The Puffer Forum

Since everyone has helped me so much with my new little hobby (raising puffers) i was wondering if anyone had other tanks with other fish in them? I have 2 tanks, a 10 gal (that was my beginner one and some of my very first fish are still in there ) and a 20 gal one. My 20 gal has 3 small blood parrots and a pleco.

My blood parrots hate me i think. they never come out of hiding, they always look like they are about to have a panic attack, and even when i take away the hiding spots to clean they all just huddle in the corner breathing really hard. at first i thought it was the water because of their breathing, so i changed over 50% of it (probably closer to 70%), same thing. I ran out of the testing liquid and one of my good friends works at fish store so i took it there and got it tested. Because i was a complete moron and didn't think about it, i didn't get the exact numbers from her just that everything looked just fine. Sometime when I'm about to enter the room I will see them from the corner of my eye swimming around and then i get into the room they hide and go back to their panicked state. I'm beginning to really think they just hate me

If anyone has other suggestions or comments I would love to hear them! Again thanks to everyone that has helped me so much with setting up my new puffer tank!

LOL!! I have no puffs but lots of tanks

well if you have any thoughts i would love to hear them

Are you referring to red parrots, the hybrids like what I have?

That is a very pretty fish..I have always wanted one!

But aren't those fish supposed to be in a BIG tank? Maybe that is why they are unhappy???

Thanks purplecandle, I have two of them. I rescued the female, this one, from Walmart without knowing they are cichlids. Once I got more information about them, I had to get another one. Yes, they get large, around the size of a large saucer or plate even.

That was my suggestion to the OP, 3 in a 20 gallon is way too small. 1 in that size is too small as a matter of fact. I just wanted to get confirmation these are the correct fish so I can offer some help.

They can be shy, my male was at first. It sounds like there's not enough oxygen in the tank for them to be breathing heavy. They don't hate you, I thought my puffer hated me too. I don't think animals know hate anyway. How long do you have them? Check out this forum if there are the cichlids you're referring to.

http://parrotcichlid.com/

Pufferfreak42 wrote:Thanks purplecandle, I have two of them. I rescued the female, this one, from Walmart without knowing they are cichlids. Once I got more information about them, I had to get another one. Yes, they get large, around the size of a large saucer or plate even.

That was my suggestion to the OP, 3 in a 20 gallon is way too small. 1 in that size is too small as a matter of fact. I just wanted to get confirmation these are the correct fish so I can offer some help.

They can be shy, my male was at first. It sounds like there's not enough oxygen in the tank for them to be breathing heavy. They don't hate you, I thought my puffer hated me too. I don't think animals know hate anyway. How long do you have them? Check out this forum if there are the cichlids you're referring to.

http://parrotcichlid.com/

Really, That big?? Well, then yeah that tank is too small...

Congratulations that really is a pretty fish! I am so jealous!

They are great fish, so much personality. Because of them being hybrids, they don't have the millions of years of instincts so they do pretty odd things, like swimming upside down. I have a pic of one sleeping on her head.

I don't agree with the ones that are dyed, to me that's animal cruelty and the only way to stop it is for people to stop buying them. They call them jellybean parrots. They dye only lasts for about 6 weeks then they turn back to their original orange colour.

When working at a LFS, one time, one of those about 8" long came in as a trade in. It had been in a 180 gallon "mean fish" tank with some jaw lockers, and it's jaw had been dislocated and it healed crooked, looked like he'd taken a nasty left hook to the jaw and never got it set.

But he had GREAT personality, loved to follow people around the store, beg for food, turn upside down at inappropriate moments causing children to freak out. He'd also lay on his side at the top fairly regularly once he noticed that every single time he did it, a customer called one of us over to the tank to remove the "big dead fish."

A couple that were just getting into fishkeeping started to visit him twice a week, and eventually(after I got my bosses permission) I told them if they bought a 75 gallon and promised to add no tankmates without talking to me, buy a sufficient filter, and follow my tank set up and maintenance instructions(50% weekly partials), they could have him free(he was 50$ at that size even with his off jaw).

So in a few weeks Left Hook went home with them(In a 5 gallon bucket), along with the filter media from the 110 gallon showtank he'd been in, nicely bagged in tank water, and a very nice setup totally suitable for him.

This is one of the rare times while doing that job I felt like I was able to both do a good thing for a fish and for the humans. I really enjoyed getting updates on how he was doing for the rest of the year before I left the job, their 8 year old son was apparently smitten with Left Hook too.

That's a very nice story Nick. They are my favorite fish, hands down. The female is the boss of the tank which I found odd considering what I have in there. After finding out she's a cichlid, I bought a larger tank and all the fish I got after her HAD to be compatible with her due to the way their mouths are, they can't fight back very well. So far I've been lucky even though I have 5 African cichlids in the tank with them. If any other fish hurts my Parrots, they are outta there. I love reading stories like yours, it warms my heart.