Parrot Fish With Dodgy Mouth?

[newtankgirl]

Hi .
I have a parrot fish and this is hopefully a really stupid question.... My fish can't close his mouth causing him problems with feeding.Hes always kind of headbutted food to eat but im fairly sure this is new- over the past few days he seems not to be able to eat. He is otherwise ok, trying to eat and seems happy enough but im not sure if he is managing to eat anything? Any advise would be welcome thanks.

 

[LisaLQ]

It's really common in parrot fish, both mine have the same issue - I think most do. I feed mine cichlid pellets and Tetra Prima, they just suck it up into their mouth, but obviously some comes back out again because they cant close their mouths. They find the Tetra Prima easiest, as it isn't as big and doesn't take as much chewing. But I wouldn't worry too much unless yours is underweight, mine are both big fat chunky things - so they can manage to eat, they're just a bit messy

 

[cheesy feet]

Yeh,mine also love to suck up flakes.

 

[newtankgirl]

Great- thanks for replies - have changed feed recently which maybe is harder to eat. Will try tetra prima

 

[thegnu]

are these parrot fish the man-made fish i have read about. a hybrid between a severum and a red devil and then they actually breed from the physically deformed fish over and over again to get the poor fish which can hardly eat that we call the parrot fish

 

[paulf]

Its because they are messed up manmade hybrids and the reason he cant close his mouth is because he is a hybrid, none of them can......

 

[~T~]

Its because they are messed up manmade hybrids and the reason he cant close his mouth is because he is a hybrid, none of them can......

Actually many have normal mouths, one of mine draws blood and the other has no problems eating and moving gravel.

The ones that have bad mouths should be fed smaller food.

 

[cheesy feet]

Paulf,yes they are a freak-ish creating but not all of them can't eat...i bet you havn't even owned one,probly for a fact you havn't because 2 out of my 3 can close they mouths completely,the other one can move it a little bit.Hardly any of them are 'deformed'.Also if you want a parrot fish that will eat easier get a King Kong one,they mouths are different shape and they are bigger fish.

 

[~T~]

Paulf,yes they are a freak-ish creating but not all of them can't eat...i bet you havn't even owned one,probly for a fact you havn't because 2 out of my 3 can close they mouths completely,the other one can move it a little bit.Hardly any of them are 'deformed'.Also if you want a parrot fish that will eat easier get a King Knog one,they mouths are different shape and they are bigger fish.

And they draw blood

 

[cheesy feet]

How can a fish be drawing blood.Have you owned one?

 

[~T~]

How can a fish be drawing blood.Have you owned one?

Umm yes

 

[Iron Man]

You don't have to own one to see they are deformed. I was in the store the other day and really looked at a tank of them closely for the first time.....I didn't see one who could close his mouth. I think its sad. Like with a mule, nature won't let the reproduction go any further, and I would agree.

 

[cheesy feet]

O right i thought u ment thye bleed from there own mouths. I'm just saying there is a few now which are actually like a proper fish(eat normally and close mouth),then there are the deformed ones I don't see why someone would create them in the first place...