New Member from Santa Monica CA

Hi, my name is Marcie. I live in Santa Monica CA, and am a new cichlid 'parent' to a Blood Parrot cichlid. And before anyone says anything derogatory about Blood Parrots, please know that I am fully aware that these are man-made fish. I adopted/rescued Grace from somebody on Craig's List that had her listed as a goldfish looking for a new home. My sister wanted to get a fish and I figured a goldfish would be a good start for her. When I arrived, I saw the horrid conditions she and her tank mate, a half starved 6" Jack Dempsey, were living in, and I couldn't leave either of them with this person for another moment. they were both crammed into a 20 gal tank that hadn't been cleaned in what looked like forever (feces could be clearly seen floating around them and the water was murky at best). I took them to my apartment, cleaned the tank, bought them a filter and heater (because they didn't have either in their tank), fed them shrimp, worms and peas and started looking for a big tank on Craig's List. The best I could find was a 40 gal (because I am disabled and not made of money, so I cant afford a complete new set up for a 60 gal or larger tank) on Craig's list. It is currently cycling, and Grace is patiently waiting for her new home in her old 20 gal tank (which I have to do PWC's on every few days.

I re-homed the Jack Dempsey to one of the salesmen at the aquarium/fish store who has a Texas cichlid and a 100 gal tank. I decided to re-homed the JD because the BP was the more aggressive of the two (and I was under the impression that they were more docile. HA! Not Grace!!) and I figured he stood a better chance at finding a new home. I soon found out that the JD was half starved because Grace would not allow him to eat! She would grab whatever food I put into the tank, wherever I put the food, and she would charge and bite the JD if it tried to get any food. He would retreat quickly to the other side of the tank and look at me pitifully. Grace took possession of every cave I made for them, and guards them with her life. The day before I delivered him to his new home, he beat the cr@p out of Grace, taking off half of one of her fins and tore her mouth! Guess he had enough of being bullied. Grace is healing well and I understand the Jack Dempsey is filling out now that he can eat!

Now Grace is an only child in her tank. She charges me whenever I clean her tank. She is very nervy, and bites my hand on a regular basis whenever I have to go into her tank for something. She was named Grace after the character Grace Adler on Will and Grace due to her desire to control everything, including the decoration of her tank (which I understand is a cichlid trait) and me. She follows me when I am walking by her tank, and comes to the glass when I sit down to see what she is up to (which is usually mouthing her gravel and spitting it out on the other side of the tank).

I also have a 30 gal tank with 4 Mollies (2 silver and 2 black-plus 5 new fry today they are just the girls) a small school of Tiger Barbs (5 - females and 1 male, aka Don Juan and his harem), Cherry Barbs (4- Jack, Chrissy, Janet and Mrs Roper) a pair of Gold Barbs (Lucy & Ricky), a Chinese Algae eater (Mr Wong) and a baby Clown Loach (Ellen). In my 20 gal tank I have a red tail shark (Mork) and a rubber lipped pleco (Alf). I have two 2 1/2 gal tanks with the Betta Boys (Booger- a cotton tail Betta and Pretty Boy Floyd-a Delta Tail Betta) in them, and glass shrimp (Moe, Curly, Shepp & Larry) as their tank mates. I also have a 10 gal tank that I intend to home my Betta Boys and their tank mates in with a divider (so they can have a good heater and filter, and more room to swim and be happy fish.

Oh, and did I mention that I also have furry pets? I have a 7 yr old Boxer (Abby), a 7 yr old Turkish Angora (Molly), a 3 yr old tortoise shell domestic longhair (Gidget) and two of her kittens-who are now 2 yrs old, a black male (Bubba Joe) and a calico longhair female (Libby Lou Who). All of them are rescues, and Gidget was pregnant when I rescued her. I homed two of her kittens, but wanted to wait to home Bubba because it was close to Halloween and I was afraid to let him go to just anyone, especially during that time of year. He bonded too much with Libby, so he never left!

My boyfriend says he hates having a houseful of animals, but I catch him talking ( and even singing at times) to them when he thinks I'm not close enough to hear!

My cats think that Grace would make a wonderful snack, but they have never even taken a second glance at any of he other fish tanks.

I am here in hope of learning more about my Blood Parrot and cichlids in general.

To the site. You seem like a great fish owner. Grace seems like 1 of a kind. I'd love to see some pics of her. Also some pics of the other tank. Thanks so much for signing up!

Thanks for having me in the group! I hope to have pics soon of everybody and their tanks. Can't find the battery charger for my camera and it's killing me because this is the first time I've had fry in my tanks (the Mollies are relatively new to the tank, and all three girls are pregnant. Lost one pregnant Mollie last week when I tried to move her to an isolation tank....stressed her out way too much I guess. :( So I decided that I would just allow nature to take it's course with the Mollie fry, especially seeing as the have fry so easily. Better that everyone in the tank gets a good live meal and a few fry survive, than to lose all of them including Moms.

And Grace is definitely one of a kind....feisty wench! Cracks me up that she has the nerve to bite me (and that i jumped when she did!). LOL The nerve, biting the hand that feeds her!!
Thanks again- great to be here!!

i love santa monica beach

She might not be biting, but trying to eat you, period - lol.

I wouldn't worry to much about people being mean to you about your blood parrots. We have several very active member on here who raise. Heck, I have 4 right now (for trade/sale, not to raise - lol). They just keep accumulating for some reason!

welcome, you found an awesome site hereand there are a few members here that have blood parrots and cichlids ( i am a salwater person myself ), enjoy your stay and ask questions if you need to, we are here in this community to help you if we can.

Welcome!

welcome.

Welcome Aboard!

Very nice people here, where everyone is just like family.

Feel free to post your questions to the forums.


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