Parrot cichlids as they are aptly called due to their small pointy mouth size that resembles a parrot is a hybrid type of cichlids that is produced by cross breeding different types of fish together. Due to its nature of being a cross bred species; the fish does not actually have a scientific name assigned and given to it. The blood parrot fish although most claim to be a docile community fish but in actual fact, it can very moody at times and the behavior can turn into aggressive but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have them together with your other pet fish.Blood Parrot can grow to be very big almost reaching 1 foot in length. Those that you saw offered for sale in fish shops are normally the small ones as it is much easier to sell at this size as it looks cuter. Therefore don’t be deceived by this marketing tactic and bought up to 5 or more of these little fellows and stuff them into a 30 gallon tank because soon enough you will find that the aquarium will be overcrowded. The fact is that if you intend to keep the fish for long, I would suggest getting only a pair of them and then raise them up to be your pets.
Don’t worry about not getting a male and female fish and getting stuck with decision about breeding them because chances for the fish to reproduce are actually very less and most of the time (about 90%) the fish are sterile and won’t reproduce baby fish at all. Even if there are eggs laid, a majority of those are non-fertilized meaning that it will never hatch and turn to babies. However, despite that happening, lately some hobbyists have actually found a way to ensure that they successfully obtain the fish’s offspring.
Parrot cichlids can be a very intelligent fish and their antics of swimming around the tank in clumsy matter can really bemuse you. Generally if you have a large aquarium enough to accommodate different species, you can actually try to introduce other tank mates to them and possible addition can either be gourami, freshwater sharks, catfish, silver dollars or clown loach. Because of their unpredictable behavior, if for any reason that you find the fish suddenly become aggressive turning against your other fish, I would suggest that you abort your plan to keep and mix them or else you will need to buy a tank separator to create a compartment.
Blood parrot cichlids normally will eat as much as it can unless you control their diet and feeding. Most of the time if your tank is undersized, you will notice that the water gets dirty and cloudy easily and just like any type of fish, they can be extremely sensitive when the waste buildup will cause nitrate and nitrite levels to increase. Usually the best way to ensure that they stay healthy and avoid falling sick is by watching closely the water parameters and regularly carry out water changes but overall, in order to simplify your task of managing the fish tank, the best way is to install a filter that takes care of the cleaning process.
Some aquarium fish tank water filtration options you can consider:
Trickle filter, Diatom Filter, External Power Filter
