5 Red Bellies, 1 Barracuda, Help Please

kk, so you obvously think i should bring back my 'cuda to the pet store then?

Last question, should i but like a 55 g tank, could i use my stuff above? (first post)
 
Ok easy obvoiusly new here. so you think i should get a 55g tank. could i run my current filturs and heaters or no? Selling the cuda.

THX Farhad

"rehome" :rolleyes:
 
Like I said, rule of 20g per RB, minimum. So, for 5, you'd need at least 100g. A 55g would be fine temporarily, but you'll need to upgrade again soon. You could run current heaters and filters, but may need a stronger heater and you will probably need to upgrade filtration once the piranhas get bigger as well.
 
you rbp's foreheads will begin to sink in and their jaws will grow out futher if you continue to leave them in to small of a tank. Sure RBP's do not move much. But trust me when the 5 feel uncomfortable in the tank due to size.. there will be 4. if they continue to stay in to small of a tank.. there will be 3. Then they will start to begin to have mis-shaped heads. also the cude.. bigger now.. more intimidating... he will become lunch. picked at bit by bit. 55 gallons.. 2 rbp to be safe. i feed mine once every two weeks as well. had a rbp's that live for 16 years.
 
I have a hard time beliving that they need a bigger tank! There pack (of 5) Barely take up a corner. I have seen fully grown RBP's @ 8 in", and that would be too big but now....?

I replied in your other thread but you didn't mention this in there.

That's only because they are young right now and stay together for security. In probably 3 weeks they will feel more secure in their surroundings and each stake a territory.

RBP's absolutely HATE each other. All pygo's do, to be honest but know the security in numbers game so they tolerate each other. When larger, they will huddle together only when spooked but when that fear is gone in seconds or a minute, they will start being aggressive to get the rest out of their territory and they will all go into their own territories again until next time they are spooked.

You'll need a minimum of 125g tank for 5 rbp's. I had 4 in a 75g (which sometimes works but not usually) and they killed off the 4th because he had nowhere to go with the other 3 staking the bottom in thirds for their territory. Your rbp's should be 8" within a year so be ready to upgrade or you can take my other advice I gave in my edit in your other thread. :)
 
you rbp's foreheads will begin to sink in and their jaws will grow out futher if you continue to leave them in to small of a tank. Sure RBP's do not move much. But trust me when the 5 feel uncomfortable in the tank due to size.. there will be 4. if they continue to stay in to small of a tank.. there will be 3. Then they will start to begin to have mis-shaped heads. also the cude.. bigger now.. more intimidating... he will become lunch. picked at bit by bit. 55 gallons.. 2 rbp to be safe. i feed mine once every two weeks as well. had a rbp's that live for 16 years.

what they said

the cuda may not be getting bothered by the red bellies yet, but as soon as they adjust to the tank it will be dead within a few days. i used to have a RBP and mine used to thrash wildly at the sides of the tank at sudden movements from outside the tanks

i took advice off someone who was pretty clued up on them and he told me id need a much bigger tank and a re-inforced tank

the RB was ripping bit of its flesh off on rocks
 
due to the size and thrashing of the rbp when i would walk past the tank, they did crack my tank at the seem. I had to drain the water and re-seem the tank. 4 in a 30 will last for alittle while. (less than 6 months) the ideal situation for you would be a 55 with TWO 2 TWO thats it 2 rbp's. Honestly I found that when I had 1 it ate when it wanted to, and there was no competion for food, so there was no real rush for it to eat. So I understand that aspect of a RBP, so two in a 55 should work for awhile.

Also you can not add any other RBP once they continue to grow. The stronger of the two will eat the other one.

as far as food. the ones i had for 16 years I feed anything and everything. Live food, gold-fish, lizards, blue-gill, crayfish, worms (they love worms). When they were small I would throw in a frozen piece of brine shrimp and they would learn to eat bites off of the floating frozen mass. small worms work to when they are small.
 
due to the size and thrashing of the rbp when i would walk past the tank, they did crack my tank at the seem. I had to drain the water and re-seem the tank. 4 in a 30 will last for alittle while. (less than 6 months) the ideal situation for you would be a 55 with TWO 2 TWO thats it 2 rbp's. Honestly I found that when I had 1 it ate when it wanted to, and there was no competion for food, so there was no real rush for it to eat. So I understand that aspect of a RBP, so two in a 55 should work for awhile.

Also you can not add any other RBP once they continue to grow. The stronger of the two will eat the other one.

as far as food. the ones i had for 16 years I feed anything and everything. Live food, gold-fish, lizards, blue-gill, crayfish, worms (they love worms). When they were small I would throw in a frozen piece of brine shrimp and they would learn to eat bites off of the floating frozen mass. small worms work to when they are small.

I'm not saying you're wrong because it's your experience and your opinion so that matters as much as mine or anyone elses, so you can't be wrong if you've done it, but I've never had good luck with just 2rbp's. The larger always killed the subdominate in time. 3 is the least I would try for.
 
I always had three but then the two ended up killing the 3rd. I later was able to breed the final two that I had. So I think the 2 just tolerated each other. they would stick to each other and were always in the same part of the tank. I started out with 4, they ate one. then I was at three for a very long time.. until bammm I heard splashing and by the time I went to the tank the 3rd RBP body was half gone (10 seconds if that) The rbp were the size of my hand at this point 8"-9"

something cool about a rbp I had once. I had one that could eat 100 goldfish in two days. I would throw 100 in and the rbp would eat all of them except 1. The rbp would swim around with this fish for an entire month. The next time I feed him he would eat all of the fish except for 1, but it wasnt the same one as before. I guess he was just lonely. cool to see this behavior. I ended up selling that RBP to a zoo. Largerst captive RBP they say they had ever seen.
 
lol
My RBP do the same thing..eat all but one feeder. I have 2 RBP's and had to move them each to their own 30 gallon tank (for now) because of aggression issues. Mine are only 8 months old and almost bigger than my hand. They will get much bigger
 

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