H.psittacus in pH7.8 ??

[hamfist]

Considering getting one of these for a tank with a chocolate. Socially, I think it should work.

BUT .... my water is hard and pH7.8. Sevs and chocolates all seem to do well in it. What about true parrots ?
Anyone else had any experience or success at keeping them in this type of water ?

 

[ryansmith83]

I've kept mine around pH 7.6 with large weekly water changes and he seems fine. No HITH or anything. My water isn't extremely hard, though, so it could have something to do with it. He's been here since April and grown from 1" to about 7 - 8".

Be careful, though... mine did not like my chocolate cichlid at all. He picks on everything -- severums, chocolate cichlid, pikes, etc. -- but my chocolate really backed down to him and so he destroyed it. I came home one day to find my chocolate all beat up with lots of missing scales and huge chunks out of its fins. They're now living in separate tanks.

 

[hamfist]

I've kept mine around pH 7.6 with large weekly water changes and he seems fine. No HITH or anything. My water isn't extremely hard, though, so it could have something to do with it. He's been here since April and grown from 1" to about 7 - 8".

Be careful, though... mine did not like my chocolate cichlid at all. He picks on everything -- severums, chocolate cichlid, pikes, etc. -- but my chocolate really backed down to him and so he destroyed it. I came home one day to find my chocolate all beat up with lots of missing scales and huge chunks out of its fins. They're now living in separate tanks.

Cool, thanks Ryan. With that growth rate, yours is obviously loving the water !
Further googling has also found a guy who has successfully kept some H.psittacus in hard pH 7.8 water for at least a year, with them thriving. So, with your experience too, I am hopeful that my water should be fine. I am not interested in breeding either, which mayobviously require more stringent pH limits.

I'm also aware that true parrots can be very boisterous and aggressive, although many are also quite social with non-conspecifics. if I get one, I will surely be keeing a close eye on the relationship between the choc and the parrot !
I've got my eye on one which I suspect is a female too, which should hopefully limit aggression a little bit. "she" is the smaller of a pair from the same spawning, and has a noticably different shape to the larger fish, which I'm assuming is a male. "She" also seems a bit calmer than "him".