digging problem

Question
i have a pair of blood red parrots in my 67 gallon tank with other fish. they live in one corner of the tank where i have made a rock cave for them. however they keep on digging up the substrate all the time. in fact right now i can see the glass bottom in the cave. they have removed all the substrate! why do they do this? its really frustrating!! also the male has a few black spots on his fins and above his eyes. they were not there earlier. could the black spots be bruises? he keeps banging on the rocks.  the other parrot doesnt have them neither do any of the other fishes  

Answer
Oh I had to giggle at this question....no offense.  They are diggers.  Plain and simple, they are going to dig up the tank and you're not going to be able to stop it. They are probably trying to clean out their cave to try to breed, but it probably won't happen, and if you happen to get eggs, they probably will be sterile, because the male is typically sterile from so much selective breeding.

As far as the black spots.......some parrot cichlids get dark spots kind of like "freckles" as they get older, but if they are more like smudges and came on rather quickly it could possibly be ammonia burns.  You need to test your water parameters to make sure everything is in check. If you do not have a master test kit, take a sample of water to your pet store and they will test it for you. Just make sure that you are not having an ammonia spike. If the black spots look like little specks of salt, but black, it could be a parasite. I'd need clarification on what the spots look like.

Proper tank maintenance is a must in order to keep your fish happy and healthy.  Please be sure to clean your tank once a week, doing a 15-20% water change each time.

I hope this has answered your questions, please get back to me if you need any further information!

;o)