Can I feed my pet fish to my pet parrot?

[Deja Q]

I have 3 beautiful Paradise Gouramis and 7 tiger barbs.

The tiger barbs have started to nip at the gourami's beautiful lyre-tail fins. They still have their tails, but they don't look like elongated lyres anymore. Just half-curved fins. :-(

So the to species can no longer cohabit the same 37 gallon tank.


But then I remembered :think: ! Birds eat fish! Yummy! My parrot could use a treat or seven...

Should I do this?

[wtmusic]

1. What if your cat starts getting ideas about the parrot?

[Bozola]

4. I've got a parrot who scares the sh*t out of cats...

Kitty knows that the Parrot is waiting to remove body parts if kitty gets close.

Creatures with razor sharp lips that are able to puncture metal cans usually get respect from other members of the house.

[Ediacara]

2. Ask a vet

Different species of parrots will eat different things, and your specific parrot may not like fish.

ALSO, Tiger Barbs are small fish with small bones, there may be a choking hazard in feeding your barbs to your parrot.

I would recomend against it, perhaps bring the barbs back to the pet store for other customers to enjoy. They might even pay you, or let you trade them for something.

[Bozola]

7. Agreed

Parrots usually don't have a choking problem being that most of them either have efficient juicer/grinders in their bills and/or extremely powerful crops.

The problem is diseases. Don't risk giving your bird something that may have incubated in your tank.

[Angelus]

10. totally unrelated to the subject...

but DinoBoy, what kinds of rocks are those on those petrographic slides on your sig line? I'm a geology major...

[Bozola]

11. I'd say that

#1 - some big crystaled plagioclase feldspar gabbro(?)
#2 - muscovite/biotite granite?
#3 - some granite

[Angelus]

12. I'd have to say..

#1 - I agree with your answer
#2 - I see some quartz, a larger piece of plagioclase, and some biotite...don't know the rock.
#3 - I see K-Spar, quartz, muscovite/biotite...must be granite.

[Ediacara]

13. yes

The first one is pretty easy :-) Plag and olivine :-)

[Darth_Kitten]

3. Murphee the Tiel is eating a salmon cake....

right now. But that fish was out of a can. :)

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. What is it with Birds loving Salmon?

My Eclectus loves it too. Especially broiled with Hollandaise Sauce. ;-)

[Darth_Kitten]

8. I love salmon cakes myself.....

so I thought I would introduce Murphee to some more protein. :) She likes well-done steak as well!!! :evilgrin:

Yes, it's true, I spoil this bird. :)

Hollandaise sauce? LOL :) P.S. Please give the little sweetie a scratch for me. :)

[boilerbabe]

6. Maybe get another tank and Keep "em Separated? N/T

[kodi]

9. yes, but be sure they are parrot fish

.

[mr_hat]

14. Only by spoon. Domesticated parrots >

have lost the instinct to eat aquarium fishes.

[amazona]

15. not unless you cook them first and even then it's a bit iffy

When I wrote for Bird Talk, admittedly some time ago, we advised people not to feed seafood to parrots. I would never feed one of my parrots a raw, uncooked fish. But even too much cooked fish is iffy if the fish is high in iodine, sodium, and perhaps other minerals that would not be found in a parrot's normal diet.

In many areas, you can sell your pets for free if they are worth less than $100 in the classified ads. Why don't you check with your major newspaper of record and see what their classified ads cost? In my area, the Times-Picayune (the major newspaper for the greater New Orleans area) will accept a free two day ad if the pet or item is selling for less than $100. Sell your extra fish or even donate them if you have a responsible friend who will take them. I don't ever advertise pets for free because I have no way of knowing if a stranger will appreciate something she didn't pay for. If you must sell in a hurry, price them below fair market value. When I had to sell some birds quickly because my aviary was destroyed by a tropical storm, I had no trouble finding some good buyers quickly by using a free classified ad and offering a fair but low price.

Good luck.

On Edit: I agree with the poster who pointed out that some pet stores will take back your fish at no charge if you don't have time to sell them. It's worth a try if you do not have time to sell the fish yourself.

[Darth_Kitten]

18. My Murphee just SHREDDED a little piece....

of salmon cake for supper. :) is that okay for them?

:)

[corarose]

16. NO, you can't feed your fish to your Parrot!

Jesus Christ the poor fish might get stuck in your Parrots throat.

[Bozola]

17. An avian throat is in no way like a mammalian one

Nor do they have the same respiratory issues with eating that we do.