Color of my parrot fish

[fishyfish]

Hello all friends,

I have a query. ;)

My six parrot fish were blood red at the shop when i bought them, but turned orange after a few days! Why? What happened? What should i do, please?

Thanks a lot.

[funkman]

just a couple ideas...

what did they feed them and what do you feed them?
food often affects color a lot.

Also, I don't know if it has anything to do with it or not, but perhaps they had a special expensive flourescent light bulb on their tank....maybe after a few days the effects of their bulbs faded away....

just some ideas to get you thinkin, but i bet its the diet.

[FishGod]

I work for a petshop..in particular fish is my baby. Blood parrots are a hybrid of two diffrent kinds of cichlids. That red color is a mid phase in color. They usually start out dark browns and blacks. In the end they are an orange color.

If it just seems that the color is the red but washed out, not so much that it's orange here are some suggestions;

Change the bulb in your ballast...I use PowerGlow..works very well and is'nt expensive in comparison to others.

Blood Parrots as I said are cichlids so make sure your feeding them a diet in accordance to that such as cichlid pellets or cichlid flakes.
Frozen brine shrimp are not a bad idea and tubifex worms as a treat every now and again.

Aquarium salt is always a good thing to use. Helps gill functions there for making an all around healthier fish.

[mayflower]

The water quality in your tank may be different from the shops's, and your fishes' colors may have faded due to the sudden change in environment.

Use test kits to check the ammonia and mitrate levels of the water for excessive waste build-up. Also check the water pH level to ensure it is neither too acidic or alkaline. If everything is normal, let the fish get used to their new environment for a few more days.

The fish shop could have displayed the parrot fish under lighting that enhanced the redness of the fish. If so, you need not worry about their health. There are also many brands of fish food available that will help enhance their color.

Cheers! :flippy:

[MONAMLU]

THEY ARE JUST GROWING UP!!! NOTICE HOW ALL THE REALLY RED ONES ARE ALL ABOUT THE SAME SIZE. THE LARGER AND OLDER FISH ARE MAINLY ORANGE. IT'S OK....THEY ARE STILL CUTE AND PRETTY. YOU CAN TRY SOME OF THE COLOR ENHANCING FOODS BUT BEWARE. SOME ENHANCE FISH COLOR BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN A LOT OF DYE AND COLORING. NOT GOOD FOR THE FISH AT ALL!!! JUST ENJOY YOUR FISH WHILE YOU HAVE THEM. THEY ARE SO WELL-MANNERED AND CUTE.

[MONAMLU]

WHOA! I JUST READ YOUR OTHER POST. ANOTHER BIT OF ADVISE. PARROTS GROW BIG AND PARROTS GROW FAST. IF YOU HAVE SIX, I HOPE YOU HAVE A TANK LARGE ANOUGH FOR THEM!!! I HAVE 3 PARROTS...A YEAR AGO THEY WERE THE SIZE OF A HALF-DOLLAR. NOW, THEY ARE HUGE!!! AT LEAST 4 INCHES!!! I KEEP THE THREE IN A 30 GALLON TANK...AND IT'S GETTING CROWDED. THEY ARE STARTING TO WRESTLE!!! I'M ALREADY SAVING FOR A BIGGER TANK!

[loonyeuny]

Another thing that might have happend is that some blood parrots are injected with a color dye to make them look pretty. If that is what happend then their colors will fade shortly. None the less they are still very cute and cool fish don't you think?

Eunice :angel6:

[MONAMLU]

actually, the dyed parrots...are called jelly bean or bubble gum parrots at the pet stores. They are cool at first...because of their bright colors...blue, green, purple, red, pink. But I advise against buying them. Fist of all the color only lasts a couple weeks to a month. Then they fad to a washed out beige...almost white. Another thing is...they inject these fish with dye. That seems a bit cruel to me because the dye is a lot of times harmful to the fish. Liver problems..etc. It also shortens their life span and stunts their growth. If you don't buy...they can't sell. And we can help end this kind of treatment to such cool and playful fish!

[loonyeuny]

I totally agree on not buying painted fish. And when you think about it 90% of the painted fish that I have seen have ick. We once got 2 oscars from Wal-mart that where supposed to be "Cave raised" But we kinda figured that they were painted so we bought them they were Pink and blue but the got ick the next day and died. I took them back and got out money back. We also talked to a friend that owns a fish shop and he told us that they were painted. I will NEVER buy a painted fish again. Alot of White skirt tetras are painted and those where my first fish to get. The painted ones have never been as pretty or healthy as the ones that were left alone.

Eunice :angel6:

[Jeni]

the painted white skirts are only dipped in diluted dye, which doesn't harm them very much, whereas the painted glass fish is actually injected with dye, and is prone to ich and early death.

[HuskerJade]

I also have 3 parrots in a 30 gallon hex. One is HUGE (Castor), one is large (Pollux), and the other one is just over a year old (Vixen). Yes, I name my fish. Anyway, their color changes DAILY with their mood I guess. I really like the cotton candy parrots, but will never get any...too bad those colors don't occur naturally!! Anyway, good luck with yours & their color.