Baby Piranah...

[PRW1988]

Okay, so not too sure where this goes exactly so I'll put it here, so I gave into temptation and ended up buying a single Piranah baby, I had Piranahs before but that was when I was like 12 and didn't know much about fish... needless to say the Piranahs died quickly , well, I ended up buying one and I love the little guy... I ended up naming him Preist anyways, I've got him currently in a 5 gallon tank untill his 40gallon tank is all set up and running... Anyways, my question for everybody (or anybody who knows anything about Piranahs) is just how fast will my little guy grow? I'm not 100% sure where his 40gallon tank'll be going exactly and it may end up taking a month or so...

>sorry to any mod if this is the wrong spot<

 

[Nevergone815]

a ) this would be nest put in the characins section
b ) Gatorbait knows about piranhas, also some others can help as well in characins

 

[Teelie]

They're cousins to tetras, so you'd want to go to the Cyprinids, Characins and Atherinids where this will get moved. They can grow fast and even one will probably need a larger tank than 40, depending on the species you have and it might need to be with more of its own kind.

 

[fish-r-fancy]

like Teelie said some species prefer to be kept in groups. Mkae sure to have excellent filtration and depending on the species you may have to upgrade your 40 gallon tank

 

[Gatorbait]

Okay, so not too sure where this goes exactly so I'll put it here, so I gave into temptation and ended up buying a single Piranah baby, I had Piranahs before but that was when I was like 12 and didn't know much about fish... needless to say the Piranahs died quickly , well, I ended up buying one and I love the little guy... I ended up naming him Preist anyways, I've got him currently in a 5 gallon tank untill his 40gallon tank is all set up and running... Anyways, my question for everybody (or anybody who knows anything about Piranahs) is just how fast will my little guy grow? I'm not 100% sure where his 40gallon tank'll be going exactly and it may end up taking a month or so...

>sorry to any mod if this is the wrong spot<

Congrats on getting a piranha.

Can you tell us what kind?

If it's a Pygocentrus nattereri (redbelly, I'm just assuming because they are the most popular) it would do good for the lil guy to have at least 2 more with him and I'd suggest getting 4 or 5 to start out with but not in the 5g. You'll most likely lose 1 or 2 to predation from the others...but not always so be sure you can take back however many until you have 3. You can keep 3 in a 55 for a while but you'll need a 75g for life for 3.


As far as your question as to how long he'll be ok in a 5g...I would say he's not but if you have to get by with that since you have him now, you probably have 2 weeks tops. make sure you do wc's every other day and have good filtration, although I've never had a 5g tank so I don't know what types of filtration are out there that would suffice.

When I buy rbp's that are the size of a dime, in 6 months my largest this last time was 7.5" and the smallest was 6.5". I had 4 in a 75g but they killed one because there wasn't enough territory for them.

If it's not a red belly please post back and let us know because this isn't true for all piranhas.

 

[PRW1988]

Thanks much for the help... lol sorry bout the species, it's a red-bellied Piranah about 1 inch in length, and I discovered... the tank is 6 gallons! I know not much of a difference lol I have a Whisper filter for 15gallons on it, I've done some research and found that even though red bellied Piranahs enjoy shoaling, they can be kept as a single... so untill I'm able to upgrade to a tank larger than 40gallons I'll keep just one... Mind you, the 40gallon (not too sure about a standard size as it's an odd tank) is 36" long, 18" deep, and 15" high... so I'm not sure if that'd be okay room wise for 3 for a while... But even then, the tank won't be opporational until atleast easter (2 weeks from now) and even then it still needs cycled... so mabye I should just keep one for now.

Anyways thanks much for the help I've always been fasinated by these little cleaners of the amazon and I'd love to (once I get a larger tank) get more...

My friend is actually upgrading his tank (a 120 gallon tank, 6ft long, 18" deep, not too sure about the high) how many do you think I could keep in that?

 

[Gatorbait]

Thanks much for the help... lol sorry bout the species, it's a red-bellied Piranah about 1 inch in length, and I discovered... the tank is 6 gallons! I know not much of a difference lol I have a Whisper filter for 15gallons on it, I've done some research and found that even though red bellied Piranahs enjoy shoaling, they can be kept as a single... so untill I'm able to upgrade to a tank larger than 40gallons I'll keep just one... Mind you, the 40gallon (not too sure about a standard size as it's an odd tank) is 36" long, 18" deep, and 15" high... so I'm not sure if that'd be okay room wise for 3 for a while... But even then, the tank won't be opporational until atleast easter (2 weeks from now) and even then it still needs cycled... so mabye I should just keep one for now.

Anyways thanks much for the help I've always been fasinated by these little cleaners of the amazon and I'd love to (once I get a larger tank) get more...

My friend is actually upgrading his tank (a 120 gallon tank, 6ft long, 18" deep, not too sure about the high) how many do you think I could keep in that?

You do whatever you like.

I'm not trying to tell you what to do just giving an opinion to help is all. I have no hard feelings if you think differently or in your case don't have the option to change anything right now. No problems at all.

The rule of thumb for rbp's is 20 gallons per fish. I wouldn't be too worried about the height of your tank. The length and width are good.

The only thing I fear when keeping one and adding more later is you have to get similiar sized or they might be killed. In 2-3 months, with frequent wc's and good food your 1", he'll be closing in on 4" so I wouldn't get anything smaller than 1" difference and even then it's risky in a smaller tank. When mature and you want to add it would usually be no problem to add another rbp 1"-1.5" smaller.

It's fine to keep rbp's alone and that's all you can do now so we'll try to make the best of it for you. At 1" he might be pretty brave but about 2" they go into a shy/skittish stage for about 4" or so. Keep his home well planted and try to keep the lights dimmer than you would for tropical fish. He might hide a lot but that's because they feel safer in numbers. RBP's may be in large numbers in the wild and seem to like being together in aquariums but even rbp's hate each other and are only together as a means of safety and survival. When you add more you'll see what I mean. They will each carve out their territories and if needed fight to the death to keep it but it almost never goes that far. That's where the tank size comes in. With some fish you need tank size for the fish to move/turn around etc. but with piranhas in groups you have to think about territories and that s larger than the room they need to just turn around. That's why I suggest a minimum of 75g for 3.

Sometimes 4 will be ok in a 75 but I recently came home to a fish head because there wasn't anywhere for him to go. The other 3 had the whole bottom in sections for themselves and he had to hover over them and I guess they had enough of chasing him off into each others territory.

 

[PRW1988]

Wow gaitor! Thanks much for all the great information! I think I may just end up keeping him as a single in the 40gallon tank in about a month or so... once again thanks much for the great info! I may (in time) get more Piranahs, I may or may not keep them with Priest depending on how his temperment is, and in a much larger tank of course...

Also, how many could I fit in a 120 gallon tank?

 

[J4MES]

6-7

J4MES

 

[PRW1988]

Really? I thought less because a shoal of 3-4 need a 75gallon tank and 6-7... wouldn't that mean a 150gallon tank?

 

[J4MES]

adults or babys? if u mean babys then 6 will be fine if adults then 4 max


J4MES

 

[PRW1988]

wait what... 4 adults are capable of living in a 90gallon tank... I'd think like 5 for a 120 prolly...

 

[J4MES]

Accounting for aggresion etc?

J4MES

 

[PRW1988]

ya..... Okay whatever... I'll start em at Juvies and see how things work out along the way, hopfully if they grow up together they'll live peacfully together...

 

[Gatorbait]

ya..... Okay whatever... I'll start em at Juvies and see how things work out along the way, hopfully if they grow up together they'll live peacfully together...

per your other question, you can have 5 full grown in a 120g. Is it 24" wide? Most 120g tanks are 2' wide and 125 tanks are 1.5' so a 120 would be even better than a 125g.

Growing up together doesn't mean anything when it comes to piranhas. The only thing that matters is size. You could have 5 that grow up together but if one doesn't grow up at close to the same speed as the others, he'll probably be killed off by the others if the size difference gets to be too big.

Whereas, you can introduce new piranhas at any time as long as they are within an 1" and sometimes an 1.5" smaller without any problems.