hopeful - 2010-02-26 My new blue parrot got most of her tail fin chewed off ...is there any way she can survive? I've seperated her from the other fish, but i don't know if it's to late?
Click For Replies (2)
Dave - 2010-02-27 She should be okay unless it gets infected or is bleeding. You could try an antibiotic (fin or tail rot medication) just to make sure. Moving her to a place where she is not being bullied is essential.
Donna - 2010-03-04 Make sure you turn the heat up a bit.....
Delores Prostek - 2010-02-26 I have three blood Parrotfish for about five years now and notice that one of them is developing small holes in its forehead between the eyes. They do not seem to be infected but one of them is getting quite deep. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do? I'd certainly appreciate it. The residents of this retirement community really enjoy them. Thanks
Click For Replies (1)
Editor's Note - 2010-02-27 It sounds like you are describing what is called Hole-in-the-head disease or Lateral Line disease. It is usually seen in oscars and other large cichlids. It is not fatal and has been something of a mystery as to the exact cause. Non-optimal water conditions are what is usually cited as the cause. Also a diet that is not varied enough. There are medications which work with varying success rates, but it is usually suggested to improve conditions in order to halt the advance of the disease.
Andy Olea - 2010-02-13 I have 1 Blood Parrot Cichlid in my 40 gallon tank with a gold gourami, angelfish, RTS, black mollie, and bolivian ram and I must say, she is an absolute sweetheart and is cute to watch wobbling around the tank. But she does have the will to defend herself! When I added her about two months ago, nobody had a problem with her except my very tenacious black mollie. It just kept nudging her and trying to shove her aside. Coincidentally, the BP, whose is named Akai, is 2 1/2 times the mollie's size and much heavier! I was starting to get worried about her, but then after THREE HOURS of this, I left and came back into my room to find that my black mollie had a pizza-slice shaped bite into its tailfin! After that, there has been no problem from the mollie towards my BP and his tail has healed. These fish are the best and are so cute to boot!
monie - 2010-02-01 I bought 2 blood parrot fish as rescue fish. They are beautiful. Romeo and Lil Girl I call them and both were approx. 3. They are wonderful pets and I adore them. Romeo became ill within 2 months and slowly went down hill, fighting ick and other dark marks on his body, losing his brilliant orange color. 4 days ago he developed swim bladder disease. I was devistated and tried everything I could do, talking with pet stores, internet, friends, etc. He died this morning after living on the bottom the the tank upsidedown. It was awful!!! I cried and I cried. I am now afraid for lil girl's mental health and planning on getting a new friend for her. I hope this is the right thing to do. Missing Romeo. Monie
LUIS - 2010-01-30 Oh man, I love blood parrots! The first one I had was dark yellow with ~19 cm and it lived for 12 years! Extremely sociable. During that time I also had a yellow-pink female Midus Cichlid (~23 cm) which lived for 13 years and they were inseparable. When the Midus Cichlid died, the blood parrot was so affected by it, that he stopped moving and eating and died 5 days later. That was a very sad week for me... That blood parrot, contrary to the usual shy behaviour, was a bit exhibitionist and he was extremely curious about anything! The times I put my arm inside the aquarium for arranging the sand or plants, for example, the blood parrot was all curious about what as I doing and was all over my hand trying to figure out what was happening, while all the other fish hid themselves somewhere. He actually let me touch and caress him, something I've never seen a fish do!! He was so funny to look at. I miss him. Just wanted to share this with you.
Cari Cook - 2009-12-17 My friends and family think I'm nuts when I talk about playing with Daisy, my 1 year old Blood Parrott who outgrew her hiding place while inside it! Thankfully, we got her out unharmed. I have never enjoyed a fish so much! She's mean though, can't handle a tank mates. Killed a sucker fish and some snails.
Abril - 2009-07-23 I have 2 BP - Big Punk is a little over 8 years old and Meanie is 5 or 6. I used to have a school of 4 Angel Fish and the BP and Angel Fish co-existed very nicely (the last of the Angel died a few months ago, after about 7 years). Actually, the 6 of them banded together and attacked all new fish (I wasn't able to add any new fish except for catfish, whom they seem to leave alone). Big Punk is getting old and it's harder for him to eat now - my heart aches when I watch him trying to catch the food but miss - and Meanie would come and pushed him away as well. I wish there's something I can do to help him. Like many of you have pointed out, BP have great personalities and I never get bored of watching them - kissing, pushing, digging, moving gravels by the mouthful from one end of the tank to the other, etc. Amazing fish - I love them.
sam - 2009-07-07 These fish are ace. They are just plain and simple funny shapes and have ace personalities, and are so cute. At the moment I have 2. Bubbles and peaches are in my 180 litre fluval vicenza aquarium with 2 festivum cichlids, 3 firemouth cichlids, 1 striped raphael catfish, and 2 plecos (1 gold spot and 1 large common). My tank has a mixture of live and fake plants and is well struted with driftwood, and I have a fluval 205 canister filter that is very good at keeping up with all the waste my big plec makes. My heater is kept constant at about 88 Fahrenheit and I have an airstone running all the time. Soon, probably this friday (10/7/09), I'm gonna add 1 or 2 more blood parrots, 3 kribensis cichlids, 2 keyhole cichlids, 2 angelfish, 1 gourami, and maybe maybe 2 discus and a few shoals of largish tetras or barbs (not tiger or tinfoils).
AquaTramp - 2009-06-27 Blood parrots do fine with larger community fish. Due to them not being able to bite to defend themselves, I would not put them in a tank with aggressive fish as they can not defend themselves. All they can do is a lot of pushing. Another mild cichlid should be OK such as the Severum, tho.
"Bubblegum" parrots are those that have been dyed. "Jellybean" parrots are the off- spring of your female blood parrot with a convict. Jellybeans are often mistakenly referred to as dyed which is incorrect information. Male blood parrots are infertile so if you have a pair of BP and they spawn, don't get exicted. The eggs will not live. The female can have fry with a few other male cichlids, tho.
Parrots can get Blood Spot Disease from poor water conditions. I do 50% water changes in all my fish tanks including that of my blood parrots. Some parrots also get black skin pigmentation so do not confuse this with the black spot disease.
The Blood Parrot is just about the most curious result of cichlids interbreeding, and has created quite a stir in the aquarium hobby!
My new blue parrot got most of her tail fin chewed off ...is there any way she can survive? I've seperated her from the other fish, but i don't know if it's to late?
She should be okay unless it gets infected or is bleeding. You could try an antibiotic (fin or tail rot medication) just to make sure. Moving her to a place where she is not being bullied is essential.
Make sure you turn the heat up a bit.....
I have three blood Parrotfish for about five years now and notice that one of them is developing small holes in its forehead between the eyes. They do not seem to be infected but one of them is getting quite deep. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do? I'd certainly appreciate it. The residents of this retirement community really enjoy them. Thanks
It sounds like you are describing what is called Hole-in-the-head disease or Lateral Line disease. It is usually seen in oscars and other large cichlids. It is not fatal and has been something of a mystery as to the exact cause. Non-optimal water conditions are what is usually cited as the cause. Also a diet that is not varied enough. There are medications which work with varying success rates, but it is usually suggested to improve conditions in order to halt the advance of the disease.
I have 1 Blood Parrot Cichlid in my 40 gallon tank with a gold gourami, angelfish, RTS, black mollie, and bolivian ram and I must say, she is an absolute sweetheart and is cute to watch wobbling around the tank. But she does have the will to defend herself! When I added her about two months ago, nobody had a problem with her except my very tenacious black mollie. It just kept nudging her and trying to shove her aside. Coincidentally, the BP, whose is named Akai, is 2 1/2 times the mollie's size and much heavier! I was starting to get worried about her, but then after THREE HOURS of this, I left and came back into my room to find that my black mollie had a pizza-slice shaped bite into its tailfin! After that, there has been no problem from the mollie towards my BP and his tail has healed. These fish are the best and are so cute to boot!
I bought 2 blood parrot fish as rescue fish. They are beautiful. Romeo and Lil Girl I call them and both were approx. 3. They are wonderful pets and I adore them.
Romeo became ill within 2 months and slowly went down hill, fighting ick and other dark marks on his body, losing his brilliant orange color. 4 days ago he developed swim bladder disease. I was devistated and tried everything I could do, talking with pet stores, internet, friends, etc. He died this morning after living on the bottom the the tank upsidedown. It was awful!!! I cried and I cried. I am now afraid for lil girl's mental health and planning on getting a new friend for her. I hope this is the right thing to do. Missing Romeo. Monie
Oh man, I love blood parrots! The first one I had was dark yellow with ~19 cm and it lived for 12 years! Extremely sociable. During that time I also had a yellow-pink female Midus Cichlid (~23 cm) which lived for 13 years and they were inseparable. When the Midus Cichlid died, the blood parrot was so affected by it, that he stopped moving and eating and died 5 days later. That was a very sad week for me... That blood parrot, contrary to the usual shy behaviour, was a bit exhibitionist and he was extremely curious about anything! The times I put my arm inside the aquarium for arranging the sand or plants, for example, the blood parrot was all curious about what as I doing and was all over my hand trying to figure out what was happening, while all the other fish hid themselves somewhere. He actually let me touch and caress him, something I've never seen a fish do!! He was so funny to look at. I miss him. Just wanted to share this with you.
My friends and family think I'm nuts when I talk about playing with Daisy, my 1 year old Blood Parrott who outgrew her hiding place while inside it! Thankfully, we got her out unharmed. I have never enjoyed a fish so much! She's mean though, can't handle a tank mates. Killed a sucker fish and some snails.
how do i know if there a male or female
I have 2 BP - Big Punk is a little over 8 years old and Meanie is 5 or 6. I used to have a school of 4 Angel Fish and the BP and Angel Fish co-existed very nicely (the last of the Angel died a few months ago, after about 7 years). Actually, the 6 of them banded together and attacked all new fish (I wasn't able to add any new fish except for catfish, whom they seem to leave alone). Big Punk is getting old and it's harder for him to eat now - my heart aches when I watch him trying to catch the food but miss - and Meanie would come and pushed him away as well. I wish there's something I can do to help him. Like many of you have pointed out, BP have great personalities and I never get bored of watching them - kissing, pushing, digging, moving gravels by the mouthful from one end of the tank to the other, etc. Amazing fish - I love them.
These fish are ace. They are just plain and simple funny shapes and have ace personalities, and are so cute. At the moment I have 2. Bubbles and peaches are in my 180 litre fluval vicenza aquarium with 2 festivum cichlids, 3 firemouth cichlids, 1 striped raphael catfish, and 2 plecos (1 gold spot and 1 large common). My tank has a mixture of live and fake plants and is well struted with driftwood, and I have a fluval 205 canister filter that is very good at keeping up with all the waste my big plec makes. My heater is kept constant at about 88 Fahrenheit and I have an airstone running all the time. Soon, probably this friday (10/7/09), I'm gonna add 1 or 2 more blood parrots, 3 kribensis cichlids, 2 keyhole cichlids, 2 angelfish, 1 gourami, and maybe maybe 2 discus and a few shoals of largish tetras or barbs (not tiger or tinfoils).
Blood parrots do fine with larger community fish. Due to them not being able to bite to defend themselves, I would not put them in a tank with aggressive fish as they can not defend themselves. All they can do is a lot of pushing. Another mild cichlid should be OK such as the Severum, tho.
"Bubblegum" parrots are those that have been dyed. "Jellybean" parrots are the off- spring of your female blood parrot with a convict. Jellybeans are often mistakenly referred to as dyed which is incorrect information. Male blood parrots are infertile so if you have a pair of BP and they spawn, don't get exicted. The eggs will not live. The female can have fry with a few other male cichlids, tho.
Parrots can get Blood Spot Disease from poor water conditions. I do 50% water changes in all my fish tanks including that of my blood parrots. Some parrots also get black skin pigmentation so do not confuse this with the black spot disease.