please help - parrot fish sick after laying eggs; env., soc.         4/7/16
Hi there,
we have a fresh water aquarium with African cichlids, some gourami's and some loaches.
<An odd mix; there's really no such thing as "African cichlids" any more than saying "American birds" or "European mammals". It's much too general to mean anything helpful. However, the standard "mixed African cichlids" of
the US aquarium trade are the Mbuna, typically Pseudotropheus hybrids.
While these herbivorous fish appreciate similar water chemistry to your Parrots, they are MUCH too aggressive, and fighting/stress can cause all sorts of problems in mixed species set-ups.>
Our favourite two fish are a male and female parrot fish.
<These hopelessly inbred and deformed fish are not good companions for more boisterous cichlids. If you love 'em, move 'em. A 55-gallon tank is adequate for a pair. Alternatively, remove the Mbuna.>
They just bred a few days ago and the female named Sophie was in her hiding place guarding over her eggs. A few days later now and the male is protecting the eggs while Sophie is lying at the bottom of the tank on the opposite corner looking very weak and like she may die if we don't help her quickly.
<You MUST isolate/remove the female. See below...>
This also happened straight after we did a 40% water change.
<This could have been the trigger, or aggression from the other fish.
Here's the deal. Cichlid pairs depend on the situation. In the wild they carefully choose partners, and before spawning, do all sorts of "tests" on each other to see if they're both equally competent. This is all part of the courtship ritual. Those cichlids that aren't able to pair off, spawn and look after their juveniles properly will leave fewer, if any, offspring when compared to competent ones. So over time, natural selection favours the skilful cichlids. Now, on fish farms cichlids don't get to choose partners, and it doesn't matter if they're good parents or not because the human removes the eggs and rears the fry manually. All good stuff for producing cheap livestock, but does mean natural selection can't operate.
Over the generations tank-bred, and especially those non-natural, invented cichlids like Parrots end up losing the good parenting genes. This is a massive issue with Angelfish, which are almost all totally incompetent parents! But in any case, it doesn't take much for pairs of Parrots to become dysfunctional (like yours) turning on each other. Sometimes a triggering factor, basically a stress or scare, caused the breakdown in marital bliss. But it might have happened anyway.>
We also can see a snail floating at the top which we have never seen before.
<Probably not relevant.>
I have attached two pictures of Sophie sitting at the bottom and one of the Male parrot guarding eggs inside the hiding place.
I don't know hat your response rate is but if you can please give us some advice how to help her we would very much appreciate that as she is our favourite little fish.
Thank you
Kindly,
Miriam
<I would remove the female to her own aquarium where she can recover; it's extremely unlikely the male will accept her now he's parenting on his own, and chances are he'll become even more aggressive once the fry start hatching and roving around the tank. If she's bloated, which I can't tell from the photo, medicating with Epsom salt will be useful. Do read:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/SaltUseFWArtNeale.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/parrotcicdisf.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ParrotSocDisF.htm
Hope this helps, Neale.>

Re: please help - parrot fish sick after laying eggs       4/7/16
Hi Neale,
<Miriam,>
Thank you for your swift response. She has gone back to her eggs and they are both together in there, he is busy keeping fish away from the eggs and she is inside helping him do so. We have no idea if the eggs will hatch, we
will give it a day or two further as the eggs have been there for about four days so far. If they hatch we will move them and her to another tank.
If not, we will get rid of the eggs and hope everything goes back to normal.
<They aren't especially fertile fish, and breeding at home tends to be unproductive. But then again, I just said they're unlikely to "mend their marriage" and yet they've don exactly that, so what do I know? I would, however, keep a very close eye on them. I would not assume they'll be happily married indefinitely.>
In terms of using Epsom salts, we have a 132 gallon tank, with what we know to be called Malawi cichlids who are all babies and not aggressive to the parrot fish who are much bigger.
<Juvenile Mbuna can be quite fun, for sure. And there are one or two species that might conceivably work with Parrots; I'm thinking of Iodotropheus and Labidochromis in particular. But most are psychotic when mature, in the sense of being intensely territorial and ravenously hungry (they feed on algae all day long in the wild, and defend their feeding spots against all comers). I've seen even Labidochromis, the "friendly Mbuna", strip the fins from much larger Senegal Bichirs unlucky enough to be in the same tank. So do NOT assume yours will stay friendly! I'm trying
to think who said it, but "trust everyone, but carry a big stick" is a good approach with cichlids generally, and doubly so with Mbuna. On the other hand, if these aren't Mbuna, but instead things like Aulonocara or Cyrtocara, then Parrots might work, given space.>
(Malawi cichlids very popular here as we are in South Africa and border with Malawi) ...
<I'm distinctly jealous! Some great native South African fish too...>
Can we put Epsom salts into the tank with these two cichlids, Gouramis and clown loaches?
<Yes.>
If so, how much do we put?
<See the article for details; 1-3 teaspoons per 5 gallons/20 litres.>
We were thinking of doing so just for the general health of the tank, is that a good idea?
<Nope. Use Epsom salt to medicate (it's good for reducing swelling) but not forever. Only until the swelling goes down. Remember, add the appropriate amount per bucket of water; don't dose the whole tank each water change or
you'll overdose! So if you change 20 litres, 1-3 teaspoons is what you'll use. Not the number of teaspoons for the whole tank. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: please help - parrot fish sick after laying eggs       4/7/16
Great, thanks Neale, really appreciate your swift response. All the best
<Most welcome. Neale.>