HELP! Princess parrotfish

[reeffreak9]

Hi, I just bought a princess parrotfish and he seems to just lay around the bottom of the tank. He is breathing and looking around, and otherwise he looks to be healthy. I just feel somthing might be wrong if he just lays there.
I have a 55 gal and my stock is as follows: 3 condy anenomes, 1 zebra mat anenome, 1 dwarf lion, 3 damsels, 1 clownfish, 1 green mandrin, 1 brittle starfish, 1 long spine sea urchin, 1 large shrimp, 3 hermit crabs , and 1 turbo snail. Emporer bio wheel, and skimmer. Everyone else is doing great!
Anyone else have a princess parrotfish? I also read that they make a mucus caccon at night to sleep in..... is that true? He is about 4 inches long. Please help, I'm scared! :help:

 

[phishface]

if you just got it, give it some time. most fish take a day or 2 or more to get used to your tank. good luck

 

[firedog]

Parrotfish get very big, don't they?
Your fish may be stressed from being moved around. Try turning the lights out if you haven't already. Does her breathing seem labored? And yes give her some time to get used to the tank.
And call the funeral home for that snail.

 

[dogstar]

Very difficult fish to keep. Should be active but could just be adjusting to your tank, which it will outgrow quickly if it lives.

 

[reeffreak9]

Her breathing does'nt seem labored. I put her in about 2 hours ago and she may have moved a few inches from where she was first placed. I even fed the rest of the tank thier brine shrimp and while everyone else was on feeding frenzy she just stayed seated in her spot.

 

[surfinusa]

did you do your research on the parrot because if he eats you are lucky and they get huge and need giant tanks 300plus tanks

 

[batman1820]

Very typical parrotfish behaviour. Same with wrasses, they tend to lie on their sides when stressed. say goodbye to all ur inverts lol. Hope he survives tho cuz they are pretty hard to keep

 

[lion_crazz]

surfin, 300 gallon plus tanks? Are you kidding? Try 3,000 gallon plus tanks, at least! Parrotfish get HUGE and require a ton of swimming space.
As far as your fish, like stated, that is very common behavior for a wrasse-like fish.
Two errors that I see with your posts though:
You mentioned you are feeding brine shrimp. By the way you said it, that sounds like all you feed. I am just assuming this because I do not know for sure. However, if this is indeed all you are feeding, I strongly suggest you forget the brine shrimp and get at least 4 to 5 different types of frozen foods for your fish. Brine shrimp carries absolutely no nutritional value and will often lead to the death of a fish due to malnutrition.
Secondly, from the sounds of it, you added the parrot to the tank with the lights on. I also suggest against this as well, as this also stresses out the newly introduced fish. If you can introduce a fish with the lights off, that would be much less stressful on the newly acclimated specimen.
With all that aside, I wish you luck with the fish. It is indeed quite difficult to keep due to its feeding requirments and space requirments and will not live in your 55 gallon aquarium very long. I do hope you research much more in the future.

 

[reeffreak9]

I also feed guppies for the lionfish and frozen foods. I am planning the setup of a larger tank also, probably not 3,000 gallons, but about a 300 gallon tank; which the parrotfish would be moving to assuming he is ok. He is not that big ...yet. lol. Good tip; to put any new fishes in with the lights out, I did not know that. Does anyone know about the mucus caccooning thing with the parrotfish?

 

[lion_crazz]

One more thing: feeding guppies to your lionfish is even worse than brine shrimp. The guppies will cause his eventual death. If you must use live food to wean your lionfish to frozen food, use gut-loaed, enriched ghost shrimp These are much better for your fish, will not cause internal damage to his organs, and dare I say, even a little nutritional

And as far as the tank, I am glad you have plans for upgrading.

To answer your question, they will make a cocoon to sleep in at night.

 

[reeffreak9]

:happyfish Here is a pic of the new princess parrotfish. This is basicly where she has been since I put her in. She is a beautiful fish though, is'nt she? :happyfish

 

[promisetbg]

I thought parrotfish ate sps corals?

 

[batman1820]

Originally Posted by lion_crazz
surfin, 300 gallon plus tanks? Are you kidding? Try 3,000 gallon plus tanks, at least! Parrotfish get HUGE and require a ton of swimming space.
It's true that some species of parrotfish may need that size of a tank, but each species grows to a different size. The princess only grows to 14 inches so you won't really need a 3000 gallon tank. Either way, you're going to need a larger tank for it because a 14 inch fish will not live in a 55 gallon tank. How big is it now? Parrotfish are very active fish and will start to panic if the tank is too small. The web the parrotfish makes at night is to protect itself. Many wrasses do this as well, and they make the fish "invisible" to predators like sharks. Good luck with it though, its really nice

 

[lion_crazz]

Parrotfish rarely feed on live coral tissue; they derive most of their nourishment from scraping off organisms, mainly algae, off of the dead coral skeletons. They also eat shellfishm, crustaceans, urchins, and snails.
batman, while that may be true that they only get 14 inches, have you ever watched how this fish acts in the wild? It darts from one coral reef to another and hardly ever stays put. This is why you need such a large tank. They are a fast fish, and extremely active. Sometimes, they will swim hundreds of yards in just a matter of minutes. They are not a fish that hangs in the same place at all.

 

[reeffreak9]

Hi all! I am very happy to report that she has been swimming about the tank (still only on the bottom though). But a really good sign is that she is eating! I'm feeling much better about her.
And for those of you worried about the size of my tank: right now she is only 4 inches long>I know she will outgrow her tank and I do plan on upgrading to a 300 gallon in the near future.
I haven't seen her make a caccoon yet though. I'm on my way out to buy more lr, to build her a cave, I think she might like that concidering the whole caccooning thig. I thank you all for the advice I've beeen given thus far.
I really would like to talk to someone who has one> is anyone out there with a Princess parrotfish? :happyfish Here is a closer pic of her, she is soooo pretty!

 

[batman1820]

Originally Posted by lion_crazz
batman, while that may be true that they only get 14 inches, have you ever watched how this fish acts in the wild? It darts from one coral reef to another and hardly ever stays put. This is why you need such a large tank. They are a fast fish, and extremely active. Sometimes, they will swim hundreds of yards in just a matter of minutes. They are not a fish that hangs in the same place at all.
Yes I have watched them in the wild, and i'm definitly not trying to say that they can be kept in small tanks, but just letting people know that not all parrotfish need 3000 gallon tanks

.

 

[reeffreak9]

I bought her at the local *****, and they only had her in a 10 gallon tank

 

[stanlalee]

This particular parrotfish gets to be about a foot long or so and most sites recommend a tank size minimum of 125gallons. All parrotfish and simular shaped streamlines wrasses I've ever seen do swim alot and fast (never seen a princess parrotfish however). They feed by crunching up hard corals eating whatevers on/in it and spitting out the rubble. You can see how that could pose a problem in an aquarium as far as feeding. Considered high maintenence/difficult unanimously. that guy looks pretty big in your tank already regardless of species.

 

[firedog]

***** doesn't keep fish very long. So it doesn't really matter what they keep them in. The fish either sell fast due to their prices or more than likely they die in the tank. It is unfortunate. I have bought from *****, but I will admit they don't have scruples when it comes to keeping fish.
I tend to disagree somewhat with the statement that brine shrimp have absolutely no nutritional value. I think a better statement is that they have little nutritional value. They are usually better when they are fortified with spirulina or Selcon, or some other vitamin or supplement. Mysis shrimp are a better substitution, and I tend to stay away from brine shrimp these days. I am not trying to start an argument, and I hate it that I am being so picky over wording. But I had to get it off my chest.

The point is still the same : brine shrimp are not a very good food source.
Regardless, good luck, and it is a beautiful fish.

 

[ophiura]

Many public aquaria create feeding blocks for these fish out of plaster with spirulina and other additives...they will need this both for their teeth and because they are not really just carnivores eating meaty stuff.
Personally we never kept them long (but in our case I would say it was poor care on the part of an aquarist and poor choice of tank mates).