I know there are many questions relating to the same issue, however I am asking because maybe there are factors involved I am unaware of. However, any time I post to a fish forum I always seem to be riduculed and dubbed a horrible person. I have never done anything to intentionally hurt or upset my fish so please when responding, be nice. Id really love to make fellow fish owner friends but the majority seems to make it near impossible to do.
I have a 45 gallon tank set up with 4 parrots, 2 jewels, 1 angelfish, 2 guaramis, 1 iridescent shark, and 2 blue rams.
The jewels, rams, and shark were in the tank prior to my bringing home the parrots.
The first two parrots were purchased after my wanting some for so long. I just think they are the cutest things and had to have them. I was at the store and saw that there were parrots fairly cheaper than I am used to seeing around, and that they were in colors I had never seen before. Until then, I had never heard of "Jellybean Parrots" before, and thought perhaps, since i hadnt known much of them that they were just Parrots in colors I didnt know were available. It wasnt until I got home and hit the net that I found out that these were Jelly beans. Brutally tortured to be dyed in a variety of colors. I was furious and hurt to have found out that way but once I got them home I had to keep them. I brought them home a little over two months ago and just as I had read, they were very shy and hiding. I waited it out and while one seemed to be doing better the other just wouldnt come out at all.
After more research I read that they do better in oddly number groups so that is when I got the third, a blood parrot. The Blood parrot was doing great, not quite swimming around like he owned the place but not hiding in fear either.
I did a change in decor, removing the tacky neon castle (the ultimate hiding place, I suppose) and replaced it with a nicer natural looking rock formation. Of course, all three and now the newest addition, a teeny weeny wittle babyhead parrot, I am
unsure of what he is, he is not yellow, black or red, rather more of an
opal-esk kind of color?? have managed to cram themselves against the back of the rock formation in the little openings. This is where they stay. The baby has been lucky enough to find the only little "cave" of the whole formation and he hangs out in there.
I thought they would get comfy after a while, and while the blood parrot at first was fine with swimming around, he just hides with the rest of them. The baby comes out and I am sure to be right there, no sudden movements just so he gets used to me. However, I cant get the others to come out, half the time the blood-worms i give them wont even bring them out.
Will this problem go away? Or have I just somehow managed to terrify them beyond hope? I love these little guys and want them to enjoy their lives, not be terrified of every thing, even their human mum!
Pictures!!
If you look close, you can see all four of my Parrots. Can you find them all? LOL
Here's a close up, the only good solo shot of any of them I managed to take!
Here is one of the two what I like to called "Keeper's of the tank" Jewels:
And finally (at least for now) the last Where's Fishy photo. At the top working your way down is one of the guaramis, a little blue ram, the iridescent, the larger more colorful blue ram, and the angel. 
I tried! The new camera is horrible. Its almost impossible to get a steady shot with it.
To give a better idea as to how big the tank is versus the fishies inside, here is a full shot. And thanks again for all the advice. :)
Note how empty it looks, even with the list of fish!
Comments
Re: Tank Size
You have a beautiful tank & fish. Thanks for the photos! Start saving up for a larger aquarium so that you will have room for them to grow. I started out with a 29 gal, then after finding out I needed to go larger for BP's, I moved up to a 75 gal. You'll need at least a 90-100 gal. We found our 75 gal with the cabinet on Craigslist. It was in perfect condition. The person that sold it was moving out of state, so we got it at a fair price. We also found our 55 gal with cabinet on Craigslist. Same situation. Just be sure to clean it really good (NO SOAP), check for leaks.
Re: Constantly hiding Parrots
try to get some pics up of your BP's and your tank. just cuz ur overstocked doesnt mean we still cant admire your tank :)
Re: Re: Constantly hiding Parrots
LOL-I took some pics last night actually, let me try to figure out how to post them. :)
Re: Re: Re: Constantly hiding Parrots
ok, id say that since your BP's and ur irridescent shark are still small you still have time before you have to make any drastic decision. if you think you will be able to upgrade to the 90 gallon within the next 2-3 months your fish should be ok until then. however, if you think you will have to wait longer than that, you should consider cutting down your stock. the reason i say this is that keeping them in there any longer than that amount of time and you risk stunting their growth. also make sure you keep up with your water changes and tank cleaning, especially because of your dyed guys. good luck
Re: Re: Re: Re: Constantly hiding Parrots
Added another photo so you can see the comparison of fish size to tank size and why to me it doesn't really seem to be small when you look at it, just when you think of how many fish are inside and how big they will be getting. And never-mind that floating plant, its the one that tried to make a run for it I suppose!
hiding
i know what you mean, and they are OK for now, what you will probably find as they get older, bigger, and esp if male/female, is suddenly lots of fighting and aggression, because they compete for the same territory, a lager tank solves some of that, Im upgrading now, not because they are too big for the tank i currently have, but because I can see that trouble is coming, what a colorful tank,
Re: Hiding Parrots
Hi and welcome to the forum! I've only been a member here for a few months, but everyone has been so nice and helpful. They will give you the best advice since most of them have been keeping BP's for a long time. I had never set an aquarium up and knew nothing about BP's, I've found most everything I need to know here. I just recently got my BP's and for the first week or so they hid a lot. However, they did come out to eat. Slowly, as they have gotten used to seeing us, they come out and watch us. One thing I've found is that BP's are not dumb fish! When they see me open the cabinet where I keep my fish supplies, they come front and center in the tank....they've found out that's where I keep the good stuff....their food. It's quite hilarious to watch.
Read through the forum and you will find a wealth of info!
parrots hiding
nice to have you with us, i have four parrots in 60 galls which I believe is too small, one parrot should have 30 galls with another 10 galls for each additional parrot,(not a hard and fast rule, water quality is very, very important too) I am upgrading to a 90 gall soon, so i strongly agree that you are way overstocked,take the advice given,a bigger tank or less fish will help,I also hold the record for non appearance of a new parrot, I think it was 3 months!!!!! the practice of dying fish applies to all fish, not just parrots, become an advocate against it by finding out all you can so you can offer good advice to others, koltons aquarium has an online petition against it, as does practical fish keeping, WE LOVE QUESTIONS HERE
Re: parrots hiding
I had replied to another comment, saying that I was starting to think things were getting too crowded in the tank and I am looking into a larger tank. :) What boggles my mind though is that I always see tanks with more than I have, in fact, dare I say it LOL the local Chinese restaurant up the street from me has what I would think is a 60 gallon? With about ten or so large bps and an arowana and the tank is always so clean and the fish seem happy. Like I said, I do agree that a tank upgrade is needed, it's more of a matter of getting the cash together along with the muscle power (moving the 45 gallon is a ridiculous task when its empty!)
Thank you so much for the website referral, I am definitely going to be looking into it. This is such a good change, not being attacked with just my first word! LOL
Re: Constantly hiding Parrots
Welcome to the site! We're happy to have you. No one will be mean to you here. We're very nice:-)
I'm sure you were shocked when you found out about the dyed parrots. It's people like you who make the best advocates against this type of treatment. You have personally been affected by it and are naturally going to be more passionate against it. Don't beat yourself up. I would have done the same thing if I hadn't known.
I've had my fish for a litle over a year and they still hide when I stand up quickly from the sofa. But, they are out most of the time. It's just the sudden movements that still scare them.
When I first got them, they were just like yours. Always hiding. I would sit in front of the aquarium at night with the living room lights turned off watching tv. They would eventually come out and check me out. It really seemed to help them get use to me. Now, in the morning when it's feeding time, I awake to all of them squeezed into the corner of their aquarium so they can see into my bedroom. As soon as they see any movement from me, they get all excited for breakfast. It's really funny to see them react like they do.
Hope that helps.
Best of luck to you and your fish:)
Re: Re: Constantly hiding Parrots
Thanks so much for your advice :) And now that I think of it, when I first got my stray cat named Batman, I had to do the same things. I would come down late at night and just sit on the floor to allow him the chance to get used to me. Now we are inseparable! I will be giving it a shot and we will see how it works out!
Re: Constantly hiding Parrots
Welcome to the forum. To begin with, I must say that you are extremely overstocked. a 45 gallon tank would be considered bare minimum for just 2 parrots, much less all of the other fish you have. Therefore, if you want your fish to do well and live long, full, happy lives you will have to make some choices.
to properly house all of your current stock together you would probably need about a 90 gallon tank, though you might be able to get away with a 75 gallon with proper water changes, maintenance, etc. if, on the other hand, you cannot upgrade your tank you will have to get rid of some of your fish.
if you want to keep BP's you should pick your two favorites and keep them, and return the other two or give them away. i would keep your two most recent additions because non-dyed parrots have a much higher chance of surviving for a full life span. it would be a shame if you gave away the two non-dyed ones only to have your dyed BP's die soon afterwards. you will probably have to return/give away all of your other fish although you might be able to get away with keeping the rams or gouramis. (i'm not really sure as ive never kept either one)
your other option is to keep 1 BP and 1 jewel, which could make for a cool and interesting combo especially if you have a male jewel and a female BP, they could even breed. your best option really is either 1 jewel and 1 BP OR 2 BP's. your fish will be happy and healthy with this combination and will reward you with a long life span and interesting behavior. see what other people say about this, but this would certainly be my suggestion.
Re: Re: Constantly hiding Parrots
oh never mind, i just remembered that jewels are african cichlids so they cant mate with BP's. so forget that part of my suggestion. just do the 2 BP's
Re: Re: Re: Constantly hiding Parrots
I do agree that the tank is getting to be too full of fish and had been wondering if that was part of the problem. However, I am currently in search of a larger tank and am hoping soon I will be able to afford one. This fish keeping is very new to me and started just 6 or so months ago when I got my sister a fish to replace one that had died. LOL I saw a cute goldfish and that started it all. After he died the transition from goldfish to cichlids started. Now I am slowly starting to filter out unnessesary purchases (fighting the urge) so I can really get things situated. So far there have not been any real health issues aside of an amonia spike which I believe is due to too many new fish to quickly, which goes back to my needing to fight the urge LOL
I really appreciate your advice and while the idea of getting rid of some of my loves isnt easy to take, I will deffinatly be thinking hard about it and what is best for my fish.