Small parrot bullying bigger one

I finished cycling my brand new 29 gallon aquarium yesterday & I went to a local store to pick up 2 red blood parrots. They are both fairly small but one is a drop bigger & fatter, the difference in size is bearly noticeable.
After introducing them to the tank yesterday they were doing great for the first 2 hours they came out & were swimming nicely. When all of the sudden the behavior changed. They started hangings out in hidings most of the time & when they do come out, the smaller BP started bullying the bigger BP non stop. He's chasing around the bigger one whenever he finds him until the bigger BP goes into hiding & the smaller BP losses the bigger BP.
I have plenty of decorations and hiding spots & it won't stop the smaller one from chasing around the bigger one.
What concerns me even more, is that the bigger one won't try to fight back he will just get out of the smaller ones way. & Even though the smaller BP just keeps on running after the bigger one until he loses him.
How can I get them to chill out & live peacefully? And why Isn't the bigger one trying to defend itself

 

Size don't really matter if there isn't a large enough difference. It's all about personality for BP's. You can try and wait it out to see if it resorts itself if there are enough hiding spots. Unfortunately having only 2 can be an issue as well. That's why some will overstock to disperse the aggression. Instead of the bully targeting one single BP....now it has multiple fishes to focus on which can tone down the aggression or as opposed to focusing on the one single BP. But even with many, there may still be fighting....

Do you know what the sexes are? Could be 2 males and the smaller one just wants to assert its dominance. Monitor closely for now. If it gets bad, you may need to intervene.

I myself have one of my father's BP's in a hospital tank to recover. He got heavily bullied by the others in the tank and he is not the smallest.

 

The one that is being bullied found a hiding spot between those fake plants. You can bearly see him as he's Blanding in with similar colors & stays there most of the time while the other BP is swimming around freely like there is no tomorrow. But as soon he comes out of there he will start chasing him away.

 

Parrot fish have bad personalities at the best of times and I would doubt that a 30 gallon tank would be big enough to house their egos. I would have thought 80g or around 250 liters would be the size tank you would need to house parrots.

 

Update! I relized yesterday on the fish that is being bullied that the top of his fins and on the upper part of his body skin is getting black. I checked my water and there was 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites & 10 ‐ 20ppm nitrates. Today I came back & saw it got worse then yesterday. Dose anyone know what this is & how to treat it? See attached images

 

Update! I relized yesterday on the fish that is being bullied that the top of his fins and on the upper part of his body skin is getting black. I checked my water and there was 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites & 10 ‐ 20ppm nitrates. Today I came back & saw it got worse then yesterday. Dose anyone know what this is & how to treat it? See attached images

Those are stress black marks due to the environment and most likely the bullying. They will go away once it feels more comfortable. The black spots are a tell tale sign that a BP is stressed

 

Those are stress black marks due to the environment and most likely the bullying. They will go away once it feels more comfortable. The black spots are a tell tale sign that a BP is stressed

Thank you!

Is there anything I can do to stop the other BP from bullying him? Or reduce the stress? (Other than upgrading the tank size. Which I am planning to do it anyways once they get bigger I am moving in a few months & currently I don't have room for a biger tank)

Will adding more fish make it better or worse? With mbuna cichlids they always say to overstock to keep the aggression low. Is that the case with blood parrot cichlids too?

 

You need to reduce your nitrates to near zero, Cichlids hate nitrates.

 

Update!
This morning I woke up & when checking on the tank I was shocked to see what happened. The entire dynamic switched around. Now the smaller BP that bullied the bigger BP for the entire first week I owned them, became the victim now. The bigger BP which couldn't defend himself until now, started chasing the smaller BP & bullying him while the smaller is helpless.
After a full day of him picking on the smaller BP, the smaller BP kind of gave up & allows the bigger to bite him as much as he wants. I couldn't watch this anymore, for now I placed the bully in a small breeder box for an hour for the smaller to have a break from him & gain some strength back.
I am sick of watching them fight all day I switched around the decorations hoping for them to get confused & start over but I didn't see any difference.

 

Update!
This morning I woke up & when checking on the tank I was shocked to see what happened. The entire dynamic switched around. Now the smaller BP that bullied the bigger BP for the entire first week I owned them, became the victim now. The bigger BP which couldn't defend himself until now, started chasing the smaller BP & bullying him while the smaller is helpless.
After a full day of him picking on the smaller BP, the smaller BP kind of gave up & allows the bigger to bite him as much as he wants. I couldn't watch this anymore, for now I placed the bully in a small breeder box for an hour for the smaller to have a break from him & gain some strength back.
I am sick of watching them fight all day I switched around the decorations hoping for them to get confused & start over but I didn't see any difference.

Cichlids fight, that is what they do.

 

Cichlids do not necessarily fight. They are territorial, and they defend their young. Problems can occur when there are just two individuals and each one wants to be dominant and possess the tank space, or when one wants to breed and the other doesn't. Often having a group will prevent this kind of aggression being focussed on any one fish in particular, but this requires a much larger tank. In this case it sounds as though you should rehome one of the fish and perhaps get some different tank mates to go with the other one. In any case these cichlids get quite large for a 29 gallon tank.

 

So after my BP got beat up day & night, he started acting weird flattering his fins extremely fast whenever the other got in visual distance to him & hiding in a corner all day. I got tiered of watching him getting bullied to dead & decided to put the bully into a tiny breeder box until I figure out what to do with him.
Since I locked him up the other one started coming out again swimming around the tank but he is a bit sluggish compared to when I got him. Also I relized his right fin is a drop turn & the back fin blackish.
Is there anything I can do to heal him & boost some confidence in him?

 

Its a territorial fish that grows quite large and can be expected to become more aggressive as it matures. Its probably unsuitable for your tank. I wouldn't expect two could be housed without problems with one killing the other in time. I would only keep one as a centrepiece in a six foot tank with robust fast moving dither fish that the parrot would be unlikely to damage.

I prefer more sociable fish that thrive in a group with the hierarchy being established and maintained in a less damaging manner.

 

Update! after many failed attempts to get my 2 blood parrots to live peacefully together I returned the bully to the store & kept the other one alone in a tank.
He was all black & looked sluggish at the time I removed the bully BP. After a week of being alone all his black marks disappeared became happy & looking healthy.
The only thing that bugs me is if I should give him another tank mate (either a different BP or something else) or leave him by himself. He looks happy but, I'm not sure if he will be okay long term on his own or he will need a friend. I fair trying because I don't want a repeat of what I went through with him.
If there is a fish that he will be happy & peacefully garenteed I would try.

 

That was definitely the best decision. I would not try to add any more cichlids, your blood parrot will be fine on its own, it will get quite big for that tank.

 

That was definitely the best decision. I would not try to add any more cichlids, your blood parrot will be fine on its own, it will get quite big for that tank.

I realized the last few days that my BP is almost constantly just sitting in one of his few caves, sticking is head out from the entrance & is not spending his time swimming around. But as soon someone gets close to his tank he comes right out, swiping his mouth right & left on the front wall of the tank, raising & spreading his fins to show off, I guess. he gets super hyper & excited, trying to get the persons attention.
I sat down yesterday for like 2 hours next to the tank & he was nonstop swimming around the tank without an issue & as soon my hand made any sort of movement, he came running to the front thinking that I'm about to drop in food, it seems like all he cares about is food.
I sometimes hand feed him & he associates my hand with food I guess, whenever my hand touches the water, he comes right into my hand & is nipping my fingers.
When I leave the tank, he's usually hangs around the top of the tank mainly under the filter & turning his eyes to the surface, making sure I didn't leave him food that got stuck there. But after like 10-20 minutes, when I'm coming back & peek from a distance, I see him sitting in his cave again doing nothing. same is every time I get home & peek from a distance before approaching, he's always just sitting doing nothing until someone approaches him.

I am starting to think he's just simple lonely & bored. he is not shy at all; the water parameters are:

ammonia = 0
nitrite = 0
nitrate = 0-20 (not spiking much since he's alone & I do a 50% water change weekly)
temp = 82-84
ph = 6.4 - 6.6

The question is should I bring him a tank mate/friend? if yes what should it be? I don't like any pleco or catfish style fish. I wouldn't go with an angel fish since it might be too aggressive to him & I'm not a fan of long fish fins. I can't take a schooling fish because I'll need more than one & I don't want to overcrowd his tank. I need like one other dither fish to keep him busy & not stress him out.
I took a closeup picture of him & showed it to him to see his reaction to another fish & he acted weird when I showed it to him, he raised & spread his fins. banging his mouth onto the aquarium wall where the picture is at & flickering his pectoral fins extremely fast. I am not sure how to interpret this behavior.

 

Can you show us a photo of the whole tank?

 

Can you show us a photo of the whole tank?

I will post a picture tonight!

What I will say, it's a small 10-gallon tank. I had to put him into this 10-gallon quarantine tank from his old 29-gallon tank after getting bullied almost to death when he was together with another blood parrot (see thread history for details).
He is still very small & I know he will grow it out very fast. I am planning to upgrade it in a few months when I move to my new house. I didn't expect this outcome when I bought the fish. I don't have room for another/bigger tank in my current house.
I would put him back to his old 29 gallon now once I returned the bully blood parrot back to the store. The problem is that when I had issues with them not getting along, I went to the store for advice & he suggested to add 4 mbuna cichlids to keep them distracted so he will stop bullying. But it turned out to be a disaster & very bad advice. Now I'm stuck in my 29-gallon with:
2 yellow labs
1 albino snow white
1 demasoni
Which is basically forcing me to keep the BP in the 10-gallon until I move. When I went to Petco to buy him a quarantine tank the guy there said he should be okay as long he's small.

 

I see, I thought he was alone in the 29. If he is eating well and the water quality is good he will grow quickly and will be way too big for that tank very soon. Definitely do not consider adding any other fish. He may be bored as he has basically nowhere to go. Anyway do send a picture of the tank, but I don’t think you can keep him there for long.

 

I see, I thought he was alone in the 29. If he is eating well and the water quality is good he will grow quickly and will be way too big for that tank very soon. Definitely do not consider adding any other fish. He may be bored as he has basically nowhere to go. Anyway do send a picture of the tank, but I don’t think you can keep him there for long.

Here is some pictures.
The last 2 days he trying to move gravel with his mouth under the bridge & around the fake plants.
It isn't that easy for him because his mouth is still too small, but after some trying he manages to move some gravel a few inches.

 

Okay first off parrot fish do not have bad personalities don’t listen to that lol. I have 3 in a 120 gallon with 2 Severums and a nice school of Congo tetras. There’s very little chasing and they are full of awesome personality similar to an Oscar honestly. I love them. But as far as your stocking goes you do not have much room. Do not add a pleco do not add an angelfish. A parrot alone needs a minimum of 29 gallons 55 is much better they get large 8 inches or so. I would add a few more fake plants but overall your tank looks good. I would suggest adding nothing for now. If you can upgrade to a 40 breeder at least then you can talk about some tankmates. But if you can in all honesty get a 55 very cheap on Facebook marketplace. They grow slow so that’s a good thing for you.

 

One needs to understand when reading those articles about the "larger" fish, the max sizes mentioned in the articles will take many years to attain. At a certain point, these fish will bulk up more than get "longer".

In my opinion, you can comfortable house a single adult Blood Parrot in a 40 gallon tank. Blood parrots don't get that big (I rarely see any past 7"), you can get away with a 40 at a bare minimum (if you want tank mates in that 40, some smaller Tetras might be okay). A 75 would be comfortable though.

Furthermore as far as temperament goes for Cichlids in general, they can either be really aggressive or passive although Cichlids do have a reputation for being aggressive. Hard to say for sure.

Here's an analogy for ya: Cichlid tank environments are like prisons. Some inmates may pick fights and cause trouble. But there are also plenty of inmates who don't fight and tend to mind their own business. You cannot guarantee Cichlid aggression.

 

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Here is some pictures.
The last 2 days he trying to move gravel with his mouth under the bridge & around the fake plants.
It isn't that easy for him because his mouth is still too small, but after some trying he manages to move some gravel a few inches.

Well he is small enough to keep in the 10 gallon for a little longer, but probably not very long. He may feel stressed in that tank as it is very bright with no cover, that may be why he stays in the cave most of the time to feel more secure. And he probably won't fit in those caves for long. Could you put some floating plants in there, and/or some pieces of wood that extend towards the surface? He would prefer sand for a substrate, then he could sift through it and dig more easily than in the gravel. I have never kept a blood parrot, but many cichlids like to do this. You could even add a few almond leaves, a lot of cichlids like playing with these, pulling then around etc. - just to give him something else to do.

 

Thanks all for the great advice, I'm learning more every day.
Just curious what you all think about how much to feed a blood parrot that size? I searched around a lot online & all I see is don't overfeed, but the definition of overfeeding is not very specific, especially when it comes to the size of the fish.
I used to feed twice a day, in the morning & at night about 6-8 Hikari 3.5mm-4mm sized blood parrot pallets. I didn't soak them in the beginning since the store I bought it from told me it's not necessary. But I noticed he had a hard time swallowing them & the pallet kept being spit out & got recatched again many time untill he was able to shove it down his throat.
His belly started to swell a little bit, so I cut it down to 4 pallets in the morning & again at night. I also make sure to soak them for 5-10 minutes. He always acts as if he's starving & I don't see his belly getting less bloated. I'm not sure if I should cut down even more than this.
I feed him blood worms once a week instead of the pallets & twice a week tropical flakes for him to have some kind of a verity of foods.

What should really be the amount to feed? & How do I get his bloated belly to go down a bit?

 

Help he is dying!!!

Friday my blood parrot started the day perfectly fine he was eating & swimming around for the entire day. Then about 8pm when I came to feed him I showed him the small cup I use to soak the pallets before feeding him. he got excited like always & started running to the feeding spot & he swam like a few inches than landed to the bottom on the gravel tilted down with his mouth touching the gravel I showed it to him again he took off again for another few inches & landed again then he started ignoring the food and continued laying at the bottom for a few moments. While laying he almost didn't move anything. Just one side of his pectoral fins & was breathing. Every time he landed he was like this for a minute then he started heading to his favorite cave & went in there & laid on onto the side. As soon as I saw it I added aquarium salt, & a dose of Api Melafix (not sure if this is what he needs but this is all I had at home) & I turned up the heater to 83-84. He was just laying there for hours & the only movement is breathing & changing positions every few hours from up right or sideways or just leaning onto the cave walls.

Saturday morning when I woke up I found his entire face full of white spots (I guess ick) as if someone poured on him salt and the edges of his gills looks like it peels (not sure as it's hard to get a good view into his cave. it might just be ick). I also noticed between the two pelvic fins on his body there's a red spot dark in the center & getting lighter around.

Earlier, he was is still the same laying there like he's about to die. I added another dose of Api Melafix & raised the temperature to 85.

Tested before the water

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 5-10 (made a large water change Wednesday & he's alone in the tank)

PH dropped from about 6.8 - 7 (when I added the water) to 6 (or lower since the Api test kit won't go lower)

I feel like there's an underlying issue not just ick. When
it all started he had zero signs of ick not a single stress mark. What I did notice in the days before is that the gills on one side looked a bit larger/puffyier than the other one he was also very pale in the days before & one big thing that really made me thinking he that he used to be so friendly and always at the glass looking after who is in the room & lately he got spooked by everything that was moving and he was swimming very fast & frantically and was even scared of me but whenever my hand went into the tank for maintenance he came out & started circles around my hand pushing & biting me.


PLEASE HELP!!! how do I save him from dying? Is Api Melafix what I need or do I need something else? Should I do I wanter change or rather not dilute the Salt & Melafix?


See attached image. that's the best I could get at his current position he's laying.

 

Unfortunately he died!
I went out to find an official ick medication & couldn't find one everyone was close because of Christmas eve. When I came home I found him swimming around
I got so happy at first he came to where I usually feed him and looked up as if like to see if there is food. Than fell down again & picked himself up trying to swim again but he had no control or balance. After like 2 minutes he landed flat on the substrate. I decided to do a 35% water change which made him start trying to swim again but not for too long he fell & laid on the side like before.
30 minutes later I checked him out & found him not breathing anymore.
I am devastated more for the fact that I didn't see anything before & everything went so fast I was still feeding him Friday morning & was eating fine with zero ick spots. & I still don't know what happened or caused it. I might never find out.

See here a video how he was just one week ago. Happy & active rearranging gravel.

 

Very sorry that he did not make it. I read your message last night but unfortunately did not know what to suggest, it sounds as though there was not much you could do in the circumstances.