Pirahna

[simon]

I must confess I have a weekness for oddballs, and about three months ago I couldn't resist buying three jeuvinile red-bellied pirahna (one of which the other two ate ).
When I bought them I was told that they had been happily surviving on frozen bloodworm, which they continued to eat happily with occassional pieces of beef until about a month ago. Since then all I can get them to eat is fish...which they will only eat sparingly and often much is wasted and quickly fouls the water.
Now I'm concerned that they are not eating sufficiently. Does anyone have any advice?

 

[FloridaFishGuy]

Well i dont know much about Pirahnas but i do know that the more fish in the school the less shy they are. Since there are only 2 left since they ate the other one they might be getting more shy and afriad. If i were you i would look to see if they are overly shy and afraid.

 

[CFC]

Im afraid that fouled water is a problem you have when keeping large piscavors
Feed your pirahnas just once or twice a week and then do a large (50%) water change about 2 hours after making sure to hoover up any uneaten food. Large filtration is also a must with these type of fish, i would recomend two big external canister filters each rated to the tank size.
When you feed your pirahnas try to avoid live feeders and use fillets of fish from the fishmongers/super market which have much more nutritional value and cannot pass on diseases.

 

[simon]

Thanks. Currently I'm feeding them on the waste when they fillet fish at our local fishmonger (and believe me they waste an awful lot...there's enough fish left attatched to a head to make another fillet!) which they get twice a week. Fortunately the fishmonger is prepared to let me take the heads for free...usually cod so there's no chance of cross-contamination of disease.
I'm completely opposed to feeding live vertabrates to the pirahna...even if this might make them a bit more active.
Admitedly my filtration is a problem...currently I'm working with a single "Fluval 4 Plus" internal power filter (which was fine when they were small, but now they have grown considerably). I hope to upgrade to external filtration shortly. And I currently change 50% of the water weekly with the pirahna.

And with regards to there only being 2. They are relatively active (especially in the shade provided by floating plants and bogwood). Probably I need a large school, but my local supplier has difficulty getting many oddball species (probably due to lack of demand), and I don't think my tank could cope with many more pirahna anyway.

 

[macpegg]

I got a call from my lfs and adviced me that she had a red belly piranha.. someone brought it in, as the guy got had it sold to him as he was told it was a fruit eating pacu..lol... Anywayz i have him in a 3ft tank at the mo.. and i only manged to get one.. will i need to get another so he is not lonely???

 

[CFC]

When keeping pirahna keep one or lots (since they are a shoaling fish they should allways be kept in groups of 5 or more IMO), if kept in pairs or even groups of 3 one fish will always become dominant and eventually kill the other fish. Since pirahna get quite large the smallest tank they should be kept in would be a 40 gallon for a single fish or 100 gallons plus for a shoal of 5 or more, tanks should either be heavily planted or dimly lit as they are very shy and easily frightened.

 

[smb]

Wrap your lighting in a barbershop-like pattern with electrical tape. rbp's hate bright lighting. You should definately get great filtration and I would recommend an Emperor. What size is your tank?

What size are the rbp's? It's always best, like CFC mentioned, to have more than 2. The dominate one will usually kill the other one when there's only 2 but depending on how big they are you might not be able to add any anyways w/o them ganging up on him.

If your rbp's are over 4-5" they usually won't mess with bloodworms anymore. I'm assuming since you've had them 3 months now they are at least that?

Try feeding frozen peas. I usually had good luck with that. Just boil them and pop the skin off. You could also try shrimp and earthworms as they love that.

I got a call from my lfs and adviced me that she had a red belly piranha.. someone brought it in, as the guy got had it sold to him as he was told it was a fruit eating pacu..lol... Anywayz i have him in a 3ft tank at the mo.. and i only manged to get one.. will i need to get another so he is not lonely???

Unless you have a huge tank, I wouldn't get any more Pacu's. They can grow to 30" and are one of the fastest growing fish. They don't usually grow to 30" in aquariums but they have the potential and get very large still.

 

[simon]

I'm keeping them in a 3ft tank (12" wide, 15" high) atm - I don't know what would equate to for water volume. I'll probably upgrade then to my 4ft soon (hopefully they wouldn't do to much damage to my 'Nymphaea stellata' bulbs).
Both specimens are up to about 7" now.

And thanks, I'll give 'em a try on some earthworms tommorrow.

 

[smb]

Both specimens are up to about 7" now.

Whoa. OK don't add anything to that tank then. They will almost surely gang up on him/them. If you have another cycled tank you could try putting those 2 in it and get 2 more rbp's and put the new ones in the show tank for 3-7 days until they are just getting comfortable. Feed them really well 2 days straight, do a 50% water change and move all rocks plants etc around and put the other 2 in there. This "might" work as it's worked for me quite a few times. The thing is you have to have 2 new ones for best success. Not that 1 won't work but IME with just 1 new one he's still at a disadvantage. If you do get just 1 more he has to be no more than 1" smaller than the other 2. If you get 2 more the new ones can be 2-3" smaller and it's best that they are since this is now "their" territory.

I know it sounds screwed up but I've spent many hours studying Piranhas and cichlids and their behaviour. There is no sure 1 way to ever do anything but only best percentages is all I give.

How are the crawlers working out for you? Being that they are 7" is why they won't touch the smaller food.

 

[knutty]

i feed mine earthworms. they love them and make a lot less mess than chicken livers. stay away from beef- too high in fat. mine get fed each night. they seem to be happy and it keeps them from nipping at each other. i have 2 medium ( 4-5 inches long). looking to get rid of them soon to a good home if anyone is interested. i am in Dayton, OH USA.

 

[smb]

i have 2 medium ( 4-5 inches long). looking to get rid of them soon to a good home if anyone is interested. i am in Dayton, OH USA.

Oh man getting rid of them already? At 4-5" you've only had them for about 3 months or so right? If I may ask, why are you getting rid of them?

Don't worry, I'm not asking to debate you or talk you out of it but it helps me to know why for my studies and future knowledge is all.

 

[glubglub]

Give them some live comets to eat or if they are too small still for the comets feed them some feeder guppies or feeder minnows. They will love you for it Not only do they get a meal but the fun of chasing it around the tank.

 

[macky1]

i have a single 9inch red bellie pirahna in a 40 gallon tank
and i feed him on a 9 inch sandeel every other day
he makes short work of it

but sometimes with the light on he wont touch it

just flick the light off for an hour and the food will be eaten

hope this helps

macky

 

[knutty]

i have found that keeping a single RBP makes them very skiddish. They are not used to fighting for teritory and do not come out when the lights are on. I also know that keeping two will result in having only one after some time. I have a cave system and the each have their own space. I try to keep them well fed. I had a third but he got larger faster and started picking on the other two very badly. I am thinking about converting my tank to saltwater and i do not want any harm to come to the RBPs. I am afraid that one will go alpha soon and take the other one out. I am not sure though. they have their own space and stay full. hmm. i am always on the edge about getting rid of them. I made a moonlight system that sheds just a small amount of blue light into the tank at night. This seems to keep them less afraid when the tubes come on ( which are set on a timer for 14 hours a day).

 

[simon]

I did as suggested and rapped lecy tape around my tube, and the pirahna are a little more active now that the light isn't as fierce.
I also tried them on some live food, and they enjoyed that (but it is a bit of a harsh and potentially expensive way to feed them).

Now all I've got to do is pick up the courage to dare try to move them into a larger home.