is this normal?

[Bubble]

Somehow, my parrot fish keep chew up the plant i have in the tank. Is it a normal behavior?

Also, i bought some big parrot fish (size of my hand) but the color is not really red. They kind fade white. LFS said that the red color will come back. Is it true or I just being rip off for buying bad fish?

 

[smb]

I'm going to assume you mean the hybrid Blood red parrot fish and not the Parrot Cichlid (since it's green) or the marine fish called the parrot fish.

I've never seen them white before but have seen them variations of purlpe orange and red.

I don't know anything at all about them but considering they are a crossbreed from other cichlids it would be normal for them to eat plants as most cichlids like vegetables and plants. As far as the white, it could be some albino strain? Not sure tho.

 

[Krissy]

Hi Bubble,
I am fairly new to keeping fish and was considering 2 hybrid parrot fish and was told that they actually get darker patches sometimes while they are growing, not so sure on the white but I could always ask the people I go to. I know they carry a bright orange, yellow and red tropical hybrid parrot fish. Is the white yellowish sorta? Another thing they told me is because they are hybrid their mouths are shaped differently so they can't really bite other fish(if you have angels or some other kinds of cichlids), not sure on plants I heard they do ram the other fish though. I heard all this information from the owner of a specialized tropical fish store so I don't know if true or not, I usually tend to believe them

 

[Bubble]

Here is the picture of it. Compare to those small one, it is not that red.

 

[Bubble]

and here is the plant being eat by them

 

[freshmike]

I would say they are just having a nutricious snack!

 

[smb]

Yea that's the hybrid. Looks like that Astronotus ocellatus (Tiger Oscar) is eyeing him up.

 

[Bubble]

nutricious snack!

What is that mean?

those oscard and parrotd been living together for more than 2 months now. Very peacefully. No fight yet.

 

[smb]

What is that mean?

That he's eating the plants for food.

 

[Bubble]

lolz..ic..ic.. I thought it was refer to the reason of the color not being red.

 

[Alien Anna]

nutricious snack!

What is that mean?

those oscard and parrotd been living together for more than 2 months now. Very peacefully. No fight yet.

Doesn't mean it'll be OK in the long run. We recently had someone's oscar eat a fully grown pleco and practically choke on the poor beast! You haven't got enough tank space for the two to live harmoniously together which means sooner or later they'll be a territory dispute.

 

[Bubble]

i have 2 big tiger oscar, 20 parrot (which 3 big one) in a 80 gallons tank. I think that should be ok. Hopefully.

 

[cichlidmaster]

Bubble,

Look at it this way......

Your blood parrots have the potential to grow to an adult size of 8" each although more than likely they will hit 6" maximum.

Your oscars, on the other hand will get to a minimum of 12" each with the potential to grow to an adult size of up to 16"!!

So....taking the minimum adult sizes of each fish and multiplying it we get the following...........

20 parrots at 6" each.............120" or 10 feet of fish
2 oscars at 12" each..............24" or 2 feet of fish

Now given the 1" per gallon rule (one which I don't like to use, but will here) you have 144" of fish in roughly 70 gallons of water (after accounting for water displacement due to gravel, decorations, ect...)

You are more than double in fish than water!! Given the fact that oscars are prone to hole in the head disease and water quality is a major factor in this....I would say you are way over stocked, even with filtration that turns the tank volume over 20 times an hour (although you did not specify what type of filtration you have)!!

The recommended tank space for one adult oscar is 40-50 gallons of water each!!

While it is my opinion that you should seriously lower your tanks population, this is a decision you alone have to make.

Good luck and I hope all stays well with your fish.

CM

 

[Bubble]

I use 2 Fluval 404. I think i need to take few small parrot out to my 10 gallons. Thanks guys.

BTW, since I already overstock the fish, you think changing 25% of water every 4 days will help the water quality?

 

[cichlidmaster]

IMO you should be doing 50% changes bi-weekly with the load you have.

I really don't know what the GPH rating is on your fluvals, but keep in mind....any GPH rating is with the filter empty!!

meaning no filter material of any kind. Once you start placing filter material in the filter the GPH rating drops!!

It would be wise to remaove quite a few of the parrots...and yes if you start doing larger more frequent water changes you water should clear up.

HTH...

CM