I have a blood parrot but getting info has been difficult. She is being wierd I think.
I have had her for a week now, and at first she was fine but now she has been hiding for 2 days. she comes out sometime and zips around sometime she eats and sometimes she doesn't. so wth? she hides in her cave and she lays on her side. her water is good. i just tested it. it is at 5 for nitrates and 0.1 for nitrites so i don't understand. hopefully somebody on this site can help me. thanks guys!

she sounds fine to me, I have 2 parrots myself, one of them tend to hide alot i dont see him/her much, but he comes out for food when i get close to to tank.

Is she eating? How big the tank is? does she have tank mates that are chasing her?

The tank is 30gal (canadian) and she only has a pleco in there with her.she also lays on her side. I don't know if she eats. The pellets are gone in the morning well most of them are anyway. I fher water is good and she's not losing color or getting black spots is there another way to tell if its stress?

I don't think you have much to worry about. I have a fairly large parrot, when i first got it as a very small baby it spent almost all of its time under some bog wood. I even checked a few times to make sure it was still in the tank cos I didn't see it for days on end. now its full grown its in your face as soon as you go near the tank. they do well with other fish, and mix with almost anything. very strong fish that survive anything you throw at them. in pairs they tend to rule the tank and fight with any larger fish to protect eggs. if you like the parrots maybe add another for company? plecs are bottom feeders and lower level fish where parrots spend most of there time in mid water or surface. so will never be best of friends.

you have a small amount of nitrite present? have you just cycled your tank? or do you know why/is there a reason nitrites are present? I also assume you checked for ammonia?

Ya we just had to do a water change i assume thats why there is some nitrates present. No i didn't test for ammonia. but I will. we are moving in 3 days and her tank will be half emptied then. if her behaviour is normal then i guess i'm just being paranoid. i just don't want anything to happen to her.

Crystally wrote:


Some Nitrates should be present if your filter is cycled. They will drop after a waterchange.
Nitrites shouldt not be, if the filter is cycled properly.

Hi crystally. Welcome.
Try and put up as much info on ur Tank as possible.(which is 30g/s), size of your fish, filter (what is its turnover rate Gallons/ph and its media etc.
Most important do ALL four tests. Get to the bottom of this, IF... there is a problem.

JamieM wrote:


Sorry, i missed that completely.
Thank you ,Jamie.

No prob's Nod, Am not after ur job now mate

Noddy wrote:

Namaste my friend, Does she act this way when your tank light is off? in my experience there are fish who don't mind an over head light and than there are fish that act like getting touched by the light is like lava. So id say turn off your light for a little and see how she act's. Best of luck and be blessed.

Hey all! Good news! She is fine! We got her moved and I put in my baby oscars and everybody is just groovy! Lol! Of course they are about 1\8 her size haha!! But nobody fights and they all swim together and there is no fighting over food or space. She doesn't hide anymore its been great! Her color is vibrant all the time. especially the day she bit me! Lol!! When she jumped out of the bucket! And I bled a lot! I guess I deserved that! For the record don't tick off these fish!! Hahaha!!! I even have a lil'scar!! Anyway thanks for all the help guys!! She is for sure a peculiar breed and I need to be learning more everyday about them. So I will be back. Much luvs thanks

Hey there forum. I had the same problem. I got my Parrot as a gift from my wife. I was excited at first but then really disappointed because I found it belly up in a cave. I lifted to cave to remove the body but it scurried away and hid else where. I figured, ok it got stuck.

Later that day Pete was back in the same cave. I removed the cave. Pete found a new cave to play dead in. I was really worried at this point. This was a $10 fish and I am used to $5 Cichlids in this tank. (My first cichlid tank). Anyway, For my birthdat my wife suprised me with 2 more parrots and 3 more african cichlids. Pete was so excited. Before this, he only had 1 Afr. Cichlid and na Algae Eater for tank mates in this 40ish gallon tank. But when we added the new parrots, he flipped out. He turned into a very sociable fish. AND he now eats out of my hand. So do my oscars but they bite lol I wonder how to end that before they get larger.

Anyway I hope this helps you. Get your parrot some playmentes and not just any playmates, get him/her a 2nd parrot. You can house a few in (3) in your 30 gallon fully grown.)