New to fish, fighting

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ht0

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Apr 5, 2017
Messages
3
Hi all.

I'm not particularly knowledgable on fish and I am well aware of my stupidity in buying fish I don't know much about it, but I'm here for advice on how to take care of them now that I have them.

I used to have just an angel fish and a fancy goldfish which got along harmoniously despite me reading about angel fish being aggressive. Both have since died, and I stopped off in a fish store yesterday to have a look and ended up buying 2 fish that I had never seen before, thinking 'well I have an empty tank at home'. I live in Thailand and my translation from the woman was just 'bird fish' but doing some research they are parrot fish. One is red, one is yellow, and the red one is larger than the other with a missing/deformed tail. When I first put them in the tank yesterday they swam around a lot and mainly ignored each other, but today the red one is bothering the yellow one A LOT. He keeps nipping at her sides (gender unknown, just how I've been referring to them) and sort of pushing her up almost out of the water. The yellow one is being quite active in this video but from my observation is spending most the time mainly hanging out pushed up against one side of the tank while he swims around a lot. :ermm:

Why is he fighting, to establish territory? The yellow one does not fight back at all. Do I need to remove one of them and keep them living separately, in which case what kind of fish would be better to house them with?

 
Blood parrots can be aggressive. That's what you have going on in your tank; aggression from your red fish towards your yellow fish. It may sort itself out in a few days without any damage, or it may continue until your yellow parrot is injured. If it doesn't improve, I would return the red fish to the fish store, or possibly exchange for another. You could also try adding more decor so there are line-of-sight breaks, which may help.
How large is your tank? If less than 55g, 1 Blood Parrot will be plenty once it reaches it's mature size, which can be 8 inches. If you keep only 1 fish, you could try adding some quick dither fish like danios, or peaceful barbs for added eye appeal, if your tank is large enough.
 
Hi SherLa. Thankyou so much for your comment. I've just come home (10.20pm) and they are keeping away from each other, but I will monitor them tomorrow. I hate to return a fish but if this continues tomorrow I might return the red one :ermm: which makes me feel horrible but I don't think I am able to house both sufficiently.

As mentioned before, I live in a small city in Thailand and only have a couple of small fish shops with very limited fish on offer. I don't want my yellow one to feel lonely... what do you think would happen if I introduced another small parrot of the same size? Or not worth risking it? My tank isn't huge but willing to upsize as fish grow. We only have fish in the first place because boyfriend felt sorry for the fish in his boss's massively overstocked tank and 'rescued' a couple from there without him knowing!! :lol::ermm:
 
They aren't schooling fish; it won't feel lonely even if it's the only fish in the tank. IMO, get a larger tank before you add more fish. Cichlids grow quickly, and will have your tank over-stocked in no time. It's a myth that fish grow to their environment. Having them in a too small tank is detrimental to their health.
 
Thanks for the advice again, I got a new tank and am keeping them separate!
 
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