How Do Piranha Keepers Gravel Vac Their Tanks?

[fishnovice]

Was considering piranha but not sure about doing water changes. Don't fancy putting my hands in the tank to vac the substrate!
Also what do you do about feeding them when you go on holiday? None of my friends would handle worms etc

 

[simonas]

with your eyes wide open!!!

When I kept mine I just used to keep an eye on the fish as mine got a lot braver towards the end of my time with them, I never had a problem but there were times I had to remove my hands just in case

Feeding wise whilst on holiday, these fish really are messy and put a lot of strain on the filter.. so you wouldn;t want them fed too regularly whilst away but to avoid cannabilism maybe fed once or twice whilst your away. I fed mine up before I went away

Simon

 

[fishnovice]

Don't think I.m brave enough to put my hands in the tank! Do piranha owners wear gloves? How dangerous are they -can they bite off fingers? saw a Youtube video where one thug had his poor piranha out of the water in his hand and was forcing it to snap large twigs in two!The aquatic version of guys who keep fighting pit bulls I guess.

 

[sami the cichlid]

i used to have piranhas....vicious things. dont they sell longer gravel cleaners? so you dont have to put your hand in? anyway, when i had them, i think we just braved the hands in and watched the little buggers very carefully. (mine insisted on eating each other actually!)

as with feeding....i think i got friends to do it, sorry cant help there

 

[simonas]

You could use a long plastic instrument that you can buy to mess with plants , use that to unsettle the gravel and then get your gravel cleaner in to suck up the detritus. If your careful theres no chance those scaredy cat piranhas are going to come near you

 

[stevereade]

Mine never went near me when I was cleaning the tank out, they'd hide under the filter lol, I was quite shocked, but they were well fed

 

[Shelby]

Keep them well fed and watch them when you clean your tank. Mine all hide from me when I use the gravel vac. I have two tanks of them.

 

[Hunterprey]

Wonder if any human has been really attacked by piranhas. I saw this guy from River Monsters that swims with piranhas but was never attacked. And a guy inside a piranha tank cleaning the glass at a public aquarium.

 

[rayzz]

piranhas won't attack you anyway, thats just a myth, there has never ever been a single report of a piranhas attacking a human, i used to keep a group of spotted red bellies (forgotten their scientific name) and i used to mess around with the gravel, move wood and rocks around, all sorts and they never went near me, and considering i had a group of over ten, when they supposedly start their 'feeding frenzy's) they never took an interest, i'm pretty sure they would be more scared of your hand then you should be of them!

 

[1200assassin]

I agree with the comments above. They are more scared of your hand than you are of them. I never had a problem but kept mine in a 4 ft tank. They covered the entire 4 feet in less than a second one day when i hadnt fed them and dropped food into the tank. This did make me think twice. I created a tank divider. I would clean my tank half at a time with the fish safely trapped away from my hand. I hope this helps.