New blood parrot is a very picky eater . . .

[mistahoo]

That's great!

[ScorpiosWife]

Glad to hear!

[JodieOf1987]

Alrighty well I went ahead and did a partial water change because of the sand i washed not getting completely settled and have since been soaking the flakes and she has been very receptive of it. She also has come out of her shell quite a bit so I'm just thinking she just needed to get used to her new surroundings. Thanks for the help guys!

[mistahoo]

or you could just sprinkle the flakes under the surface instead of on top... here's my BP

Or that. I do that sometimes when I'm too lazy to soak the flakes.

[allysangels]

What I do with flakes is soak them in some tank water before feeding so I don't have to shut off the pump during feeding time. It'll cause most of the flakes to sink instead of float at the surface.

or you could just sprinkle the flakes under the surface instead of on top... here's my BP

[mistahoo]

It's a quiet one 4000 pump and a 600 gph single utube overflow or somewhere around there, pump has to be dialed back slightly to allow the overflow to keep up. If you don't shut the pump off or turn it most of the way down when feeding all the food is down the overflow as soon as it hits the water. He's got some media (sponges / filter pad) in the wet/dry that has been cycled in mine for a couple of months.

What I do with flakes is soak them in some tank water before feeding so I don't have to shut off the pump during feeding time. It'll cause most of the flakes to sink instead of float at the surface.

[mistahoo]

I housed a BP for a while and it was pretty active. It was actually completely the opposite of yours. It was lip locking with my Pink fenestratus and fighting for the food.

As I stated before, there's really only two things it would most likely be, it's not settled in its new home or abnormal nitrates. What it was eating before is something that would be great to know. That way you can feed it the same and hopefully it'll eat. If it was being fed feeders, I would try to get the BP used to some pellet foods.

[JodieOf1987]

Yeah I'll PM Jason in a bit, allysangels your parrot sounds like a beautiful fish. She seems to feed just fine and from what I've seen she's an American BP as the Malyasian ones have a bigger v shaped mouth.

[allysangels]

i'm lucky enough to have a job (jobs?) where people bring me unwanted fish. as such, i have acquired a few "rescues" and one of them is a large male blood parrot. i'm not a big fan of hybrids, but my issues lie with irresponsible breeders. my parrot is the opposite of what i've read here, he lives with 2 large oscars, a baby jaguar, a foot long bichir, and an unknown breeding colony of convicts in a 75g tank with a bare bottom, mopani wood pile, and a couple cave-type decorations. he's always right up in the top corner with the Os snatching pellets at feeding time. my thoughts are: needs more time to settle in, please check/post your parameters as nitrates may be the cause, and also many of these fishes have mouth problems, they are frequently unable to close their mouths or eat properly. can you call the shop he came from to ask what they were feeding?

[jsbaker]

It's a quiet one 4000 pump and a 600 gph single utube overflow or somewhere around there, pump has to be dialed back slightly to allow the overflow to keep up. If you don't shut the pump off or turn it most of the way down when feeding all the food is down the overflow as soon as it hits the water. He's got some media (sponges / filter pad) in the wet/dry that has been cycled in mine for a couple of months.

[ScorpiosWife]

First and foremost, test the parameters.

That's Fish R Us on 242. Owner's name is Jason.

I don't let a tank run for weeks before adding fish either. I fill the tank, dechlorinate, check the parameters in one of my established tanks, snatch a filter pad from it, put it in the new filter & let it run for at least a few hours (most of the time overnight). Test water parameters again, then add fish.

Of all the different kinds of fish I have, my parrots are the most shy. I'm with Hooey on this one. I don't think there's anything wrong with her, she may just need an adjustment period.

[JodieOf1987]

Hah that sounds like news I don't mind hearing, I'm working at the fire department tonight but I'll be sure to get one tomorrow.

It was properly dechlorinated and I'm right there with you on cycling, basically just trying to figure out if I can use the flakes I have in another method for the time being.

[mistahoo]

I'll go ahead and turn off the light, shes looks healthy not bloated but somewhat lethargic. My heater broke and it got down to 72, have since replaced it and she seems a bit more active.

Yeah they seem to like water around 77-80

I haven't tested the nitrates either, need to get around to testing it . . . We have quite a few tanks and use the same method on all of them and haven't had a problem. Maybe I'm just overreacting but I like to err on the side of caution, I'm very cautious about over feeding and haven't done a water change on that tank since it was setup on Friday. I have the quite one 4000 and a fairly big overflow probably overkill for that tank but I prefer the filtering power of a wet/dry.

It could just be overreaction but you never know. The more filtration, the better. I also favor wet/dry filters over other filters, but nothing beats a wet/dry + canister combo.

Forgot the name of the store, it's late ha but it's off of 242 . . . Tank was cycled for two days, like I mentioned we haven't had any issues with any other of tanks and I've heard BPs are pretty hardy so I assumed that that cycle was long enough.

I have no clue which store that is. The cycle is quite short and would affect any fish. Although, I've never once waited for a tank to fully cycle and I've never lost a fish due to it. I don't believe in that mumbo jumbo. As long as you dechlorinated the water, it should be fine.

I honestly don't think anything is wrong with your BP. Just give her some time. It would help if you had pics or better yet, a video.

[JodieOf1987]

I'll go ahead and turn off the light, shes looks healthy not bloated but somewhat lethargic. My heater broke and it got down to 72, have since replaced it and she seems a bit more active.

I haven't tested the nitrates either, need to get around to testing it . . . We have quite a few tanks and use the same method on all of them and haven't had a problem. Maybe I'm just overreacting but I like to err on the side of caution, I'm very cautious about over feeding and haven't done a water change on that tank since it was setup on Friday. I have the quite one 4000 and a fairly big overflow probably overkill for that tank but I prefer the filtering power of a wet/dry.

Forgot the name of the store, it's late ha but it's off of 242 . . . Tank was cycled for two days, like I mentioned we haven't had any issues with any other of tanks and I've heard BPs are pretty hardy so I assumed that that cycle was long enough.

[JodieOf1987]

Good to know I'm not the only one with a picky eater, that's exactly how she is . . . I have some slate that I setup and she sticks under it and has made herself at home. Ill shoot the owner a message tomorrow, I asked him quite a few questions but it's obvious I wasn't very through lol