J2theD

I recently bought 3 young Blood Parrots for my fish tank. They have been in for about a week, and yesterday I brought over my GF's 4 inch red tail shark. She only had a 20 gallon tank and it was getting too big and was a bully. Well, now the RTS chases my RBP's around constantly, and I am wondering: Are Blood PArrots hardy enough to stand up to them? I know they do not have teeth, but they seem to kind of bump him back. I just do not want to lose any fish because of this.


Thanks,
J.D.

harpua2002

That's a good question. I keep a large rainbow shark (6 inches TL) with an adult parrot, severum and JD in a 75 and they ignore each other. However, I grew the rainbow shark out from a small juvie. The parrot and sev (I didn't have the JD yet) already had some size on them so there was really no opportunity for the shark to pick on them. The young parrots can be very shy and it's possible that the shark could stress them a lot, although I doubt they will be injured as they are quite tough fish IME. Have you tried rearranging decor? That might help. Or, add more decor to try and break up lines of sight.

J2theD

Thanks for the advice.

The Blood Parrots stick to themselves on the side, and the RTS has the big rock cave, but still he comes after them. They are not really in his line of sight or next to him, i just think he is being a pest.

I am hoping this cools down after another day or 2...

Shawnie

I have also had mine with rts and rbs...I think the fact that the br's are so new to the tank, they havent got their "back bone" yet and are still scared of the new tank..then put in the rts and they really are scared..it took my br's about 3-4 weeks to learn they can be boss if they want.....give them time as they will hold their own once they get use to things ..adding a few terricotta pots or something the br's can fit into, will help them allot..they love places to call their own and do much better than being out in the open...good luck!

aquarist48

Hello. Congrats on the new additions. I too have a Rainbow Shark (RBS) in with my Bloody Parrots. My Parrots are so large and there are so many the RBS doesn't have the nerve to pester them. Too, I added it years after the Bloody Parrots. Once your Parrots get settled down and it will take a while, chances are they will rule the tank. They will respond to aggression as a pack. This includes new additions to your tank. My RBS wasn't seen for 6 weeks after I put it in there. I thought he had been killed. Surprise!
Just keep your eye on things and don't let the aggression from your RTS get out of control if you can help it. I think they will all be fine in time as Shawnie mentioned.
Best of luck!
Ken

ps I'm moving your thread to the Cichlid/American Cichlid/Parrot Cichlid section of the form. I think it may help you to get more responses and help others concerning Bloody Parrots. Thanks! Ken

Here is the new link to your thread:
RTS and Blood Parrots...?