all over the tank and looking happy when I bought them, then brought them home and they flew in a corner and hid. After a week and a half of looking at an empty tank (my parrots were hiding) I was getting annoyed lol. Here are a few things that really helped my parrots:
1. I sat in a chair a few feet away from the tank after I fed them. They were scared, but food won out over being afraid of me and they came out, grabbed the food and ran back to the corner of the tank. But after a few days they realized that I was o.k. and wasn't going to hurt them and they started coming out more. If I moved to quick when they were out they went 180 mph back to their corner...so I had to be careful at first.
2. I bought 3 dither fish. I got australian rainbowfish to put in with my parrots and that really brought them out. They figured if the rainbow fish were safe, they would be too. (I have them in a 55, don't know if you can add any other fish to a 29).
3. I have had them for about 6-8 months now and still every once in a while something spooks them and they run and hide, but most of the time they are out swimming and enjoying the whole tank. I hand feed mine frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, and Omega One Cichlid flakes and they will let me pet them when I open the top of the tank. I love my parrots now, but wasn't to sure about them when I first got them. They sleep in a corner laying almost sideways right next to each other. If you see yours laying on the bottom like it is dying, don't panic....mine do that all the time.
Hope this helps,
Barb
1. I sat in a chair a few feet away from the tank after I fed them. They were scared, but food won out over being afraid of me and they came out, grabbed the food and ran back to the corner of the tank. But after a few days they realized that I was o.k. and wasn't going to hurt them and they started coming out more. If I moved to quick when they were out they went 180 mph back to their corner...so I had to be careful at first.
2. I bought 3 dither fish. I got australian rainbowfish to put in with my parrots and that really brought them out. They figured if the rainbow fish were safe, they would be too. (I have them in a 55, don't know if you can add any other fish to a 29).
3. I have had them for about 6-8 months now and still every once in a while something spooks them and they run and hide, but most of the time they are out swimming and enjoying the whole tank. I hand feed mine frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, and Omega One Cichlid flakes and they will let me pet them when I open the top of the tank. I love my parrots now, but wasn't to sure about them when I first got them. They sleep in a corner laying almost sideways right next to each other. If you see yours laying on the bottom like it is dying, don't panic....mine do that all the time.
Hope this helps,
Barb
CHECK NITRATES
Check your water quality,Parrots hide and become lethargic when somethings wrong with the water,turning pale is not a good sign.
Check your water quality,Parrots hide and become lethargic when somethings wrong with the water,turning pale is not a good sign.