Help me get a new tank set up for a Blood parrot Lots of ??? first big fish

[sophiaAQ]

I've been keeping bettas for awhile. They are wonderful fish but they don't seem to live more than a year to year and half. I want a personable fish that lives a long time so after some research I decided on getting one blood parrot. I am planning to put him or her into a 30 gallon.
I've read about people keeping live plants with them without a problem. I like live plants to help keep healthy water parameters.

What is your experience with live plants and these fish?

Do I really need "dither" fish to make my Blood parrot feel more comfortable? I might like to get some corys or kuhli loaches to help keep the bottom clean but for me less fish equals lower bio load.(plus I have other tanks to care for) Can the Blood Parrots eat cory's? They are shown to be good companions but they seem small for a eventually large fish.

Is there any way to select to reduce likelyhood of swim bladder issues? What would you look for when select this type of fish?

How do you get a Parrot fish to be more personable and friendly?

How much food do you go through in a month? I read one person saying they feed a typical pet store bag a week. Is there a good bulk supplier of food suited for these fish. What type do you like?

What substrate do you like?

I am looking for a simple set up with enough cover for the fish. If you have an attractive but simple set up please post it and tell me what you did.

I have 20 long that I was considering getting rid of but while I hope I never need it I was thinking this would be a good hospital tank for my parrot fish. Is that an ok size for that purpose?

 

[ksage15]

I have a very large blood parrot who I have now had for four years and I absolutely adore him. At the time I bought the fish, I didn't have as much experience with fish and didn't know anything about blood parrots. I found him at walmart looking very sick and sad with some kind of fungus on him. I brought him home to a 20 gallon and he lived and managed to become perfectly healthy. He was very small at the time but as he grew he went from the 20 gallon, to a 29 gallon, to a 55 gallon, and is now in a 110 tall. I know 30 gallons are recommend for blood parrots but I personally believe a 30 gallon is way too small for a fully grown blood parrot. A 30 will be fine for a while as the fish grows but expect to upgrade. In my opinion even my 55 gallon didn't seem like enough room for my parrot.

I have no experience with live plants and the fish as I never plant my aquariums. However, I would think your plants would do fine. My parrot has never been destructive when it comes to the aquarium. I have gravel, driftwood, moss balls, and some large plastic plants in my aquarium. Time and lots of interaction is the best thing you can do for making your fish more friendly. When my parrot was small he was extremely shy and would freak out whenever you went near the aquarium. But now as he has gotten older he's like a puppy dog. He seems to recognize certain people. My mom will often feed my fish and he is perfectly happy with her and I, but if anyone else goes near the tank he hides. My parrot is kept with angelfish and they get along great. During a tank upgrade he was kept alone for a little while before the angels went into the larger tank and honestly he seemed quite depressed without his angelfish friends. After the angels went in the tank he seemed perfectly happy again. For food, I feed a variety of different things. I feed omega one and new life spectrum - pellets, flakes, algae wafers, freeze dried, shrimp pellets, etc.. As well as some frozen bloodworms and other frozen foods. My parrot particularly seems to love algae wafers. I would suggest heavy filtration for sure with this fish. I have two fluval 406's on my 110 and a marineland magnum 350.

 

[brz]

Dithers or other fish do help from my experience. Messy eaters at times so yes good filtration needed. I only feed different kinds of pellets to mine.

[video=youtube_share;HqBQl1366k8]http://youtu.be/HqBQl1366k8[/video]

 

[convict360]

Dithers help tremendously, go for anything bigger than neons; such as danios or barbs.

Mine are friendly too, skittish at first but once they settle they're fine. I will note that mine preferred wide tanks I.e. front to back and were more comfortable coming out. I had them in a long narrow tank and they were super skittish.



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