New to Fish

[Nilla]

Hi,
I am new to fish and aquariums. Can anyone tell me the difference between the Jellybean and the blood Parrot? I think it is that the Jellybean is dyed and does not grow as large. Is this correct?
I have a 75 gallon tank. I have what I think are two blood parrots, about 3-4 inches long, 1 blood parrot about 2-3 inches long, 3 that I think are the jellybean parrots about 1 1/2 inches long, and a tiny convict.
I have 5 more 3-4 inch blood parrots coming in a few days.
I know I will need a second tank at some point. How long can I keep this many in this 75 gallon? The ones in there now are doing just fine. When I split them can it be 6 in one 75 gallon and 7 in another 75 gallon? Is that too many or can I even add some tetra's, danio's or blue gourmis?
Also these parrots hide a lot. Some I have had for a month and they still hide. Will this always be like this? I feel like I have all these beautiful fish and don't see them near as much as I would like.
Any advice or information about these little parrots will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[jams.alaskan]

Wow, you must really love those parrots! I've no experience with them but I did want to welcome you to the forum. There are a few parrot owners here so they may be able to help you

ALASKA

 

[silver]

Well HELLO there...........

I have 2 Blood Parrots (see sig.) one is just a little baby.......aren't they cute!!!

It is really hard to say whether or not yours are the jellybean parrots unless you know FOR SURE what their parentage was. One sure-fire way of knowing that you are indeed getting Blood Parrots that have not been dyed is by buying them young. Most Blood Parrots are born a grey or dark brown to even black. Some may have splotches of red or orange, which will eventually become either their FULL coloring or just part of their permanent adult coloring. To my knowledge it is the Jellybean Parrots that have been inhumanely dyed and this is the variation of BPs that we as conciencious fish owners should steer clear from buying.

I have recently seen a couple of VERY large BPs at my Local Bank. They were absolutley enormous, about 6 inches long and 4 inches high and about 4 inches wide as well. They were massive fish that's for sure so now I'm thinking that my older BP Polly and my baby BP baby Polly are going to need an upgrade someday I can honestly say that you will too!

So, if I'm understanding your post correctly, you have or will soon have a total of 11 BPs in a 75 gallon and a small convict........I assume you are hoping for some breeding action?? I would definitley get another 75 gallon tank as soon as you can if you realistically plan on keeping all 11 of them. 6 in one and 7 in the other should be okay as long as you don't put anymore mid-swimming fish in with them. The tank that you put 6 in you could put your convict in as well and that would make 7 fish in each that will roughly all get to be the same size. You may be able to get away with some smaller fish like Molly's or danios or smaller tetras to save on stocking room. But I personally would stay away from the Blue Gourami's - actually called 3 Spot Gouramis - because they do get quite big as well, up to 6 inches long. Also, in my experience, Blue gouramis are quite territorial as well and may not mesh right with the BPs. But whatever fish you add with them you may want to do it while they are still young so they can grow up together and be used to each other.

Some BPs have a difficult time closing their mouths properly due to hybridization so I would suggest getting some corydoras, very cute little bottom feeders, for each tank. Maybe 6 for each tank. This will help keep the bottoms of your tank clean from uneaten and torn apart food from the BPs. Since the corydoras......AKA cory cats......eat shrimp pellets and BPs LOVE shrimp pellets you can't go wrong in that department either!

As far as your BPs hiding a lot, well.......that is a true characteristic of lots of BPs. Fortunatley my 2 BPs are very social and only hide when they are sleeping or when I'm not looking in. They love to come to the glass, never do they NOT ) . I have read that you need to have a cave for each BP because they like to have their very own "home" or territory to call their home. If you do not have 11 caves or holes or what-have-you then I would go and buy some more Also, I have read to give new BPs time to adjust. Sometimes it takes a few months for them to get courageous enough to not hide.

 

[CFC]

I am going to give you the URL of a forum I belong to dedicated soley to Blood Parrots. I would join and ask as many questions as you feel the need to there:

Blood Parrot Forum Link

Good call silver, keep the talk of the nasty parrots off of this forum

other moderators please leave this link in place, i know its policy to remove links to other forums but im sure we wont lose many members to one strictly for parrot fish and it saves on any hybrid bashing.

 

[gixer]

Can anyone tell me the difference between the Jellybean and the blood Parrot? I think it is that the Jellybean is dyed and does not grow as large. Is this correct?

No this is Not correct.

A jellybean parrot is a cross between a male pink convict and a female blood parrot. People assume jellybean parrots are all dyed and i have no idea why.
Probarbly because the often is the case.

Jellybeans tend to have a less rounded face and dont always have the wide mouth (not always the case) of a blood parrot.

HTH

 

[Nilla]

I appreciate all the info and feedback that I received.
When I first purchased the jellybean fish I did not know that they were dyed. The only one that looks like a jellybean that I know is dyed is lavendar, the other one is orange, and the other one is tan. I am trying to get parrots that are not dyed thats why I am getting larger ones now. However, it sounds like they might be dyeing the larger ones too if the only way you know for sure is to buy them small.
I will go to the Parrot forum. Actually I have read that forum before but when I found this one it seemed so good that I wanted to be a part of it. But after being told to keep the Parrot talk off of this forum I will get off of it. That was rude, a sad way to start the day, because I was excited to read my responses. That seems like flaming to me.
Thanks for all the answers I received from the friendly folks!

Nilla (West Texas)

 

[silver]

Actually NO Nilla don't feel bad.........CFC was being mean to ME not YOU !!!!! It's because I linked you to another forum......not exceptable and I didn't know that and I apologize greatly and I am going to remove that part of my post and I will PM it to you so you have it. Sorry mods, didn't know )

Sorry CFC you meany...... JK, you know I love you CF !!!!!!


I would LOVE to see photos of your BPs.......have any you could share with us