BP blood parrot fish (Mango) coloration!

[AlphaTintu]

I hear ya! and you're doing the right thing, keeping up for those fellas, yes, they grow bigger and maintenance spike up.. sorry to hear that.. Well, hoping you get the bigger tank and everything will settled. I thought, when I bought Mango home, that I would buy more parrots to make sure tank look nice, but these fellas grow way too fast, and having no time to perform routine maintenance. Yes, I will be in the same situation as yours after few months, these two guys will not allow me to rest and watch them )

You using canister filter ? As I said before, Fluval 220 really helped me in keeping one FH in 29 gallons, never had any unexpected spike in parameters, I used API kit to measure water, used prime and epsom salt during routines.. I am just saying all these, you know way better than me, keeping few than more souls in tank make a huge difference in routine!

 

[AlphaTintu]

You must know this, but may be useful for other readers..
About the freshwater aquarium test kits, I was doing some research and found that API master kit measures Ammonia and Ammonium values as a COMBO. So if API test kit result spikes >0 it does not mean necessarily ammonia is present in the tank, so the COMBO is resulting in overall test NH3 (ammonia) + NH4 (ammonium), ammonium is not harmful to fish souls unless it really spikes. Back then in 2016, I gathered all these information while I was testing and getting constant reading of ammonia >0 by API freshwater kit, I was performing water change, my bio-media were okay, filteration was doing good job..

The topic concluded with the thing name "Seachem Ammonia alert" (pretty cheap, search in Amazon/PetSmart) which sticks in the tank and constantly monitoring ammonia (only NH3) in the tank with its color coding. I hope this helps at least to keep your eye on ammonia constantly.

 

[FINWIN]

Actually I use both HOB and sponge filters with aeration...the parrots LOVE their bubblers. In fact two of them have moved them in front of their 'house' so they can sit with their faces in the bubble stream! One parrot (Patch) gulps air and blows bubbles while swimming! Sometimes she lays eggs on the stone so she doesn't have to fan them! I get the extra large air disks.

I customize the HOBs with Bio Bale and ceramic rings. Also use dense filter floss which I change twice a week. (I buy a bulk bag) On the overflow stems I have sponge prefilters. Bio Bale has massive surface area and is feather light. Since its basically plastic ribbon it needs to stay wet. In my large tank (225) I have two DIY corner filters with a gallon of bale each attached to powerheads. Also have 3 customized ACL 110s. I use Pothos in all the tanks.

I'll be posting updates on the tanks and fishroom in the "Tank Pics Updated" thread.

 

[AlphaTintu]

Love your reading about those parrots loving the bubbles. Yes, mine seems enjoying bubbles too. I use filter sponges, sponge floss/filter pad, and those zeolite media, with bio balls and few ceramic balls, I rinse them with tank water and put them back. Your load is high so that you need to change them regularly, otherwise, with the lower loads, changing those media is not necessary until 4-5 months (based on my experience!).

I have already seen your photos of the tanks and looking beautiful. Send more of them with those big and bulky guys in them )