Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Help - Parrot fish

3K views 22 replies 5 participants last post by  k19smith 
#1 ·
Help - Parrot fish
Hi,
I'm new to the community. I have 2 parrot fish in a tank with a few other fish. I will shorten this story as much as possible. I thought one of my parrots was sick, was very listless and just wasn't normal. Then I thought it was dead because it wasn't moving at all. I assumed I over fed them being that they are greedy and I try to put enough in there to make sure everybody gets some food. The larger parrot would run and protect it whenever I approached the tank. I decided to tap the tank to make the big one move and I caused the sickly one to move his fins a little bit. I tap harder it moved its side fins a bit more.
In the middle of the night, it was laying upside down in the corner of the tank, no movement at all, fins down flat against the top of the body. I worked up the nerve to remove the dead fish and when I put the net in the tank both fish shot off to the other side of the tank. This has been going on for three days now.
Even if I over fed them, I figured maybe his tummy hurts from overeating. Yesterday I did a ph test, it was a 1. I changed half the water and treated it with stress zyme. Today it is moving around a bit more, but still acting weird. My boyfriend said maybe its pregnant, and it does look a bit plump now that I think about it. It is staying away from the others for the most part, but what do I do? Now it is sitting perfectly still on the rocks not moving at all, but at least it isn't laying on its side again. side fins are barely moving, top fins are down. Does this sound like its dying? Is it about to lay eggs or something? I read somewhere they lay eggs, are not live breaders. I know nothing about them. I need al the hslp and advise I can get, I'm open to all sugestions. :sad::oops::shock:


Read more: http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/meet-community/help-parrot-fish-82294/#ixzz1ZLrInS2t
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Yesterday I did a ph test, it was a 1.
????? please tell me the 1 is a typo? because if that is correct, you have bigger problems.
 
#9 ·
I have a 30 gallon tank 36 x 18" and I'm running a Fluval 305 filter and a heater.

Got the fish from a coworker that was moving out of town and he gave me the fish I went and bought the tank. There are 5 tiger bargs, 2 neons, those 2 big orange PARROTS (a friend had to telll me what they were), a catfish/ They were all living together when I got them/

I've had the fish about 6 weeks now. lost a few when I first got them here, but all has been fine for weeks until now.
No live plants. Did go buy some plastic plants and stuff, but didn put anything in there yet.

Last week I noticed the parrot rooting around on the bottom like he was trying to plant his bottom in the rocks or something. Otherwise I sometimes hear them moving the rocks around like they are digging for fallen food. WHen it's quiet, not uncommone for me to hear them shifting the rocks a bit.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Im not a cichlid expert but I think a 30g is too small for a pair of these.

Also, if you set this tank up and did not cycle it first, there may be permanent damage done to these fish from the cycling process. I would recommend another water change and you need to get a conditioner like Seachems Prime that will turn ammonia into Ammonium. Ammonium is not harmful to the fish.
 
#12 ·
Ive never owned these fish, but from a quick Google search they can reach 8-10 inches in length. This is a large fish.

Ive seen the minimum tank recommendation is 55g for these fish. Again, this is just from a quick Google search. Maybe someone who has had these fish can chime in here soon.
 
#15 ·
First time owning fish as an adult, just bought the tank, put in the water, conditioned it, set up the filter and 2 days later got the fish here and put them in. Lets just say it wasn't cyclyed, because I sure don't know how to cycle it. I've been feeding them and doing water changes since I got them here. I bought the stress zyme because the guy in the fish store said I had to. I need FISH 101, I am truly new to this. Have always adored watching my fish as a child, but that's it!!! Fish have a calming effect, are very relaxing to watch.

I'm ignorant to all the knowledge of owning an adult aquarium As I stated earlier, all suggestion and advise are needed and welcomed. I do plan on getting a much larger tank, but figured the 30 would do since it was a last minute, rush rush thing. The guy I got them from claimed his filter broke, and I wonder how long ago it broke becasue of the color of the water that was in the bags with the fish was nasty.... yellow brown color. Didn't just break must have been broken a while.
 
#17 ·
I think the best thing to do is read that article k19smith linked. It should explain everything about cycling. Since we are past that point now though, the first thing I think you MUST have is an API master test kit. It will allow you to check your ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH. These are things you need to test for in a fresh water tank.

You want your ammonia and nitrites to be 0, and nitrates no more than 20ppm. pH is only important when it comes to the fish you want to keep. If you dont have one of these kits, I suggest you get one ASAP and test your water and let us know the results. :)

In the mean time, I'd do another water change tonight.
 
#18 ·
also, browsing some of the other posts will help. there is a lot of information on this forum, you just have to look. and feel free to ask more questions. people here like to help.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Basicallt right now your gonna wanna keep up water changes to keep the ammonia at a safe level so it does not kill the fish. Your aiming to get it to 0. You may have to do daily water changes or every few days just a partial change. Once you get a good test kit you'll know when and we can give you an idea how much water to change. Anything over .25 ammonia needs a water change.
 
#20 ·
Hello and welcome to TFK

As others have posted I would agree that it sounds like your tank is still going through the cycling process. Water changes are definitly important during this time. I would suggest doing water changes of 40 to 50%. Also it will be important to know what the nitrites and nitrates ae in the tank. When doing water changes also make sue that you are vacuuming the gravel.

Definitly you are going to need a larger tank for the parrots, they do get rather large and are an aggressive fish. At least a 55 gallon, but larger would be better. The blood parrot is a hybrid and the speculated pairings are either the midas cichlid with the redhead cichlid or severum with the red devil cichlid. You can check out the profiles of these particular cichlids here on the site, either by clicking on the highlighted names or the link for the profiles are at the top of the page second tab from the left.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top