The Saltwater Parrotfish

The parrot fish lives in the coral reefs in the ocean. The parrot fish got its name from its face; it has extremely large teeth sticking down from its mouth forming a beak like snout. The parrot fish has a semi-long body and an extremely colorful complexion. The parrot fish is a popular fish to own, but it requires special items for its aquarium, and it also has to have salt always in it water. There are over 40 species of the parrot fish.

Size:
The parrot fish is not a small fish to come across, in the wild or in captivity. The parrot fish can reach a length between 18 inches to 4 feet. The parrot fish usually never reaches 4 feet in captivity, unless you have a 1500 gallon aquarium, and they still may stay around 24 inches in length.

Habitat:
When owing a parrot fish, you must recreate scenery in your aquarium to mimic the parrot fish’s natural habitat. The parrot fish lives in coral reefs, but can cause mass destruction to the coral as they grow. The parrot fish will use its teeth to remove algae from the coral, and as they get bigger, they can end up breaking pieces of the coral off.

Food:
The parrot fish is kind of like an algae eater. They use their large teeth to scrape algae from the coral for food. The parrot fish will also eat scrapes of other fish, when smaller. The parrot fish will eat other smaller fish as they grow, but they also eat the algae from coral.

Natural predators:
When young and small, the parrot fish is hunted by other larger fish. As the parrot fish grows it gains bigger and meaner predators: the black tip reef shark, the white tip reef shark, large carnivorous fish, octopuses, other sharks that may be wondering around by the reefs, carpet sharks, large eels, ectâÂ?¦ Even when in captivity, the parrot fish will still be hunted by natural predators, so you have to make sure you don’t house a predator of your parrot fish in with you parrot fish.

Life span:
The parrot fish lives about 10 years in the wild, but can live to be about 13 or 15 years of age in captivity. This is because the parrot fish has a lot of stress in the wild and when kept in captivity, it seems to relieve some of that stress and worry.