parrots acting very lazy

[JESToner]

my dad has a 50gal tall with 8 blood parrots about 3-4 inches, in the past months they have been grouping together and laying on the bottom looking very lazy and sluggish, i had the water tested by the LFS several times every time things were okay, after a water change they wiill act normal and swim around but after a day or two they go back to just sitting on the bottom, sometimes even laying on their side. my dad is concerned, we've tried moving one of them to another tank and it acts normally,

-we clean the filter and pads every time we change the water(20-30% weekly)
-we've thoroughly cleaned the gravel several times since this started happening and it hasnt helped
-temp. stays around 76-78 degrees
-no physical signs of illness
-if you come up to the tank they jump up and start swimming around

do you guys have any thoughts or ideas as to why they are behaving like this? we have another tank with much larger parrots and they are fine...

 

[phillydog1958]

I have one blood red and it sometimes hides in a cave and sits in one spot when he feels threatened or insecure. Most of the time, he's swimming in open water. I've noticed that your tank is totally bare. Maybe that's a part of the problem. Perhaps the openess of the tank is creating a sense of insecurity and they're herding together for support. Remember that with animals at the lower end of the feeding chain often find strength in numbers.

 

[JESToner]

we had decorations and they would hide inside/up against them, we took the deco out to see if it would make any difference, obv. no results

 

[phillydog1958]

OK, then you probably need to give them time to adapt to the open tank. Eventually they will become comfortable.

 

[moonchild1970]

Too many fish in there. One blood parrot needs 30G, then every parrot after that needs 10G. Have you checked your water parameters?

 

[Chicklette]

They need more hiding spots. BP are VERY skittish and if they don't have hiding spots they feel very uncomfortable and scared. If you give them some hiding spots they will feel more secure. Plus your Dad has way way to many BP's in there. They don’t like bare aquariums, you need some decorations. I would suggest dithers but there is no way with that many BP’s.