This is something that I have absolutely no experience with; I'm hoping someone can help me. I hope this is in the right forum as well. Blush

A friend of my daughter's has a blood parrot (that was basically dumped on her by a moving neighbor) crammed into her little 10 gallon tank and she would like me to take it off her hands.

The only thing I know about blood parrots is that they are indescribably ugly. But I never hold looks against a fish!

Would I be able to keep it in a 29 gallon tank? Or would it be safe to keep it in a 75 gallon with several peacocks, fryeri, rusties, and one bossy female yellow lab?

It's already way too big for the 10 gallon and she needs to rehome it soon. I have a hard time turning down any animal in need, but I don't want to put it into a situation that would be harmful to it.

Any experience out there? :Help!:

I went through basically the same situation a friend didnt want the blood parrot and was going to flush him. So i put him in a 20 gallon by himself and then needed the space for an angel grow out tank and through the parrot in my african tank with zero issue.........Hoep this helps but i have had no problems

Thanks Adam, it does help.

I think I might give it a try and see how it goes. If it looks like it's being picked on in the 75, I can put it in the 29 for a while until I figure something else out.

Aura, my daughter has two of them in a 29G, and they get along fine. That's all she has in the tank. I would tell you their names but it's horrible! Giggly

We used to have them - ours were named "Oops" and "Uh Oh", and I really like their personality. I've kept them in several different scenarios and never really had a problem. Hybrid or not, ugly or beautiful, they have very intriguing behaviour and add really nice colour to a tank. (Have you seen the cellphone commercial on t.v. that has one of them swimming with salt water fish??? Makes me absolutely nuts!)

Anyway, I think you'd be fine, either way. My only concern would be adding the parrot to the 75G as a single addition...The established fish probably won't take too well to that!

One of the most stunning show tanks I've ever seen in a LFS is a 90G full of these crazy looking little fish!

You're going to want to add a flower pot for this one, especially if you put him in the 29G alone!

Kim

Oops and Uh oh sound like very appropriate names for them. They just look so wrong.

I am a little worried about adding it to the 75. I have several yellow labs that have been growing out that I might add at the same time, but this parrot is much larger and will probably attract all of the attention.

Maybe the 29 gallon will be a better option. Hmmmm A flower pot if he's alone? Does this mean that I should go out and... ~gulp~ buy it a companion? worry wart!

Thanks for that info, Kim.

Aura, I see this little rescue effort is going to turn into quite the ordeal for you!

He'll be fine in the 29G alone. I just meant that you probably wouldn't want to throw a flower pot in your main tank with the others!

If you add another parrot fish to the 29G, you'll need 2 flower pots! Giggly

Do you see where this is going? You'll put him in the 29G and then decide he's lonely, so you'll trudge out to the LFS and get him a friend...

They dig alot, too, more so than most mbuna that I keep, so don't even attempt any live plants, not that you or I would do that! Good Job

They are odd looking little creatures, somewhat disturbing, but the way I see it is that we know what we're getting when we take one on, and I've rarely seen that much personality as far as wet pets go in another fish! I don't think you'll be sorry.

Kim

This is exactly where I see this going.

I sometimes think the people that know me take advantage of the fact that I have a hard time saying no to things like this.

Several years ago I found a salamander in a bucket sitting on my front door step - no note or anything - just a salamander. :blink:

Live plants will definitely be out of the picture, I think. (I still have a few springs here and there.) Wiggle it just a little bit!

Aura, you aren't the only one...

Izzy wasn't really a cat that I meant to have. There was a lady here in town who literally scoops up strays off the street, has them spayed / neutered, then drives everyone she knows insane until someone gives them a home. Pete's dad was really ill at the time, so we took her in, planning to give her to his mom when his dad passed away. When that occured, we couldn't part with her. worry wart!

And, I had to have my daughter banned from the local humane society when she was 16...As soon as she got her own car, she managed to go there once a week and bring something home. I would get a call at work telling me to bring home dog food/cat food/bird food/ nursing bottles/ etc...Finally, when we could hold no more animals, I called the animal shelter and told them that they were not to let her have anything else.

The next week, she came home with this little dog that had run out in front of her car in the middle of town. She decided someone wasn't taking proper care of it and stopped to get it. The dog bit her when she tried to pick it up, so she grabbed her coat out of her car and threw the coat over it, put it in the trunk, and wanted me to be the one to open the trunk and get him out!

Kim

I would like to have seen some video of that action! On the Floor Laughing Giggly

I drove her little butt right straight back to the area of town where she "kidnapped" the dog and we parked and opened the trunk and ran! Giggly

Then we had a long discussion on the way home about the difference between "helping" and "stealing"... idunno

Kim

That's too funny! You would need someone like Mongo to help you get him out of the car if you hadn't taken him back. 4mongo

I wonder what was going through the dog's mind, being kidnapped like that. :ph43r:

You guys stories crack me up! I always thought those fish were rather cooky yet cute looking in a strange sorta way. hehe

Like this?



Or this?



I did get this poor thing over the Christmas/New Year time frame. He's so big, I can't believe he was in that 10 gallon tank.

He was pretty scared at first so I added some little yellow labs to see if that would help draw him out, but it hasn't really worked.

I think I might have to get him another of his own kind. fishy

That head on shot is a little creepy when you first look at it! Try getting another one Aura and see if that brings the little guy around. I rarely see these in any LFS in my area, so it will take me a while to get used to looking at them! twitchy

I hate to say I told you so...

But I told you so! Good Job

They do behave different when there is more than one of them. And I actually think you might enjoy them more if you have two!

Can you find one close to the same size?

Kim

I guess I'll get another one then... worry wart!

I've seen smaller ones for sale, but not any big ones. Will that matter? When adding to my mbuna tanks, I look for smaller ones to add in hopes that they won't be seen as a threat and then picked on.

Cturner, I'll try to take more pictures so you can get used to that creepy face. Nanananaa

Giggly Thanks I appreciate that! Nanananaa

Aura, I've never added small ones in with big ones, so I'm not sure how it will work, but I would think you could go by the same principals with them. You might try to find one of the smaller ones that hasn't gone through the colour transformation yet, just to lessen the chances of aggression when you introduce him/her to the larger one. I think that is what I would do.

You're making me want to get some more, you do realize that??? Giggly

Having two together, you'll see alot more activity and get alot more "human" interaction...It's hilarious to watch them fight for your attention when you walk up to the tank. They can appear to be quite aggressive towards one another, but I've never seen them do any real damage...With those little mouths, there just isn't any way!


Kim

Kim, if you did get some, that would make at least three of us here.

Did you see labama's post? What have I done!

Nice head on pic, Aura!

That is one weird looking fish, BTW!

What is going on with this forum?

We are being invaded by the blood parrots!

Mutants need love too.. roll eyes


Aura if you do plants do plastic. They will destroy real ones.

This forum is going to the "parrots".

yikes twitchy yikes twitchy yikes twitchy

I was able to find a new little buddy for my parrot. It's smaller in size, but they seem to be getting along okay so far.

They've started coming out to the front of the tank expecting to eat when they see me. They had to practice eating because I feed them the NLS pellets and they didn't seem to have a very good aim. Poor things.



One for you cturner!

That new one you got Giggly is more funny looking then the old one Giggly looks like its got eyebrows like my moorii haps Now this should be good!

peek a boo

I like the colors in the new one! Something different that you normally don't see around here in parrots.

I love the new guy...almost looks like he has a mohawk.

Aura I was told not to feed them nls. They are not veggie eaters so Im feeding mine osi vivid color has lots of protein. Plus the flakes then can suck in without a problem.
Also they like feeders too. I was thinking of adding some guppies to my tank so they can eat the fry. Oh and brine shrimp too.

Mine have lost all the blk stress markings they had and are now a very bright orange to almost red. I wonder if yours is from stress...I hope not he looks way cool.

Leslianne
Mutants Unite!

Nice addition may I say... the Clap

Very nice camera work too! Bouncy

No NLS? Hmmmm I'll have to look into that. Other than samples of this and that, it's the only food I have in the house.

Yes, the new one is pretty funny looking. It has those "eyebrows" over both eyes and it does look like a mohawk now that you mention it.

I don't think those black marks are stress. They are much darker than the stress marks that the first one had when I brought it home. And they don't change or vary. I'll keep an eye on him and make sure he's not being harassed, but so far he seems happy!

Thanks all!

a lot of small ones in our area are dark. had 2 a long time ago and the ugly green 1 I got turned a beatiful yellow with orange markings. they paired up and laid sterile egg batch after sterile egg batch. it was kind of sad to see all that work for nothing, but they were interesting fish. now stop at 2. the rescue is over.

No worries with the black markings...

As youngsters, it's normal. The black disappears as they mature. If you got a good look at how these little things look at less than half an inch, you wouldn't believe they are the same fish! They are grey and black and if you think they look bad now, you should see a baby!

We started out with what we believed were a pair of them. Both had just finished going through the colour transformation and were getting pretty big. They were always together, never separated in the tank...When you saw one, the other was close behind. One day we came home from work and turned the tank lights on to find one of them dead in the front corner of the tank. The one that was alive had turned almost completely black, and was nudging the other one to get up.

That was when they stole my heart...

The remaining one stayed dark for a couple of weeks and lingered in the corner where the other one had died. It wouldn't eat. I seriously thought it was sick. I called the LFS where I got them - they had show tank full of really big ones, and the employee told me that it was stress from the loss of the tank mate, that their entire tank of them would do it anytime they suffered a loss in the tank!

We picked up another one (Uh Oh, I believe) and within hours, the first one was back to the nice orange colour and behaving normally.

NLS is fine to feed them. They do seem to have an easier time with flake foods, but they catch on, and you gotta admit it's hilarious watching that mouth try to lock on a pellet!

I would love to tell you what my daughter named her first one, but it is so awful that she would kill me! worry wart!

Kim

Wow Kim great stuff you shared about the parrots and good to know Now this should be good!


Cheers!!!

Thanks, geelite...I just think they are somewhat "misunderstood'! Giggly

Yes, they are hybrids...But we know that when we buy them, right?

Have any of you ever seen a large tank full of just these guys? Amazing looking!

Kim

Kim, I want to know what your daughter named hers - we won't tell her that you told us.

That's a sweet story about your pair and their attachment to each other. You know, I've become used to their appearance and I have to admit that I don't think they are ugly any more. They seem to be getting cuter every day. And they definitely have personality. The big one is always face first at the glass when I sit there to watch them. He "attacks" the camera and it's hard to get a side shot of him.

I haven't seen any large displays of them, but I bet it would be pretty colorful. Not to worry, Yodahorn, I'm not going to have my own large display.

I have seen a huge display of them and its amazing.
This restaurant we go to has a huge tank with about 12 in it. A couple are the size of sandwich plates. They are fun to watch...someone always picking fights. They love ppl....Unlike mine. They love me only for my food.

And YES I need to know the name Kim...I must know...PLEEAASEEEEE ohhh please ohh please

Leslianne

Seriously...It's awful...

She has a twisted sense of humour...

We were standing in the check out line with the fish in a bag and she holds it up to look at it and says "I think I'll call her Terry Schiavo".

Unfortunately, the name stuck.

She's really a good girl with a huge heart...She's just a little twisted! Melafix fix!

I know she has another one named Celine Dion, and another named Leroy.

Kim

Oh no, probably not politically correct, but (Melafix fix! shhh....I thought it was kinda funny).

Okay, Aura and Leslieanne, you asked for it! Nanananaa

I have to ask Kim, did she get her "twisted sense of humor" as you
put it from you? Giggly On the Floor Laughing

Funny story Kim!

Ok yeah she does have a twisted sense of humor.. roll eyes Although Im guessing not a big Celine Dion fan? Im not so I really like that name.

preacherboy, lets just say I was peering into the bag right beside her when she came up with the name, and I really couldn't argue... idunno

When she got Terry, she still had some black on her, and it basically looked like a shock of mussed up black hair on top of her head. We didn't laugh about it, it just made sense.

When I asked her how she was going to deal with telling people what her fish's name was, she said "Well, wouldn't you find it flattering to have a fish named after you?" I just dropped it at that point.

Now, Celine was named for her looks, Leslianne...That long face and that kind of surprised look going on??? It was inevitable. (And, you're right, Tia isn't a Celine fan. )

Heres another one for you...She has this nasty looking pleco named "Pop". She named it after what she called my father when she was young. I don't guess I need to say anymore when you equate your bottom feeder with your grandfather, do I? Giggly

Kim

Counseling, maybe? idunno