Help

[I_am_pena]

I have a red blood parrot fish and a blue ciclid fish and both continue hanging out at the bottom of the tank and won't eat, how I do get them to notice the food floating on top of the tank? I also have a pleco but he usually eats his algae wafers at night

 

[aquandrew]

did you cycle your tank? do you have a liquid test kit?

 

[molliwopp]

There is something else wrong.
Do you have a water test kit? What are your results?
Id recommend doing a 40% water change asap to dilute anything that could be making them feel ill.

They wouldnt have to notice the food theyd be able to taste it in the water. If they are eating theyre feeling pretty terrible to be honest. What are you feeding?

As aquandrew asked have you cycled the tank?

 

[I_am_pena]

I'm using cichlid pellets floating kind, and they're pretty new to the tank about two days but the blood parrot doesn't look good it keeps swimming with a lean, and the other blue cichlid keeps trying to bite it what shall I do? Get rid of the blue?

 

[I_am_pena]

Also my test kit says the water is acidic, ph levels are at about 6.5

 

[molliwopp]

Im going to go out on a limb here and say change 50% of your water now, this second. Whenever a fish gets sick, a water change should be the very first thing you do especially when there are no visible symptoms. Id suggest doing a water change yesterday.

No sorry, i ment do you have a test kit for ammonia, nitrite?
How long has t tank been setup? What filter are you using? More importantly, is the tank cycled? If no, you NEED to do a 50% water change now.

 

[I_am_pena]

I just did a 45-50% water change and added some accu clear and stress enzymes and tap water conditioner, and I don't have an ammonia test kit only the all in one test kit, it says water levels are pretty good, just ph being pretty low around 6.3 he seems to be swimming normally again but now my blue cichlid is slowly biting at it Should i get rid of one of them? I'm pretty sure one will be dead if I leave them in there

 

[molliwopp]

Right im also guessing your tank isnt cycled? So now you need to prepared yourself for daily water changes.

Well do you have somewhere to put the aggressor? How big is your tank?

 

[Babakapusta]

How big is your tank? Are the fish the same size? And yes, if you can separate them do so.

 

[flitabout]

2 things get a api master test kit. Your ph is really low. Cichlids like a higher ph. I don't know a whole lot about cichlids but I found this for you. The Cichlid Recipe: Water Quality

 

[molliwopp]

He has a blood parrot with is south american which like a soft low ph. By blue cichlid what exactly is it pena?

If its an african cichlid they shouldnt be kept together and if its a malawi lake cichlid you definitely shouldnt keep them together because they prefer massively different hardness and ph like flitabout was suggesting.

 

[I_am_pena]

It is a 20 gallon and I think it's a Blue African Cichlid it's about 5 inches, the blood parrot is slightly bigger than the cichlid, and I will tomorrow until then I'm going to separate the two till can get a divider and figure out what to do with the cichlid, it was a gift but didnt know it'll be aggressive towards my blood parrot, guess I'm returning the ciclid!

 

[Bichir Bro]

20 gallons is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too small for a blood parrot and that other cichlid you have. Parrots need at very least 55 and will need a bigger tank as the mature. They need ungodly amazing filtration as they are extremely messy and have a huge bio load. And since you keep dodging the question, have you cycled your tank, my guess is you haven't like everyone else has said. You need to go get some quick start chemicals and that'll help, but to be safe you need to do daily water changes for a while. You should never accept a fish as a gift unless you know about it or research it. You must always find out about how to care for whatever you're getting. I suggest returning both cichlids and getting some fish that can actually happily live in a 20 gallon.

 

[molliwopp]

It is a 20 gallon and I think it's a Blue African Cichlid it's about 5 inches, the blood parrot is slightly bigger than the cichlid, and I will tomorrow until then I'm going to separate the two till can get a divider and figure out what to do with the cichlid, it was a gift but didnt know it'll be aggressive towards my blood parrot, guess I'm returning the ciclid!

5inchs?? And the parrot is bigger? In a 20gallon.. i would only keep fry of the 2 cichlids you mention. Dude honestly with a tank that size your going to have HUGE problems.

Are they the only 2 fish in the tank? I hate to say it but you need to take the fish back to the lfs in all honesty because the tanks too small for either fish, its not cycled, the water conditions of these fish are completely different, your african is going to kill your parrot and probably anything else you try to introduce because of how small your tank is.

Why not look at something else?

 

[Bichir Bro]

Go research, cycle your tank and take the time to learn about aquariums and fish. I'm not saying get out of the hobby just learn about it. It's a wonderful thing aquariums are but you cannot enjoy them without the correct knowledge.

 

[I_am_pena]

True thanks guys I'm returning the cichlid tomorrow and as well as the BP and get smaller suitable fish

 

[aquandrew]

True thanks guys I'm returning the cichlid tomorrow and as well as the BP and get smaller suitable fish

good idea, there are lots of beautiful fish that are suitable for your tank size. ram cichlids are really cool, but i suggest you start off with hardier fish if your tank isn't cycled

 

[molliwopp]

True thanks guys I'm returning the cichlid tomorrow and as well as the BP and get smaller suitable fish

Good, from what i read it was sounding abit like a fish keeper horror story but taking them back is a noble thing to do and some wouldnt.

Why not cycle your tank before you get more fish? im actually cycling another tank literally in afew days, so i could run you through it?

If you feel you have to get fish have a look at some zebra danios. Theyre kool fish.

 

[Babakapusta]

The parrot is a cichlid too.

 

[Bichir Bro]

Yes yes it is. It's a morph between Red Devils and something else which name I totally forgot. I don't really like the sale of these guys because they don't have easy lives. They have messed up eyes, gills,mouths,spine and that's just really cruel to make a fish deal with that. But so are glo fish and some others, I like the look of parrots but I couldn't bring myself to buy one.