Tell me about your blood parrot cichlids.

[H.K.Luterman]

I have a 75 gallon that currently houses three senegal bichirs who all stay on the bottom for the most part, and a ctenopoma who likes to just hide in the plants. I've been wanting to add SOMETHING else for a long, long time, and my options are a bit limited since bichirs and ctenopoma are predatory. One of the recommended tank mates are blood parrots since they're too big to be a snack.

I've been going back and forth and back and forth on getting one for over a year. I see them in pet shops all the time and I think they're adorable. I don't have a problem with the hybrid part, though their mouths kind of concern me. But I see so many positive stories from people who have kept them, and I do love me weird, charismatic water dog sort of fish.

Well today I went out to get root tabs and came home with a blood parrot. I got to use my Aquarium Co-Op insulator thing!

Little guy is in quarantine, chilling out with the lights off. He really is so dang cute, and he has a mouth that looks like he's doing this: 😄 

So tell me about your experiences. Share photos. Show me your tank. What do you feed yours? Have you had any problems I should look out for? Have they dug up your plants?

Some pics!

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by H.K.Luterman

[Snjchris]

Congratulations on your new parrot! They are amazing fish. I have three - two king kongs and an orange one like yours. For feeding, I started off with trying to hand feed using freeze dried blood worms. After they got use to me, I was able to hand feed broken apart freeze dried krill/shrimp. Got to try to fatten them up since they can't eat a lot of pellets out there due to their mouth structure/size. Now I sometimes still hand feed broken apart hikari food sticks to them. 

When they are young, even the hikari mini-sized pellets are too big for them. Mine didn't care too much for the North Fin krill gold or cichlid formula. I did have some success with the New Life Spectrum pellet (1mm) when they were small. You can find the NLS pellet at Petco. However my parrots grew out of them pretty quickly.

Now they can eat the hikari sinking mini size pellets but my orange one still have trouble sometimes. They are over three inches long now. They also eat the hikari blood red parrot pellet. Those are smaller in size, which are great. I also hand feed them some softened hikari food sticks. Mine learned to follow the oscars after I fed them the food sticks so they can pick up some broken down scraps! I also feed them frozen blood worms, brine shrimp and mysis shrimp on a regular basis. Maybe your parrot can take in some frozen blood worms and brine shrimp right now. The mysis may be a bit big. When it gets bigger, you can also get the jumbo frozen blood worms. 

The black markings on your fish will go away with time. However once they are gone but come back, it is a sign of stress. I had that with water change or introduction of new fish. I haven't had any problems with any of my parrots. Mine do love to chase or nudge each other. They also gang up together against other fish. They are pretty built and are like mini tanks. If they do get fin tear from it, the fin heals very quickly. If they don't, maybe check your water quality or see if it is fin rot. You will find quirks of your fish soon. I always laugh when I walk towards the tank and they swim towards me like mini torpedoes. Here is my gang:

As for plants, I started off my tank (140g) unplanted since my parrots are housed with two oscars, one common pleco, one chocolate cichlid and five geophagus tapajos. Then I wanted to try plants. I have put the plants in for a few weeks now and so far they are good. I think the easy planters and having established plants help. I have crushed coral as substrate. The flowerhorn in the picture is no longer in the same tank as it is a big bully! I also removed the wave maker and the led bubbler. The wave maker was a big strong for them when they were young. The fluval output pipe was generating enough flow (fx6). The bubbler was also confusing the fish at night with the lighting when they sleep. 

For plants, I have vals, java fern, water lettuce, dwarf hair grass, flame moss and water sprite. I got some extremely long vals from a local hobbyist. They are like at least 4ft long. That weight and length prevents the fish from digging them up. I forgot to mention my parrots love to dig their own caves or nests underneath rocks or wood. If you want to attach plants onto wood or rock, you got to find a way to tie them down, with string or glue (I use fishing line). Or else, those will be floating for sure. Otherwise, it helps to put plants in the nooks and crannies where you know your fish doesn't go. Then they don't get touched as much. 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Snjchris

[H.K.Luterman]

2 hours ago, Snjchris said:

Congratulations on your new parrot! They are amazing fish. I have three - two king kongs and an orange one like yours. For feeding, I started off with trying to hand feed using freeze dried blood worms. After they got use to me, I was able to hand feed broken apart freeze dried krill/shrimp. Got to try to fatten them up since they can't eat a lot of pellets out there due to their mouth structure/size. Now I sometimes still hand feed broken apart hikari food sticks to them. 

When they are young, even the hikari mini-sized pellets are too big for them. Mine didn't care too much for the North Fin krill gold or cichlid formula. I did have some success with the New Life Spectrum pellet (1mm) when they were small. You can find the NLS pellet at Petco. However my parrots grew out of them pretty quickly.

Now they can eat the hikari sinking mini size pellets but my orange one still have trouble sometimes. They are over three inches long now. They also eat the hikari blood red parrot pellet. Those are smaller in size, which are great. I also hand feed them some softened hikari food sticks. Mine learned to follow the oscars after I fed them the food sticks so they can pick up some broken down scraps! I also feed them frozen blood worms, brine shrimp and mysis shrimp on a regular basis. Maybe your parrot can take in some frozen blood worms and brine shrimp right now. The mysis may be a bit big. When it gets bigger, you can also get the jumbo frozen blood worms. 

The black markings on your fish will go away with time. However once they are gone but come back, it is a sign of stress. I had that with water change or introduction of new fish. I haven't had any problems with any of my parrots. Mine do love to chase or nudge each other. They also gang up together against other fish. They are pretty built and are like mini tanks. If they do get fin tear from it, the fin heals very quickly. If they don't, maybe check your water quality or see if it is fin rot. You will find quirks of your fish soon. I always laugh when I walk towards the tank and they swim towards me like mini torpedoes. Here is my gang:

As for plants, I started off my tank (140g) unplanted since my parrots are housed with two oscars, one common pleco, one chocolate cichlid and five geophagus tapajos. Then I wanted to try plants. I have put the plants in for a few weeks now and so far they are good. I think the easy planters and having established plants help. I have crushed coral as substrate. The flowerhorn in the picture is no longer in the same tank as it is a big bully! I also removed the wave maker and the led bubbler. The wave maker was a big strong for them when they were young. The fluval output pipe was generating enough flow (fx6). The bubbler was also confusing the fish at night with the lighting when they sleep. 

For plants, I have vals, java fern, water lettuce, dwarf hair grass, flame moss and water sprite. I got some extremely long vals from a local hobbyist. They are like at least 4ft long. That weight and length prevents the fish from digging them up. I forgot to mention my parrots love to dig their own caves or nests underneath rocks or wood. If you want to attach plants onto wood or rock, you got to find a way to tie them down, with string or glue (I use fishing line). Or else, those will be floating for sure. Otherwise, it helps to put plants in the nooks and crannies where you know your fish doesn't go. Then they don't get touched as much. 

Thanks so much for your post! I saw it while I was out shopping for more fish food so it came at just the right time. I got him to eat some Xtreme nano pellets this morning, but I picked up some NLS cichlid pellets (the 1mm ones) and some freeze dried krill. Tonight I will see if he'd like some frozen blood worms. 

He's extremely skittish, as I read they would be. He's been hiding behind the filter in the quarantine, and then "playing dead?" when I open the lid; he lies on his side, and then goes upright once more when I leave. I looked up on Google if this was a thing they do and I haven't seen anything. I did peek in the room when I got back from shopping and he's now moved from behind the filter into a little rock cave I made for him, which seems like an improvement. 

Good to hear yours aren't super destructive. My 75 has very long established crypts and jungle val in it, so I don't think he'll be able to uproot them. And everything else are rhizome plants that are secured to rocks and wood. 

Anyways, back to shopping for a nice big hide decor to add to the tank just for him. I do have a rock cave but my ctenopoma has claimed it, and I think I want to mix it up a bit with a vase or something (something other than a normal flower pot). 

[Snjchris]

You are welcome! I am chuckling at your fish already. So typical of them to play dead. I wouldn't worry too much. My orange parrot sleeps vertically at night, with the head facing the bottom of the tank. I thought the fish had swim bladder or something when I first saw it but it has been happening almost every night so I guess that's how my fish sleeps! 

When you pick up the decoration, maybe make sure it can still fit him when he grows bigger? They grow pretty fast! I got my orange parrot from PetSmart and he/she is a chunk now but not as big or fast growing than the king kong parrots. Enjoy! 

[H.K.Luterman]

12 minutes ago, Snjchris said:

You are welcome! I am chuckling at your fish already. So typical of them to play dead. I wouldn't worry too much. My orange parrot sleeps vertically at night, with the head facing the bottom of the tank. I thought the fish had swim bladder or something when I first saw it but it has been happening almost every night so I guess that's how my fish sleeps! 

When you pick up the decoration, maybe make sure it can still fit him when he grows bigger? They grow pretty fast! I got my orange parrot from PetSmart and he/she is a chunk now but not as big or fast growing than the king kong parrots. Enjoy! 

I bought the largest vase decor on Amazon I could find. I figure I can buy something bigger and maybe a bit nicer looking if he turns into a chonker (and he probably will, given how I tend to make chonker fish). 

Edit: Also, glad to hear the playing dead thing is him being a dorkus and not something strange.

Edited February 9, 2021 by H.K.Luterman

[shkote]

Oooooh congrats on your new BP!!! 🙂

I think personality wise, they are my favorite fish in the house. They are so hard not to fall in love with and extremely interactive and as @Snjchris says, very quirky. As far as other cichlids go, I find them to be pretty slow growing, but I just have standard orange BPs and have heard the opposite of the Red KKs.

My larger Blood Parrot, Darwin (named after the cartoon goldfish on Gumball because of the resemblance 😄) is about a year and a half and about 4" and Peanut, the little guy I got almost exactly a month ago has grown much quicker and will catch up in now time.

They are bossy, but somehow make it adorable, like to be the boss of the tank but not overly aggressive, always up in everyone else's business, but as long as there isn't any fighting going on with the other fish, they stay rather peaceful.

Mine spend much of their time in their caves and have their own bedtime, which is pretty much immediately after they eat at night and they put themselves to bed. They are friendly and easily run to my hands when I'm cleaning the tank. They like to play. I wiggle my fingers and they chase my hand until they bump it then swim away and wait for to chase them back, do little circles around my hand, if I cup my hand, Darwin will rush over to get in my hand. I like to hand feed them both, but they don't have any difficulty eating on their own either and it's more for bonding purposes. 

The black spots/streaks are something that a lot of new BP owners tend to freak out about. Again as @Snjchris mentioned, it's usually due to stress and you will see it multiple times throughout having them. A few reasons mine end up with random black spots: Sometimes when I clean the tank, if I move anything, if I touch their stuff, if they think that I was GOING to touch or move their stuff, occasionally during a fasting day (the thought of never getting food again must be stressful because these guys are little piggies) and also sometimes after a growth spurt.

Some of my Anubias plants are just stuffed in places instead of being attached, they sniff those out every time, grab them, play keep away with them a bit, parade them through the tank, then watch them float. If they are attached though, I don't usually have issues. I can't plant anything in this tank but the Geos are the offenders there. They will bury and dig up everything. 

[H.K.Luterman]

5 minutes ago, Lynze said:

Some of my Anubias plants are just stuffed in places instead of being attached, they sniff those out every time, grab them, play keep away with them a bit, parade them through the tank, then watch them float. If they are attached though, I don't usually have issues. I can't plant anything in this tank but the Geos are the offenders there. They will bury and dig up everything. 

 

That is absolutely adorable. Your two sound like a lot of fun. Lovely tank! 

Yeah the one thing I see popping up a lot in my research is the changing black when stressed. Good to know that it can be triggered by lots of finicky little things.