# Why My Red Blood Parrot Fishes Are Doing Like That?



## Ashin Abbasi (Mar 13, 2012)

Hi there i recently purchased 2 parrot fish from our local pet shop 3 weeks ago. They were both from the same tank and they were swimming around together. They were both ok for the first week and then in the 2nd week they looked like they wrer playing together. Now its the 3rd week Buddy is bieng very very very very mean to Terance and head butts him and nudges him in the side so he bangs into the tank or the rocks. Terance doesn't fight back he sims away and hides under his rock. buddy is very sneaky and hovers above the rock waiting for Terance to come out then he hurts him agian so Terance goes back under the rock.He looks so sad he isn't eaten much as Buddy makes sure of that and gobbles the food up and nudges Terance out of the way. I am being cruel to buddy now as when he isnt looking i sneak a few peices of chicen to Terance. Buddy notices and then comes to the front of the tank and looks at me as if to say wheres mine. I just ignore him and he follows my direction when i move near the tank. He then sits at the botom and sulks. Does any one no why he is being a big bully to Terance to say they were friends before. Please help its horrible seeing Terance so sad.


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## Crazy (Mar 1, 2012)

Ashin, it sounds as if your Parrotfish are having a territorial problem. Chances are this will not resolve until you move 'Terance' into his own tank. Cichlids for the most part are all either aggressive or semi aggressive fish and will lay claim to either part of the tank, or the tank as a whole and will defend it up to and including death if they feel it is necessary. My recommendation is to split the two up or you will have to keep watching them fight.


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## Summer (Oct 3, 2011)

I would have to agree, the tank is not large enough for each parrot to designate his/her territory. One is either going to kill the other or stress one or the other to death.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

It sounds like you have two males. Buddy is the alpha, and Terence is the dominated fish.
It's hard to talk about nature with red parrots, given that they are artificial creations, but the cichlids that contributed genes to those little test tube monsters are all territorial. For them, there are no friends. They hold a territory against all other males, and nothing makes them happier than running off invaders. Terence, in Buddy's eyes, is an invader who has chosen to stay. A cichlid only chooses to stay to fight and take over another cichlid's turf. So Buddy feels challenged by Terence's behavior.
I'm sure Terence would love to run away from Buddy, but he has nowhere to go. Cichlids don't get the glass wall thing. 
Buddy is threatened by Terence not running, and Terence can't run. Soon, Buddy will kill Terence, if you don't give Terence somewhere to run (out of that tank).
I hope you have a large tank, because red parrots are large, aggressive fish. One of the species used to make this hybrid is an Amphilophus, a really aggressive Central American family of big, nasty cichlids. It was probably crossed (it's a trade secret) with a South American severum, a more peaceful but also big fish. The head deformity they are bred for makes them cute to buyers, but their ancestors are good sized, rough fish. I would never keep one, but if I did, it would be at 50 gallons per fish.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

The tank is only a little over 90 ltrs. That makes a big difference. First said it was 90 gal but being in India is why I think there has been a lot of confusion.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

That's a problem, as I'm sure these fish are small and cute now, but they will be brutes soon. The red parrot is really chunky and heavy bodied and is a creature that destroys the one inch per gallon myth. Everywhere you look at the thing it's an inch up, down, sideways... it needs 200 litres for one. 

I don't know how hardy they are. Their ancestors would not have ever met in the wild - they are thousands of km and an ecology away. One is a big aggressive Central American fish, the other a quiet Amazonian cichlid. Cichlids in Asia, Africa and the Americas are part of the proof for continental drift, but there are millions of years of evolution since many of these species branched off. And then, along came some jerk with a petrie dish and an idea for making money, and we have red parrots everywhere. Hey, we have dyed parrots...


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