Cleaning

Cleaning the Gravel

How do you clean a fish tank without removing the fish or the gravel? Use a siphon! A siphon is like a water-driven vacuum cleaner, which cleans gravel and changes the water at the same time.
Probably the most adaptable brand of siphon is the Python which comes in a variety of sizes. Siphons require a substantial difference in height between the tank and the drain end of the siphon to create a strong suction. For example, our tank is about 3 feet off the ground, and we use a 50 foot hose, which is draped out the patio door and over the porch rail, so that the drop is about 8 feet total. This produces a strong enough suction to thoroughly clean the three inch gravel layer in our large tanks.
If this height difference does not exist in your home, the Python can create suction using water pressure. To use the Python in this manner, purchase one with a hose that is long enough to reach easily from the tank to a utility sink. It is a good idea to order a brass adaptor to replace the aeator on the sink, so you can attach the Python without damaging the threads. The python has two settings, one for suction, and one for filling the tank. Please remember however, it is dangerous to simply fill the tank with untreated water, if it is a large water change.

Cleaning the glass

There are a lot of good choices for glass cleaning: long-handled scrubbers, magnetic scrubbers, or simply take a square of clean blue filter floss and use it as a scrubber. Blue floss lets you clean all the nooks and crannies that would be difficult with the other tools.
Do not rely on algae eaters or pleco's to clean your glass and surfaces for you. Although they may get along with the parrots at first, and do a fairly good job of keeping the algae down, both species will eventually become aggressive, and try to polish the parrot's scales and fins.
When cleaning the glass DON'T use household cleaners, not even on the exterior of the tank. There are products on the market specially made for aquarium glass. For dust on the exterior of the tank, Swiffer dusters (with no products applied to them) do wonders. The glass on the outside can simply be wiped down with a damp rag (make sure it gets dried to avoid water streaks). On the inside of the tank the best option is not to let it get out of hand. If the water in your area is full of minerals look over the tank when water changes are done (biweekly usually) to make sure that there is not white build up on the glass. Once the white water stains sit for too long they actually become part of the glass and cannot be removed. There are also magnetic cleaning pads available for glass cleaning. They make this task much more simple and convenient because it can be done from the outside of the tank. Finally, pay attention to the glass while rearranging your tank and adding abrasive substrates, every little scratch shows.

External Links

Python No Spill Instructions

Tank Cycling - how to start a tank without killing all your fish!

Tank Cycling
Tank Size
Cleaning

Tank Size

Parrot Cichlids need at LEAST a 30 gallon tank. They are strong swimmers and they grow BIG!!! 30 gallons will only do for a couple of years. If you keep the water clean and feed them, you will easily need a 50 gallon tank or larger, eventually. Pet stores are notorious for under-representing the potential size of these little guys. Don't believe them if they tell you a 10 gallon will do!

[edit]External Links

Digging

Parrots, like many other cichlids, like to move pebbles and dig in their gravel. They are somewhat less likely to build with the pebbles than other cichlds, because their mouths aren't as suited to picking up objects.
My parrots [like most parrots] absolutely love to dig in the sand. I find myself re-"planting" the fake plants in the tank about once a week! One of my parrots has to dig out all of the sand in his territory. You may ask, "Why?", and to tell you the truth; I have no idea. It's just something that he enjoys doing, and not something you should necessarily be worried about. Digging is a rather normal behavior for most fish.

Fighting and Aggressive behavior

Fighting between parrot cichlids is fairly common thing for parrots to do. Usually, the bickering is started with the largest or the most dominant parrot in the tank onto the smaller ones. This is very normal and usually doesn't progress to the point of death. As long as there are plenty of hiding places, the fish should be fine. However, if you are experiencing an extreme case in which a parrots life is at risk from another, the dominant parrot may need to be separated from the others; either by purchasing another tank, or a tank divider. Even when separated, another parrot may claim dominance and the same problem could arise.

Fish-Human Interaction

Parrot fish are great mostly because they are so interactive. I have two parrots named Polly and Sunshine. If I stick my hand into the tank when I am cleaning they come to me and they try to chase me away. They can be annoying but it is so cute that I can't stay mad for long. Get them used to seeing your hands in the tank if you want to ever be able to really do anything with them.

Houses

Parrot Cichlids LOVE houses! They will make a house out of just about anything, but they prefer one with 2 entrances, a front and back door, or at the very least a door and window. They like to hide, but they also like to peer out and see what is going on. Curiosity and caution are present in equal amounts in many parrot cichlids, so they need the security of having their own little private place.
Excellent Parrot Cichlid houses are made from easily obtained objects. Unglazed flowerpots, tank ornaments like castles, ships, caves are all good choices. My parrots are quite big, so I use ceramic kleenex-box covers.

Intelligence and Learning ability

From the article: Imitation Behavior in Fish

One of the more amazing characteristics of fish is their ability to learn by imitation. I've noticed imitative behaviors in all of my fish, including goldfish, parrot cichlids, convict cichlids, severums and oscars. Although they come out of the egg already knowing how to swim, how to eat, and how to hide, they add new behaviors as they grow.

Learning attitude: Parrot Cichlids
When young parrot cichlids are put in a tank by themselves, they will usually remain shy for weeks or months. They will hide behind anything they can. If there is nowhere else to hide, they will hover at the top corner of the tank tipping downward slightly, pretending to be part of the filter. However, if they are put into a tank with adult parrot cichlids who have no fear of humans, they get over their shyness very quickly! When we got one of our younger parrots, "Baby," she immediately adopted the oldest parrot cichlid Winston (a female) as her "mother." She would follow Winston around, and generally imitate everything she did, and as a result showed very little fear of us.

But most of our newly acquired parrot cichlids spend at least a day or two hiding, during which they peek out from a secure spot to observe what's going on in the tank.

When we got "Tonkie," "Twinkie" and "Micro," as tiny fry, you could actually see them watching the older fish eating from our hands. Within a few days, they were right up front also, jockeying for position to get the best flakes. They will often push at my fingers if I don't feed them fast enough, as if to say "turn on the flakes!"

Learning feeding behaviors: Parrot Cichlids

"Tonkie" figured out a pretty good feeding spot all for himself: he eats the flakes that collect on the intake. After I feed them, there's usually a nice selection held there by the suction, and he can pick them off at his leisure. He's quite conscientious about his job: there are 3 intakes in the tank which he cleans daily. Tonkie is too fat to get behind the intakes, but he cleans the fronts thoroughly. Everyone else in the tank leaves him alone: as far as they are concerned, he can have the intakes. Or at least that was the case, until we introduced "Opal," a gold severum, into the tank. After a few days of watching Tonkie, Opal had learned to eat off the intakes, and what is more, she could eat off the BACKS of the intakes, because she is thinner. At first, there were many disputes between Opal and Twinkie over the intakes, but now they have learned to share, most of the time.

Learning feeding behaviors: Goldfish
Goldfish also learn by imitation, despite the fact that they think very differently than cichlids. I call them "non-linear thinkers" because they seem to forget where they are going every few seconds then pick up the thread again. This results in a meandering path. Our goldfish eventually arrive at a goal, but not without stops and distractions along the way.

Yet goldfish definitely learn new behaviors from each other. When we first got "Piggum," a little fantail goldfish, he would eat only off the surface of the water. He would paddle back and forth across the tank all day long, never showing any interest in the gravel. After Piggum was settled in, we found "Magoo," a telescope-eye moor. When we dropped Magoo into the tank, Piggum didn't know what to do. He put his head down on the ground and just sat there for a long time. Piggum doesn't have much overhead for coping with change.

But Magoo didn't seem to mind Piggum at all! He immediately got to work checking the gravel for food. Magoo had a real work-ethic. He would systematically go over the entire tank, turning over every piece of gravel. Piggum watched him for a long time. After a few days, HE started checking the gravel also! After that, they would do it together.

As they got older, and Magoo could actually fit several pieces of gravel into his mouth, he learned to use them as "teeth" to chew his food. Lagging behind by several months, Piggum eventually picked up that behavior also, but never using gravel to the degree Magoo did.

Learning to get along
Recently we got a tiny new parrot cichlid, "Taz." Taz is named because she is obviously cut out to be trouble! She is a King Kong parrot, which can mean a much more aggressive personality, with the ability to bite (many parrot cichlids can't), and not afraid to use it. When Taz got into the new tank she started out hiding, as most of them do. She was quite scared of us, and had been traumatized by an experience with an oscar. It was an inauspicious beginning. She would startle at the least noise, and race into her log.

Soon however, Taz began poking her head out to defend her tiny territory. She would run up to other fish aggressively, trying to intimidate them. She did all the things convict cichlids do, both defensive and offensive behaviors, against fish many times her size. Her little mouth works very well, and we were afraid there would eventually be nipped fins and tails.

But as time went on, we would see her watching the others. The bigger parrot cichlids don't fight too much, and when fights do break out, another fish usually busts it up after a few minutes. Sometimes we would see Taz stop in mid-bad-behavior to watch what the others were doing. It's been a few months, and she has mostly stopped fighting, and joined the community. She also shows no more fear of us, although she still startles easily, but she always returns immediately back to the front of the tank. We often see her watching the older fish.

I always find it fascinating to watch our fish learn new behaviors. They are more intelligent than usually given credit for, but it is harder to see what they are doing than with a dog or cat, and so it is difficult to notice when they make a tiny "leap" from one concept to another. But the leaps are definitely there - and worth the effort to see.

Shyness

Most parrot cichlids will exhibit shyness when first brought home. Usually this resolves after a few weeks as they become accustomed to the new surroundings.
After the parrot has stayed in the tank for more than 2 weeks or a month, they become more active and even start digging and changing the position of the gravel in the tank.
Parrots will often revert to their shy state when they undergo drastic changes to their environment such as major tank cleanings/rearrangements, tank mate additions, and during spawning periods.

Algae

For about 4 months, I had been fighting a war against algae in our biggest tank, home to our oscar "Idli." Idli not a Parrot Cichlid but this will be interesting for anyone dealing with greenwater algae problems.

Contents

• 1 Algae's Four Foodgroups
• 2 Hunt down and remove excess nutrients from the water
• 3 Wet Dry filters
• 4 Dissolved nitrates - the hidden culprit!
• 5 The fix

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Algae's Four Foodgroups
Algae needs 4 items in sufficient quantities to grow: Light, Air, Food, and Water.
Water and Air you can't do much about.
Food - and by this I mean what ALGAE considers to be food, which is darn near anything - and Light - can be adjusted, but tropical fish also need light to be happy, so the best first step is to check if the algae have a hidden food supply.

Hunt down and remove excess nutrients from the water
If you don't clean your tank often, start with that. Gravel needs to be thoroughly suctioned regularly, ornaments need to be lifted up and vacuumed under, just like you'd do your rugs. Parrot cichlids are not good at cleaning up after themselves, so things get pretty gross fast.
In the past I've had greenwater algae problems in the parrots' tank, and the source of the problem has ALWAYS proved to be a cache of old food or a filter sponge that has collected so much crud that it becomes an algae farm. In all cases, we stopped the algae in its tracks by cleaning up the source - the prefilter or the interior sponge, and keeping it clean. After that, the water remained clear no matter the light levels.
Last year we purchased two wet/dry filters, one for the oscar's 90 gallon tank, and the other for the goldfish's 40 gallon. The reason for having it on the goldfish is: they are in a tank that is a little small for them, so we put an overpowered filter on it. Both filters performed fine, and everyone was happy.

Wet Dry filters
If you don't know what a wet/dry filter is, basically it is a tall plastic box, or tower, with shelf-like layers of filter material and one big chamber filled with bioballs on the bottom. Water pours in through filter material at the top, gets spread out by a plastic screen/shelf, and drips over bio-balls which provide the surface for bacteria to grow and turn ammonia into nitrates.
The tower sits in a small aquarium under the tank, in about 5 inches of water. The bioballs are above the surface of the water, and always have air so the aerobic bacteria can breathe. It turns out that those bioballs are pretty darn efficient at their little nitrate production process.
About two months after we moved, we also got a bigger tank for our oscar. The new tank is a 120 gallon with a dual overflow system that feeds into the top of the wet/dry tower. Our friend the Fsh Doctor set it up, very nicely, right in front of a huge bank of windows, which was the only spot we had for it. It is all powered by two big Rio pumps, which kept the water pressure very high going into the top of the filter. It was basically a firehose, pouring through that wet/dry tower.
So, the "algae variables" changed. For one thing there was a lot more light! The only place we could put our tanks was in the living room in front of six bright windows. We realized this would cause problems, but there was nothing we could do about the light. I am not going to live in the dark because Idli can't keep his tank clean! I realize that many aquarists WOULD, but I am not one of them!
The amount of water going through the filter had also doubled, and the tank was bigger.
At first things were fine. Then after a month or so, we started to get greenwater problems. We did water changes, frequent cleanings, I added prefilters, all to no avail. I was really puzzled because the 90 gallon had been in the same spot with the same wet/dry filter, and no algae. Also, the goldfish tank is right next to the window, and it gets some algae, but not nearly as much.
I bought 2 Magnum filters, the 350 and the 250, and put the 350 on the oscar tank, the 250 on the goldfish. The goldfish cleared up and remained sparkling clear. They had never been so clear in their lives, I think. I clean the micron filter about once a week.
The oscar tank cleared up for about a week, then slowly got cloudy again, no matter how many times I cleaned the micron filter, and despite 99.9% water changes, and everything we could think of.
Then after about another month, the algae exploded! It was growing so fast, that the tank remained GREEN no matter what I did.
I was totally fed up. I was spending more time on that tank than on my household chores. It was an eyesore. I wasn't too worried about the oscar getting suffocated at night (they say algae can do that) because he had about the same level of aeration as the Hoover Dam, but I had definitely had enough of that green stuff.
Then, I read a post somewhere that talked about wet/dry filters losing favor with some marine aquarists because they are such efficient biological filters that they become nitrate factories.

Dissolved nitrates - the hidden culprit!
A little light went on in my head. THERE was the cache of algae food! The filter itself. I saw two possibilities: one was that the water pressure going into the filter is so high that no matter how much filter material I put in the top shelf, bits of crud get through and just circulate constantly. The other was that the crud WAS getting filtered out but the bacteria on the bioballs were pouring out nitrates at an accelerated rate because so much water was pouring over them so fast. No matter which was the real reason, both possibilities could be solved by cutting off one of the Rio pumps.

The fix
So, 2 weeks ago I repeated my ritual: I drained Idli's tank down to his ankles, (he had to lay on his side for a few minutes to stay under) then kept flushing it with clean water until the water was crystal clear. I drained the overflow chambers, and the sump. Then I filled the tank with fresh water, and cleaned the micron cartridge and all the filter material in the wet/dry.
But this time, I made the big change - I only turned on one Rio pump, and the Magnum filter. So the water is being circulated at about half the rate it used to be, plus a trip through the Magnum to remove any algae.
It totally worked! He has remained clear ever since. The Magnum filter is off to the side of his tank where I can keep an eye on it, since the canister is transparent and you can see the state of the filter inside it.

Ammonia Burn

Fish waste contains ammonia, and if it builds up too much in the tank, fish fins and gills can actually be burned by the caustic chemical. See the links below for a discussion of Ammonia Burn.

External Links

Tank Heaters

A word on tank heaters. Though absolutely necessary in colder regions, these devices need to be monitored carefully to avoid serious problems. Tank heaters are often poorly calibrated, meaning the temperature the heater is set to is not the same as the water temperature maintained by the heater.
When first installing the heater calibrate it by starting lower than the temperature you wish to maintain and wait until the temperature stops changing - this could be several hours. Compare the temperature you have set and the temperature you actually got. It could be very different. Raise the temperature slowly until you hit the goal, and make a note of the setting on the heater.
If you have a large tank, you may need more than one heater, to avoid putting so much strain on the single heater that it burns out by being on constantly. If you have a sump filter, you can put the heater in the sump.
It is a good idea to have a thermometer easily visible from the front of the tank, and check it regularly. Heaters do go off calibration OFTEN, and you can easily end up killing all the fish in the tank with high temperatures.
What to look for in a tank heater: Top Aquarium Heaters

Water Test Kits

Dip sticks vs. Drops

In general, the results you get with drops will be more accurate than with the dip sticks, but if you are having trouble with water quality, use whatever you can get, and at least test for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. I've found that phosphates can be a problem also, at least in large tanks.

Feeding

Contents

• 1 What's on the menu?
• 2 How Often Should I Feed my Parrots?
• 3 Hand Feeding
• 4 Suggested Foods

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[edit]What's on the menu?
According to the members of ParrotCichlid.com, parrots will eat just about anything other cichlids like. They have the same hunting instincts that more aggressive cichlids do, and I have seen them go into a feeding frenzy when a live bug accidentally dropped into the tank. However they are equally happy "hunting" flakes and pellets, and very easily trained to eat from your hand.
When our parrots were small, they ate small floating cichlid pellets, but now prefer large cichlid flakes, frozen bloodworms, and freeze dried tubifex worms. For a while, while we had a pleco catfish in the tank with the parrots, we would slice a zucchini in half, and microwave it for 3 minutes, then put the halves in the tank. The catfish would jump on a piece of zucchini, and start rasping away, throwing a cloud of bits into the water around him. One parrot cichlid, Gazoo, would hover just above the catfish's head, waiting for those bits. He would catch the seeds as they were loosened. Sometimes the pleco would get irritated with having this fish sitting so close by, and would snap at Gazoo, but he would just move aside for a second, then come right back for more. We got the idea for feed them zucchini from the Amazon River display tank at the Baltimore Aquarium. They throw in HUGE zucchini halves, and the big cichlids in that tank go nuts for them. One caution: be ready to clean the tank after a zucchini feast - it makes a huge mess.
Some parrot cichlid's mouths are too small to eat bigger foods, but they will eat flakes and pieces of broken-up cichlid sticks. Hand feeding sometimes helps with parrots that have trouble eating larger foods. See "Feeding Gazoo"
We feed ours O.S.I. cichlid flakes from thatfishplace.com. They sell them in 2lb bags, and in those quantities, the flakes aren't broken up much. As far as our parrots are concerned the bigger the flakes the better: they catch one and slurp it in like spaghetti.

[edit]How Often Should I Feed my Parrots?
As with other fish, it is recommended that you feed no more than they can eat in 5 minutes. The fish will appreciate twice a day feedings, although they will be fine with once a day.
We feed our 7 large parrots a big clump of flakes twice a day, and hand-feed several of them cichlid sticks. This is more than the recommended amount, and has two consequences: our parrots grow quickly, and the tank MUST be thoroughly cleaned once a week. If you are not willing to do this, stick with the lower amount of food. Parrots are messy eaters, but they are so entertaining to feed that we make a big event of meal-time, especially on the weekends when we have more time.

[edit]Hand Feeding

[edit]Suggested Foods
Some of the foods that people feed their parrots are listed below.

Fish Names

[edit]Looking for some name ideas for your fish?
I thought I would start a list of fish names for those of us who can't think of a name for a new fish. Feel free to add names of your fish or names you think up.

Ollie
Woody
Lily
Jiggles
Snickers
Cookie

Chubby
Baby
Leo
Monty
Rolie
Polly

Fin
Gill
Lips
Prince
Duke
King

Bubbles
Jimmy
Sweetie
Rocky
Luke
Jack

SOS
Skipper
Mario
Riley
Junior
Gazoo

Sailor
Hydra
Dewdrop
Doris
Marina
Winston

Monsoon
Puddles
Yoko(means ocean child)
Marlin
Dory
Taz

Anchovy
Hedwig
Hercules
Houston
Hamilton
Mini-Me

Helga
Houston
Hamlet
Cracker
Jewel

Eggers
Wiggles
 
 
 

Fat Cat
Sunny
Green Eggs & Ham
Butch
Sunshine

baby boo
digger
itchy
bubbsy
Paul
Orange Julius

Clementine
pewo
 
 
 

Gizmo
Gomez

Moving your parrot cichlids

Click here to see pictures from our big move
Buy one or more coolers, depending on how many fish you have. We had 4 - including one on wheels that was just for the oscar alone. Buy one extra cooler or large tub to mix dechlorinated water in.
Use a doorknob drill bit (about 1-1/2" in diameter) to drill a hole through the center of the lid of each cooler. stick in a 6" piece of pvc pipe to act as a chimney to prevent sloshing out of the cooler.
Purchase battery powered bubblers and plenty of D batteries:
SIlent Air B11 Air Pump (Penn Plax)
You will need 1 check valve for each pump
Tetra Tec Check Valve CV-1 1 pk (Tetra)
to keep all the water from siphoning out of the tank when the bubbler is off.
You will also need plenty of air-line
25ft Flexible Airline Tubing ST-25 (Penn Plax)
and an airstone for each pump.
Aqua-Mist Airstone - 7/16in. - 4 pk (Penn Plax)
To keep the airline and airstone down at the bottom, we thread the tubing through the hole of the tiniest sized terracotta flower pot.

Then use duct tape to tape a bubbler to the outside of the lid of each cooler. Thread the air-line from the bubbler down through the hole in the center of the lid. Thread it through the tiny flowerpot and then into the airstone. you can try to use suction cup clips to keep the airline hooked to the side of the cooler but in my experience it doesn't work well.
When you move the coolers into the car, drain some of the water so they are just full enough to cover the fish. Once in the car, add in some more water, but not even close to full! I think we usually had the larger ones no more than 1/3 full, and the smaller ones no more than 1/2 full.
While you are on the road, the bubblers keep the fish alive. When you stop at a restaurant, you should be careful to leave windows cracked or maybe buy one of those new solar powered fans they keep advertising on TV.
When you stop at a motel at night, partially drain the coolers again and move each cooler onto the luggage rack and take them in to the motel room. Mix new dechlorinated water in the extra cooler, and add some to each cooler. Turn off the bubblers, and add in a small electric filter. We used Fluval filters, which you can clearly see in this photo:
Link
When you get where you are going, you can leave them in the coolers with the Fluvals going for a day or so, until you can buy or unpack your aquariums. We purchased a bunch of cheap 10 gallon aquariums to put the fish in for a week, until the movers showed up and unpacked the big ones.

Salt

Here is information for those of you with questions regarding salt.

Salt can be used to rid your fish of parasites and to help with general healing from wounds. It can help repair your fishs' slime coat. If your water tends to be very hard it may help your fish feel more comfortable but this amount of salt will not alter your ph. To treat for parasites you add 1 tablespoon of salt for each 5 gallons of water. Make sure to use aquarium salt or kosher canning salt that you can get from the grocery store. It is probably cheaper then aquarium salt. This is what I use. Do not use table salt which contains iodine. Raise the tank temperature to 80-82 degrees farenheit. You should see improvement within a couple of days. You can maintain this level of salt if you wish but if you have real plants they will not take kindly to the salt. In other words, they will die. Remove the salt after ick treatment. If you just treat for parasites then you can remove the salt through water changes. It will not evaporate so the salt will only be removed with water that is removed. If you wish to maintain the salt levels then only add salt back in for the amount of water that is put back in. If you put 5 gallons back in then put 1 tablespoon of salt back in. I find that using salt for parasites is a safe and effective natural treatment for parasites and is much safer than using drugs or chemicals. You do not have to quarantine the fish for treatment because the salt will not harm the other fish. It will not discolor your tank either.
Take care of your water and use a good heater.
Remember to keep your fish healthy by doing regular partial water changes, feed a varied, healthy diet. Parrots need greens in their diet. Don't overfeed! That will muck up your tank for sure!!! Use a good quality submersible heater like Visi-therm to keep your water temperature stable. Fluctuations in water temperature will cause ick. Keep your water at around 78 degrees farenheit.
For more severe cases of ick, you can add up to 1 teaspoon of salt per gallon.

What to do when the Power goes out

Planning for Power Outages

[edit]What to do when the power goes out
I just thought I'd mention this again, since it's that time of year again!
During the summer, especially when it's over 90F, there are a lot of power outages. It's good to be prepared, especially if you are going on vacation. In my experience the fish can survive overnight but just barely, if there is no oxygenation. It is very risky.
We put 2 battery powered bubblers on each tank. One would probably be enough for a small tank, but two provides a backup. The ones we use only turn on when the power cuts out. They take 2 D batteries each, but they last for at least 12-18 hours.
SIlent Air B11 Air Pump (Penn Plax
You will need 1 check valve for each pump
Tetra Tec Check Valve CV-1 1 pk (Tetra) to keep all the water from siphoning out of the tank when the bubbler is off.
You will also need plenty of airline
25' Flexible Airline Tubing ST-25 (Penn Plax)
and an airstone for each pump.
Aqua-Mist Airstone - 7/16" - 4 pk. (Penn Plax)
To keep the airline and airstone down at the bottom, we thread the tubing through the hole of the tiniest sized terracotta flower pot.
So a single setup will look like this:
1. battery powered airpump - taped to the top or side of the aquarium. plug it into a power outlet.
2. One piece of airline attached to air pump on one end, with checkvalve on other end (pointing in the correct direction! Be sure to consult packaging)
A second piece of airline attached to other side of checkvalve, threaded through tiny flowerpot, with airstone on end. This is the end that goes in the tank!

Air pump--air line-- checkvalve -- air line -- flowerpot -- airstone

Ammonia Burn

Fish waste contains ammonia, and if it builds up too much in the tank, fish fins and gills can actually be burned by the caustic chemical. See the links below for a discussion of Ammonia Burn.

External Links

Black Spots

I want to add my observations about black areas or black spots on Blood Parrot Cichlids. I observed that these areas had to do with injuries from other fish or habits of these fish.
For example: trying to fit into a tight nest. These black areas are healed, at least by my experience, without any aid. If they persist, try to find the reason of injury. I don't know if this is caused after an injury because of fungus, bacterial infection or a reaction of the self defense system of the fish because I can't do a biopsy, but in most cases, this is not a significant illness.

George

With my Blood Parrots I've noticed the black spots when the water starts to get dirty, as soon as i do a 20% water change the spots disappear within 24 hours. I've only had the black spots appear when i've been late to do my regular water change.
Cas

I have noticed black spots on mine when they are unhappy,if my PH is off, they are fighting a lot, or my tank needs cleaned. Also, if the water temperature is not right they get spots. When I first got my two BP's they were in a 12 gallon tank. One of them, his name is Jewel, was getting black spots all over is face and fins, and he just sat in the cave that I build them, all day. I thought he was sick so I got some fungus medication for him, no change in the spots. While they were living in this 12 gallon tank, I was preparing and cycling their new tank, a 55 gallon set up just the way BP's like it. After the cycle was finished I moved the two fish to their new home, they loved it! About 24 hours after the move, the black spots were 100% gone! The colors of both the fish became much brighter and more beautiful.
After the one that had spots, Jewel, got use to the new tank he became very aggressive and started picking on the other one, Cracker, chasing her around and kicking her out of the caves. Soon after Jewel was making Cracker’s life miserable, Cracker started getting black spots all over her body. They eventually learned to like each other and now they are even trying to mate, but what I have learned about these spots is, it is a way for them to communicate when something is off in their environment. If you see these spots, check your water, check your temperature, check the tank…then watch to see how your fish is interacting with it’s tank mates….something is probably wrong.

Brian

Dyed Fish

Contents

• 1 Everything about dyed fish
• 2 The dying process
• 3 Black spots
• 4 External Links

Everything about dyed fish
Here is some information on dyed fish that novice parrot keepers may want to know. Jelly bean parrots are almost always dyed. Any fish with a candy or fruity sounding name, such as mixed berry tetras, are dyed fish. These are fish whose colors do not appear naturally in the animal world.
Fluorescent colors such as bright green, bright pink, blue, purple, etc. are not natural. These fish have been dyed in a process that first strips them of their protective slime coat. This is done by dipping the fish in acid. When the slime coat is removed they are then injected with dye with needles. Sometimes they are just injected with color, other times they have tattoo-like designs or patterns. This procedure is very dangerous and many fish die from it. The strong ones that survive may have shorter lives or damaged internal organs.

The dying process
The dying process is senseless and painful. The fish will eventually lose their dyed color and turn a natural color that they should be anyway. Dying is inhumane and senseless torture to the fish since the color will be lost anyway. Normal parrot fish colors are light yellow, orange or deep red. Baby parrots start out a dull grayish green color and some have stripes. They look much like a very small green severum, except for their hump back. As the fish matures, the color will start to look like it is disappearing. You will see some areas that look like their is no color. Sometimes the fins will look clear or slightly tinted. Irregular marks will appear with no color or a yellow, orange, or red. This will continue until eventually all the dark areas are gone. Some parrots will turn yellow, and then orange.

Black spots
Sometimes your parrot will look like he has "black spots". This will appear and disappear as your fish is changing color. Your fish is not sick, he is just not sure what color he is yet. Make sure to keep your water clean so your fish are healthy.

External Links
How Fish Are Dyed[1]
How Parrots' Tails Are Docked[2]

Normal Coloration changes

Parrot Cichlids, like many other cichlids, start life with black and gray stripes. As time goes on, they begin changing color, in a similar manner to Red Devils, their ancestors. A wonderful series of photos illustrating the change can be seen here:

Dinkie & Sabbath, June 12	Sabbath, June 6	Sabbath, June 25	Sabbath, June 29
Sabbath, July 19	Sabbath, July 20	Sabbath, July 21	Sabbath, July 21
Sabbath, July 22	Sabbath, July 23	Sabbath, July 24	Sabbath, July 25
Sabbath, July 25	Sabbath, July 26	Sabbath, July 27	Sabbath, July 29
Sabbath, July 30	Sabbath, July 31	Sabbath, Aug 1	Sabbath, Aug 2
Sabbath, Aug 3	Sabbath, Aug 4	Sabbath, Aug 5	Sabbath, Aug 6
Sabbath, Aug 7	Sabbath, Aug 8	Sabbath, Aug 8	Sabbath, Aug 10
Dinkie and Sabbath, Dec 7	Dinkie and Sabbath, Dec 7

Many thanks to Macoy for the photos!

Ancestry of the Parrot Cichlid

The Parrot Cichlid is a hybrid, created by crossing Cichlasoma Citrinellum (Midas Cichlid) and Cichlasoma Sinspilum (Redheaded Cichlid):

Source: History of Red Parrot (reprints of Chinese Language Article from Aquapets Magazine)
English Translation: Translation of the "History of the Red Parrot" article from Happy Breed Blog

[edit]External Links
Happy Breed Blog
Translation of the "History of the Red Parrot" article from Happy Breed Blog
Red Blood Parrot History

Male or Female

External Links
Sexing Cichlids

From what I understand it is very hard to sex these fish. The best website I found on sexing these little guys says that females usually have more rounded anal fins, and males have more pointed anal fins, but that some females have pointed fins too. Though this is not extremely helpful, it’s the best information I can come up with this far.

Also, I have read some articles about being able to sex them by a pink spot close to the gills, many people have found this inaccurate. I have read websites and seen pictures of male and female parrot’s that have mated who both have those pink spots.
Honestly, the best advice I could give my fellow parrot owners, and I think many will agree with me, just wait until they start their mating routine and you will see the egg tube show on the female.

Parrot Varieties

parrot varieties