New To Fish. Not To Keeping Difficult Specimen.

[SgtSparkles]

Hello everybody, I've recently decided to branch out into fish. For the past 8 years I've kept, raised, and bred dozens of species of Tarantula including some of the most demanding old world specimen. During that time I ran a reptile rescue with at one point 27 lizards. my entire basement was built and wired for this purpose. I became known mostly though for what i could do to aquariums, not with water in them but with landscapes for invertebrates both terrestrial and arboreal.

I was going to use one of my many spare 40 breeder tanks for an initial freshwater piranha setup but in the process of helping somebody move stumbled my way into a free 90 gallon. So now a 90 gallon tropical setup is in the works and I've reinforced all of my floor joists. I am enjoying the new frontier that is aquatics and the fact that I feel completely out of my depth like when I got my first tarantula.

 

[trash.binh91]

You can have up to 4 red bellied piranhas in a 90 gallon.

 

[SgtSparkles]

You can have up to 4 red bellied piranhas in a 90 gallon.

The only problem is my lps can't get them and I'm failing to find them online

 

[trash.binh91]

The only problem is my lps can't get them and I'm failing to find them online

Do you have a lfs?

 

[trash.binh91]

The only problem is my lps can't get them and I'm failing to find them online

There are also some on ebay.

 

[SgtSparkles]

Do you have a lfs?

Yes. My lps is a LFS. They are great but all of their distributors are in states that don't allow piranha

 

[Fish345]

Exodon paradoxus is way cooler. lol.

 

[trash.binh91]

Also, if you are starting off in the fish world, I don't recommend piranhas.

 

[Colin_T]

Piranha (pronounced pee run ya) need to be kept in groups and must be well fed. They are not a beginners fish and are not allowed to be kept in certain countries, or certain states in the USA. If you live in the US, it is illegal to keep them in the warmer states. This is to stop people releasing them into local waterways where the fish would survive.

Even when kept in large groups and well fed, they tend to nip each other and dominant fish will often kill other fish in the group. Eventually most people end up with 1 pr or 1 big male.

They need good water quality and regular water changes to keep them healthy.

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I would suggest more common types of fish for a new fish keeper, perhaps cichlids, gouramis, tetras and barbs.

If you go to your local pet shop and have a look around, then write down a list of fish that you like the looks of and post that list on here. We can go through it and make suggestions as to which fish will coexist.

When you go to the pet shop, take a glass full of tap water with you and ask the pet shop to test the general hardness (GH) and pH of the water. Write the results down (in numbers) when they test it, and post the results here. Some pet shops charge a small fee for water testing to cover the cost of the test kits they use.

Some fish naturally live in soft water (has low levels of minerals) and some fish live in hard water (has lots of minerals). If you put fish in the wrong type of water (eg: soft water fish into hard water), the fish won't do as well and could die before their time.

 

[SgtSparkles]

Piranha (pronounced pee run ya) need to be kept in groups and must be well fed. They are not a beginners fish and are not allowed to be kept in certain countries, or certain states in the USA. If you live in the US, it is illegal to keep them in the warmer states. This is to stop people releasing them into local waterways where the fish would survive.

Even when kept in large groups and well fed, they tend to nip each other and dominant fish will often kill other fish in the group. Eventually most people end up with 1 pr or 1 big male.

They need good water quality and regular water changes to keep them healthy.

-----------------------
I would suggest more common types of fish for a new fish keeper, perhaps cichlids, gouramis, tetras and barbs.

If you go to your local pet shop and have a look around, then write down a list of fish that you like the looks of and post that list on here. We can go through it and make suggestions as to which fish will coexist.

When you go to the pet shop, take a glass full of tap water with you and ask the pet shop to test the general hardness (GH) and pH of the water. Write the results down (in numbers) when they test it, and post the results here. Some pet shops charge a small fee for water testing to cover the cost of the test kits they use.

Some fish naturally live in soft water (has low levels of minerals) and some fish live in hard water (has lots of minerals). If you put fish in the wrong type of water (eg: soft water fish into hard water), the fish won't do as well and could die before their time.

My water is reverse osmosis filtered. All 90 gallons. My lfs provides testing and starter bacteria free. My fish store owner and I went to classes together. I currently have a 10 gallon with a red tail shark, koi angel fish, a dojo loach, and 3 fancy guppies

 

[Colin_T]

How long have you had the 10 gallon for?

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Reverse Osmosis (R/O) water normally has no minerals in and is considered very soft. It is a good idea to add some minerals to R/O water to increase the hardness to 100ppm+ depending on species that you keep. The minerals will help stabilise the pH and prevent it dropping suddenly.

Depending on what you end up keeping, you might need to increase the GH to more than 100ppm.

Piranha live in soft water so a GH around 100ppm would be fine. If you use pure R/O water the pH will probably drop rapidly due to the food going into the tank.

If the guppy tank is R/O water too, then you should increase the GH for them. Livebearers struggle in soft water with no minerals and naturally occur in water with a GH above 200ppm and pH above 7.0.

 

[trash.binh91]

My water is reverse osmosis filtered. All 90 gallons. My lfs provides testing and starter bacteria free. My fish store owner and I went to classes together. I currently have a 10 gallon with a red tail shark, koi angel fish, a dojo loach, and 3 fancy guppies

Hate to tell you this, but that amount of fish in that tank is very, very bad. Your shark will grow up to be very aggresive, and will eventually need an 80 gal tank. Your koi angelfsh will need at least a 40gal, and your loach a 55gal (and a group of 2 more loaches). Your guppies can stay in the 10al, so before even starting your piranha tank, you need to fix your current fish issues.

 

[Fish345]

My water is reverse osmosis filtered. All 90 gallons. My lfs provides testing and starter bacteria free. My fish store owner and I went to classes together. I currently have a 10 gallon with a red tail shark, koi angel fish, a dojo loach, and 3 fancy guppies

Your tank is WAY overstocked!!

 

[trash.binh91]

Your tank is WAY overstocked!!

I wouldn't trust aqadvisor....

 

[Fish345]

I wouldn't trust aqadvisor....

I only use it for a general idea. Which is my I asked the experts on this forum. lol. aquadvisor doesn't take into account everything.

Your only 13?? I cant talk because I'm only 15.