how big will my parrot fish get? She is in a 12 gallon which she seems fine in now but she might get 2 big idk. also why does she attack her plants and why is she affraid of me and why does she hover in the top corner of the tank all of the time and why did her black spot go away(i miss it) and why did she turn orange even though she used to be pink.
she is healthy and happy she is just deathly afraid of me. or anyone. when you are quiet and dont move she swims around and moves all of the gravel in her tank(oh also why do they do that).
any answers would be great because i have alot of questions!!!
Update:i have my angel fish in a 30 gallon and some of them are really old. when they are gone i will move the remaning babies into my 12 gallon and move Bianka(or whatever if shes a boy)into the 30 gallon. or could i put her into a 20 gallon? my brother has an electric blue jack dempsy and a bicher in the 20 so mabey they would do better in the 30.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
The fish I imagine you have is the Blood Parrot Cichlid.
They grow to about 8-10" long and just one requires a tank of at least 30 gallons for any long term success.
She turned red because they gain more of their colour as they mature.
She goes after plants because this is what the cichlids that make up this hybrid do - it can be difficult to keep plants with these fish.
She is afraid of you because they take time to get used to the new environment and yourself - just be patient. She's sitting at the top either for the same reason, or because you are lacking oxygen in the tank - make sure you have a power filter or aerater that disturbs the surface of the water and circulates the water throughout the tank.
edit - you don't need to remove the plants, but you do need to realize her behaviour is normal so she will upset them - as long as you are willing to deal with this, no worries. By now she should be used to you - make sure nobody else around is scaring her, or you aren't dipping into the tank and causing stress too often. A bigger tank will help the fish in all aspects, most especially in normal growth and lifespan (the same fish raised in a big tank would barely even fit in yours by now).
Oh yeah, the movingsubstrate is a natural nesting behaviour. It might indicate that she is a he.
If you've had the tank set up with fish in it for less than 6 weeks then we know that the water quality is bad. I don't need a test to tell me that. Testing a tank that is 4 weeks old usually shows low or zero ammonia and a high level of nitrite (with an i). Like most people you may have been overfeeding which makes it worse. You also may be using an ammonia removing filter material which can screw up this period as well. (It's not your fault they love to sell that crap) Small water changes can help and you'll just have to wait for the water quality to improve before buying new fish. Make sure not to clean the filter material too much.Some filters don't have a lot of biologic filtration (bacteria that clean the water) and you want to try to keep it alive as much as possible by rinsing the material in dirty tank water instead of replacing or cleaning in the sink.
when I went scuba diving in the virgin islands I saw some very big parrot fish.. some were probably as long as my arm.. if it's that kind of parrot fish then a 12 gallon tank might not be big enough..