Hi,
As the title states, Parrot Cichlids turning black. Water conditions are good...
Thanks for your input!
As the title states, Parrot Cichlids turning black. Water conditions are good...
Thanks for your input!
Parrot Cichlids turning black. Why?
- Thread starter dlodovichi
- Start date
I'm going to assume you are talking about the hybrid blood parrot cichlid. Black marks (and actually, this goes for most other fish, too) usually means the fish is stressed out for some reason. Some fish lose color, some turn black when they have had a stressful experience. Sometimes it is easy to figure out what may be stessing them, sometimes it is baffling. I usually ask if there is enough maintenance being done, if they are in a high traffic area, are they "scared" of a certain member of the household(either human or animal, I had a Jaguar who hated when the cats would walk by), etc.. Is there another fish in the tank that may be harrassing them when no one is looking?
Nippy said:
The water conditions are fine. Recent water change with some decor rearrangements. There are only 3 small Parrots in the tank. Yes they are the hybrid species. Thanks for you help
some of the Blood Parrot Cichlids are died so this black color could be a natural color and mean nothing at all. What are the water conditions? nitritite,nitrate,ammonia? And just to touch on it, one of the fish that may have been used to create the BP starts out dark and changes to red/orange so this could just be that DNA taking over after the dye is gone. Also another thought the BP may have been given some type of food to keep the color bright and now since its home with you its not getting that food any more. I wouldn't worry to much as long as they are eating and your doing the proper maintainence.
mayreee said:
The tank is 12 gallon and it contains three small Parrot. The Red Parrot seems to be the leader of the pack.
mayreee said:
Things seem to be going back to normal. The Yellow Parrot is starting to loose the blackness.
The fish are 5", 3" and 2 1/2". Yes I know the tank is small but unfortunatley this is a I can afford to room size at the moment. I'm not a beginner when it comes to aquariums and fish but I'm am a novice in regards to Parrot Cichlids.
Do you think I'll be pushing the limit of the tank if I add a couple Clown Loaches to deal with food flake that make it to the bottom?
TIA!
I wouldn't put 1 neon tetra in that thank let alone clown loaches. They need a tank larger than the parrots. I would suggest getting a 75 gallon real soon or take the blood parrots back. They will have no kind of life in a 12 gallon tank. I have one in a 30 gallon (3 feet long tank) and I plan on getting a larger one for him in the furture. He is 3 inches now.