i recently got a 90 gallon tank and just finished cycling it today. well i took some advice i had recieved a while ago and didnt get anymore bp's until getting a bigger tank. well today my girlfriend and i got another bp putting our total at two bp's. we felt that we just needed to get another because they are so adorable and such an interesting fish after doing some research online about the species.anyway, upon putting our new bp into the tank our first one just started checking the other out. after that the new one started getting chased around almost non stop. they are almost the exact same size but the new one is about a half an inch smaller. keep in mind that both of them are really small the new one is just shy of the size of a quarter. i had the old one in a tank with an oscar and a bala shark and he did very well but the oscar got sick so we needed to get him in his own tank to medicate him. anyway, once the new bp got added my old one started getting really aggressive doing things ive never seen him do before like flaring his gills out and just not letting up his pursuit at all. i had to take the smaller one out and put a divider between them and now he is acting like my bettas used to act when i would take the opeque divider offof the clear one so they could see eachother. my question is are they going to stay like this or are they going to chill out and just live together because i love my little fish and dont want to see any harm come to them but id love to see them with a friend of their own kind. they look like they are the same sex in case you are wondering unless you could give me some advice on how to tell the difference PLEASE HELP
Comments
oh man
please don't yet an Oscar for heavens sake, it works very rarely and you could really find out what trouble is, if you only take heed of one piece of advice that would be it
oh man!
I am not sure an oscar would be a good tank mate for anything. At least when it grows, and it grows fast. I have seen them the size of river fish. They normally don't have enough room in a big tank, When the fish is grown. Don't get me wrong, people love thier oscars, but oscars are (in my opinion) the only fish you want in a huge tank. Depending on the tank one would take most of the tank. I have seen a couple oscars in the type tanks you can swim in. :) I know they often feed Oscars live goldfish, beefheart etc. (when they are bigger.)
Feeding live goldfish, is not for me :( Seems like you would have to separate them not long after you got it.
My Female BP even goes after the two albino cats that are in the tank with her, when she is bored, or laying eggs. They are very mean when they lay eggs. They can do damage. One female BP and two cats, fill my 60 gal tank.
They are wonderful pets, But probably not the best fish to be in the tank with :)
Oh Man!
Sorry about that, I was replying to Oh Man, further down in this topic. Somehow, it ended up at the top. :(
Guess there is no way to edit or change?
reply to this message.....lol
Well, parrot cichlids tend to do that with their own kind especially at a young age. You should wait until their about the same size to unseperate them. Then try putting them together again and see what happens. The females have rounded fins tips and males have pointed fin tips.....hope this helps.
male or female
my (definitely) male has rounded fins,
male or female
I thought my BP was a male for years, as it has beautiful long tipped fins. Then he laid eggs. :)
male or female
In this photo, I hope you can see my females pointed fins. You can also see her egg tube.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_x4wrOcZAbXQ/S1eNCHFy7yI/AAAAAAAAADU/-0R9MPsTE-g/s4...
Re: aggression
thank you for your advice
aggression
well, you have a good tank size for them to live together,think about it, your old parrot had other tank mates then suddenly hes got a new, bigger tank and a new tank mate too,that's going to make him territorial, I would expect it to take 2-3 weeks for it to settle down,putting a divider can work in several ways but it can also just postpone the inevitable, which is, that the big one is going to chase the new one until he is sure he is top dog and the newer one knows it!!!!!I would put a big tall plant or rock in there which blocks the line of sight,it lessens aggression when there is no eye contact(so to speak)also make sure your temp isn't too high, when my older two have eggs ,the other two have to spend much of there time behind rocks ,getting chased back whenever they venture too far, lasts about a week, Im thinking of upgrading again!It is difficult to sex parrots without venting(which involves turning them upside down, not easy,) but if mature a male has a breeding tube like this V and a female one like this U , don't forget that very little actual harm can happen as they have no teeth, and in fact, if you do have male/female, this is very much spawning behaviour, another idea is to rearrange the tank periodically, don't panic, if you can bring yourself to do it ,I would remove the divider for longer and longer times, Im sure it will work out, as for adding a convict, it may help,your big parrot would be busy watching his back or your parrots may buddy up then, I would try it and see what happens,as long as you could move him back,but dont forget that is you do have a female parrot and your convict is male ,you may end up having fry in that tank, cool!good luck
no teeth
my parrots are both over 10 inches long and they have a full set of teeth which caused REALLY BAD damage to them when they fought(they now have a tank each to themselves!). They do have teeth and big sharp ones at that. Juvenile parrots have these but they are micro sized so their gums are like velcro pads. They cannot close their mouths so they look like they are kissing when they are actually ripping each others faces to pieces. This opens up the skin to infection and disease which needs treating immeadiately. If you have big parrots then seperation is the only thing to do as they will fight until 1 is too weak to fight back and will probably die. They are fine together if they are small as the damage is not enough to worry about and clean water will always heal this quick enough. When they get big enough they have to be seperated as they will hurt each other. I say all of this from experience and I learnt the hard way. They may look cute and innocent but dont forget they are cichlids and it is in their nature to fight and be territorial. Once parrots get ill it is hard to bring them back to full health so prevent it before it gets worse!!!
oh man!
i have the same problem. my slightly bigger bp is endlessly harassing the other and everyone on here has told me that no real damage can happen cause they have no teeth! iv been thinking about giving up the bully,but now i think so. its so sad to see him get bullyed everyday, and if theres a chance he could get really hurt i dont want to take it. someone told me to get a small oscar, i might try it. i just want some peice. thank u 4 saying that.