I have a blood parrot cichlid that I plan on moving to a 40 gallon tank but the person who I bought the tank from had an elongated mbuna. He was going to flush the fish if I didn't take it and I couldn't bare to see the little guy die.

Well I don't know if I can put them together. I read that mbunas are aggressive and I know blood parrots are non-agressive so they probably wouldn't do well together. But the mbuna seems to be afraid of me and my finger so it may be rather shy. My blood parrot is shy as well but a bit larger than the mbuna. They are both pretty young I guess, since the mbuna is only about 2 inches, maybe 2.5.

I am wanting to try putting these two together. Is this a bad idea? If anything I can separate them and give the mbuna to someone on craigslist. I just thought I might give it a try. Any suggestions?

Both types of Cichlids are considered to be semi-aggressive. Mbuna need a slightly higher ph, but they will both be ok with 8. I don’t have experience with Cichlids, but I don’t see why they couldn’t be kept together for a short time. You really should get rid of the fish though. Both need a tank size of at least 50 gallons. Parrots should be kept with others of their own kind. If you are going to keep 2 fish in a 40g, get another Parrot.