Getting a Pirhana...help!!

[cichlidmaster]

OK bacvk to the matter at hand.............

Hows bout a short story from experience........


Many years ago, I too owned a RBP. It was around 10" and I housed it in a 29 gallon tank. Ya ya get off my back

Anyway.....as I said I had it in a 29 gallon tank in my living room cause I thought it would be cool to own one.

I used to feed it feeders, but all it would do is hide in a corner. So I tried minnows.

that was even worse....it would not touch them, but every morning I would find the tank so cloudy. Seems the thing would bite the minnows in half, but not eat them after lights were out.

Finally found out after a little research...(this was before the home computer and site like this one) that they did better in shoals!!!

Traded it to the LFS for something or other.

My point being.......any aggressive fish worth anything will NOT do well in that small a tank!!!!!

Sorry!!!!!

CM

 

[MarshmallowXXX]

I am not taking anything out on anything. My God. I care for everything I own and have ever owned. Jesus Christ. I have had a rottweiler and I have had a rattlesnake because they are agressive. It fits me. No one else has ever said anything like you all do, no matter who I have spoken to. You make it sound like you are in the EPA or something. I just wanted some advice, not people ripping on me or my style.


Please just help me with what I am asking about.


JUGGALO RYDAZ of St. Louis

 

[MarshmallowXXX]

Thanks CM, you are the only one to help me out so far. I appreciate your efforts. I am taking everything into serious consideration.


JUGGALO RYDAZ of St. Louis

 

[juanveldez]

as I have said in the past I used to own 2 Red Bellied Pirhanas and I will tell you right now that a 29 wouldn't even beable to house a Red bellied pirhana ( or at least for long) and you see the prob is that okay you want to start with one. but two things are true as they were stated, number one they do better in groups, and two if you start with one as a baby Yes you can start with a 29 but I can tell you right now that in about 2-4 months you will have to spend the money to get at least a 55-75 gallon tank. another thing to take into consideration is that once your one pirhana gets larger you will not be able to get another one that will be of enough size that it will equal the size of your other one.

 

[MarshmallowXXX]

thanks juan.....i am thinking about going to a convict chiclid now.......those i can house in a smaller environment, correct?


JUGGALO RYDAZ of St. Louis

 

[CFC]

Going for a pair (male female) of convicts would be a much better idea and as long as they are the only fish in the tank there would be pleanty of room, just be prepared for loads of babies, they dont call convicts water bunnies for nothing.

Another suggestion that i was thinking of would be tiger barbs, they would suit someone into dominance and submision well. There is always one dominant male who keeps all the other fish in order by using aggression and violence and there is always in house fighting within the rest of the group, in a 29 you could get a good size shoal going.

 

[saltydog]

SMALL TANK----- no! no! no! wont work !
GOOD LUCK GOOD FISHIN" 8)

 

[MarshmallowXXX]

so 2 convicts would be ok for a 29 gal?


JUGGALO RYDAZ of St. Louis

 

[CFC]

IMO as long as they are a male female pair they will be fin in a 29g as long as they are the only fish in there.

 

[MarshmallowXXX]

sounds good. thanks for your help.



JUGGALO RYDAZ of St. Louis

 

[Squimps]

Well, I was about halfway down the thread and was getting ready to suggest Convicts but it seems that someone beat me to it. Nonetheless, I just wanted to chime in on the "live food" discussion. I think that offering your fish an occasional treat of live food whether it is earthworms, crickets, or other smaller fish is perfectly acceptable and natural. It is fascinating to watch the natural behaviors of your fish as they chase their prey. It also improves the overall health of your fish if you make appropriate dietary choices. In the wild, your fish certainly wouldn't be snacking on TetraMin flake or cichlid pellets. In my opinion, watching predator and prey is a natural part of life and should be respected as long as it is not treated as a blood sport. Although Marshmallow may have come across wrongly to some of you guys, I'm assuming his interests are noble enough and not malicious.

 

[MarshmallowXXX]

I appreciate your post Squimps......because everyone here obviously look at my post as a crude and vile thing. When really, all I wanted to do was exactly what you are suggesting. Thanks


JUGGALO RYDAZ of St. Louis

 

[juanveldez]

I also agree that feeding live foods to my fish is not only a good thing to do but an essential part of their lives.

 

[Alien Anna]

I also agree that feeding live foods to my fish is not only a good thing to do but an essential part of their lives.

It isn't necessarily an essential part of their lives - most responsible owners of carnivorous fish will only feed live feeders if their fish can't be fed anything else, and will attempt to wean them on to dead food ASAP.

Even places like Bristol Zoo almost never use feeder fish, and they've got all sorts of exotics.

 

[CFC]

I keep many predatory species and the only one ive not managed to ween off live fish is my chaca chaca (frogmouth catfish), unfortunately even though i only feed it once a month it still refuses anything but live fish . I even managed to get my now deceased needle fish to take frozen lance fish (silversides?) which anyone who has ever kept them will tell you is not a easy task.

The other predators i keep are 2 shovelnose catfish, a australian arowana, a siamese tiger fish, 3 species of polypterus (bichirs), and ceylonese green snakeheads. All these fish are fed on a diet of frozen feeders, whole mussels and whole cockles as well as pellets for carnivorous fish and live foods like bloodworms, crickets and shrimps and are healthy happy fish.