Community To Predator Setup?

[matuk]

hi guys,
i currently have a 4x2x2 foot tank, which makes that a 465 litre (119 us gallon) tank, and has from danios,minows and a shark to a small pleco and dwarf frog, around 25 fish in total(as i dont know how many khullis i have now!) and a few plants

thing is there cool fish and the kids love them but to be fair im loosing interest. so looking to swap over to a predator fish. ive not done a whole lot of research other then on red belly piranhas. as i know my lfs does these, and are my first choice


the tank and filters are coming on 8-9 months mature now, there have not been any diseases or deaths in the last 2 months, (last one was a minnow that go stuck in the external filter and was thin but fought on for a good 4 weeks!) but wondering if its wise to change the water completely and run boiling water though the filter media and starting from a fresh or if im good to just use the water i haveand good bactiria in the filters. also my ph is the low end of ph 7

the substrate is sand, and i have two external ehlem filters with mts snails inside giving me a good helping hand! water is near enough crystal clear!

so are red bellys the best forme,and how many in my tank size?
whats the best diet for them, i also dont plan to use feeder fish, and i know there fed mussles and cooked fresh water shrimp,(should i buy de shelled or not?)

as for any answers regarding my kids and keeping these type of fish, they apsolutly know not to touch the tank, and have never been caught or known to do so, but i plan to buy a latch type lock with a small padlock which will prevent the lid from being lifted for my piece of mind, as you never can know!

thanks for reading and hope to soon get some piranhas!

 

[erk628]

Don't know anything about piranhas but just wanted to say I wouldn't mess with the water or media just put them in there. If there hasn't been any diseases lately no reason to mess with it.

 

[matuk]

ok thanks. ive got a rock stack along the back, i plan to do is dismantle that and re arange find a big piece of bog wood and soak it till most of the taning has gone.

plant a lot of back ground plants along with grasses and foreground plants.

also think normal amano shrimp will be good to clean up any waste

problem i face is keeping the filters alive while i make sure the tank is set up right decor wise,id hate to crash the ph and cycle thats going on in the tank.

also id like to remove all the mts snails i have and go for a non breeding nerite snail like zebra snails. only due to the fact keeping snail eating fish is kinda out of the question with rbp's

also forgot to say i have a 1000l/hr power head, but thinking of buying one of those wave makers.

 

[erk628]

Don't know about the shrimp never owned any but I would imagine. What are you gonna do with the fish that are in there now

 

[matuk]

well i have a small tank which is just plant and shrimp,but thinking of keeping the minnows as there small. the rest, im not sure, i might well keep the pleco, as there will be plently hiding place, i understand the risks but the baby rbp are living with plecos any how,and hes a beutiful 2" BN male so if i was to keep any it would be him


also the fish store is the best i know, very healthy fish, know exactly what there talking about,and have been talked out of a sale a few times because of compatibly issues.

the fish store will take my fish and likely give me store credit towards the new fish.
if they dont then i know a few people with tanks,

also thinking i might keep the khulli loaches, if your not sure what these are, there like eel looking fish, that burrow in sand and are very very quick,and are also very very hard to catch!!!

 

[erk628]

well i have a small tank which is just plant and shrimp,but thinking of keeping the minnows as there small. the rest, im not sure, i might well keep the pleco, as there will be plently hiding place, i understand the risks but the baby rbp are living with plecos any how,and hes a beutiful 2" BN male so if i was to keep any it would be him


also the fish store is the best i know, very healthy fish, know exactly what there talking about,and have been talked out of a sale a few times because of compatibly issues.

the fish store will take my fish and likely give me store credit towards the new fish.
if they dont then i know a few people with tanks,

also thinking i might keep the khulli loaches, if your not sure what these are, there like eel looking fish, that burrow in sand and are very very quick,and are also very very hard to catch!!!

Would you be able to take your fish in the fish store and pick up the piranhas at the same time that way you filters wont have to set without an ammonia source?

 

[matuk]

thats a good idea actually. i have a large poly box i use for water changes and fish transportation. the only problem is re arranging the rocks and siving and cleaning all the sand in tank, as i know there be food left overs stuck under the rocks,and then dropping the tank water 2/3rds to remove the stured up crap.

unless i start tomorrow with the sand,which will allow the amonia and debries to settle and even out, also buy bog wood too.let that soak in hot water in the bath a good few time. ask the shop if this is possible to do that and then possibly friday take the fish out, place the bog wood in, rearrange the rocks and fit the plants then go swap fish! sounds complicated but i think at least that way itll only be a few hours with no fish, or 1 if i decide to keep the pleco and then the tank willbe fully ready!

 

[erk628]

thats a good idea actually. i have a large poly box i use for water changes and fish transportation. the only problem is re arranging the rocks and siving and cleaning all the sand in tank, as i know there be food left overs stuck under the rocks,and then dropping the tank water 2/3rds to remove the stured up crap.

unless i start tomorrow with the sand,which will allow the amonia and debries to settle and even out, also buy bog wood too.let that soak in hot water in the bath a good few time. ask the shop if this is possible to do that and then possibly friday take the fish out, place the bog wood in, rearrange the rocks and fit the plants then go swap fish! sounds complicated but i think at least that way itll only be a few hours with no fish, or 1 if i decide to keep the pleco and then the tank willbe fully ready!

Well if you just left the pleco in there depending on how long it was the BB would end up dying because it wouldn't get enough food it would die until there was only enough left to cover what the pleco produces. The driftwood is going to take more then a couple days to soak. If it was me doing what your wanting to do I would wait until the day I wanted to get the piranha call LFS to make sure they would take my fish take everything out of the tank so I could suck all the waste out go ahead rearrange the tank the way I wanted it. Then gather up the fish go to LFS drop them off pick up the piranha go home put them in the tank. You could always add the bogwood later.

 

[KittyKat]

ive not done a whole lot of research other then on red belly piranhas. as i know my lfs does these, and are my first choice

[...]

thanks for reading and hope to soon get some piranhas!

I hope you don't mind me asking, but why piranhas? What do you find attractive about them?

 

[matuk]

ive not done a whole lot of research other then on red belly piranhas. as i know my lfs does these, and are my first choice

[...]

thanks for reading and hope to soon get some piranhas!

I hope you don't mind me asking, but why piranhas? What do you find attractive about them?

good question, i gave it some thought when deciding if they are what i want.
i have always been in to snakes and spiders and kept a few of both over time, maybe its the non tame feeling you get. snakes and spiders can be handled (i didnt handle spiders) but its just something you never know if your going to get tagged.
with a dog/cat/community fish there pretty much a safe pet i suppose you can say theres no real excitement! with piranhas you can't have your hand in the water so theres the non tame thing there i suppose

a little while back i was at my dads mates house and he had piranhas and when he fed them apiece of fish it just appealed to me, and i think it sparked my interest along with seeing them in the fish shop a month or so back.

 

[matuk]

.

Well if you just left the pleco in there depending on how long it was the BB would end up dying because it wouldn't get enough food it would die until there was only enough left to cover what the pleco produces. The driftwood is going to take more then a couple days to soak. If it was me doing what your wanting to do I would wait until the day I wanted to get the piranha call LFS to make sure they would take my fish take everything out of the tank so I could suck all the waste out go ahead rearrange the tank the way I wanted it. Then gather up the fish go to LFS drop them off pick up the piranha go home put them in the tank. You could always add the bogwood later.

i dont mean leaving it for ages, not having fish in for even 1 day wouldnt do any serious damage, but ill just sort it all out on one day, but ill start cleaning the sand a good week before i plan to get them.

i think id be best going to the fish shop and talk to the guy i know there. when i was last there we had a brief discussion about them but i didnt have any real plans to keep them so ill have to go talk about what they have there, also see if there take my fish as they have all come from them, and i can get my water tested too so they can see its heathly

 

[KittyKat]

I hope you don't mind me asking, but why piranhas? What do you find attractive about them?

good question, i gave it some thought when deciding if they are what i want.
i have always been in to snakes and spiders and kept a few of both over time, maybe its the non tame feeling you get. snakes and spiders can be handled (i didnt handle spiders) but its just something you never know if your going to get tagged.
with a dog/cat/community fish there pretty much a safe pet i suppose you can say theres no real excitement! with piranhas you can't have your hand in the water so theres the non tame thing there i suppose

a little while back i was at my dads mates house and he had piranhas and when he fed them apiece of fish it just appealed to me, and i think it sparked my interest along with seeing them in the fish shop a month or so back.

Thanks for the reply.. my ex-housemate used to have a snake which I really liked and handled almost every day, but I'm not sure I could compare it to piranhas!

 

[matuk]

no i wouldn't compare them, infact id say snakes are easier and cleaner to keep. plus there at least hand-able dependent on what species you have.
also after writing the above, i also think the predator factor is something to play with it, imean it doesn't have to be red bellies or even piranhas, but id have to look and see

i pursume your also looking to get piranhas?

 

[KittyKat]

no i wouldn't compare them, infact id say snakes are easier and cleaner to keep. plus there at least hand-able dependent on what species you have.
also after writing the above, i also think the predator factor is something to play with it, imean it doesn't have to be red bellies or even piranhas, but id have to look and see

i pursume your also looking to get piranhas?

No, not at all.. I actually find them quite dull, which is why I was wondering what you liked about them. I prefer fish who will interact with their environment or have an active behaviour. I find piranhas too static for my liking.

 

[simonas]

I set a piranha tank up a yr or so ago and had 9 5 inch piranha in there, whilst they are attractive fish their behaviour was so dull in the sense that I never found myself looking in and being interested in what they were ddoing. I only kept them for 3 months and sold them on and much prefer the discus set up I have now as I can have a variety of fish in there. I wouldn;t keep a bristlenose with RBP's eventually it will be eaten which isn;'t fair on the BN

Just a suggestion but snakeheads/channa make far more interesting predators for a species only tank. Try Channa Pulchra lovely fish and would look a trat in that tank you are suggesting