Blood Parrots

[SquishyFish]

I recently switched my salt 175gal to a freshwater. I'm going to be going with unusual South American Cichilds. I've been keeping my eyes open around town and finally picked up my first two fish...Blood parrots. They were added about a week a part. I got a great deal on one about the size of a tennis ball and he was the first in...the other is still young (golf ball size) and was added today. I'm seeing the larger one chase the little one, which didnt necessarily surprize me, but I'm wondering if they need to be kept in groups of 3 or more.

Thanks in advance

Daniel

 

[Fishyfanatic]

IME Blood Parrots are best when they are in groupings of similar size. The chasing is not uncommon. You may have a mean Parrot. Closely monitor the behavior. If you notice stress bars on the smaller one, you may want to remove one of them.

 

[SquishyFish]

cool..I'll keep an eye on them. It seems to be pretty light chasing. No hitting or continual chasing. I dont think he is one of the mean ones...I've heard they can be pretty bad...he is in the tank with guppies and they are doing just fine.

 

[severum mama]

I had major problems when I tried to add a small parrot to a tank with a larger one. I had to move the smaller one to another tank because the larger one was just harrassing it nonstop. Later on, when the smaller one grew to a size similar to the larger one, I tried to keep them together again, and now they are inseparable. Weird. If you can't wait that long, I've heard that groups of odd numbers 3+ are said to work out better than even numbered groups. Maybe it would help to add another, I'm not sure though.

Watch out for the guppies. Once your parrots grow large enough to fit the guppies in their mouths, it will probably happen. I've had great success with barbs as dithers for parrots, if you are interested in barbs. Mine live with gold barbs, yo yo loaches, a red tailed shark, and a female convict, and everyone gets along fine.