Piranha

[joe2003]

Hi everyone

I just wanted to ask all you pirahna owners or anyone that knows anything about pirahna a question.

My friend currently has 6 red belly and a couple of carbie in a massive tank, must be close to 200 gal. Anyway, he wants to get rid of one of the red belly. When I mean get rid of I mean RIP, apparently it is a bully. Now I thought that this was really evil of him, and I told him. So, as I still have an empty 115 litre, freshly cycled tank with no stock ideas at present I was thinking about adopting him. But before I agree I want input from you guys. First off, is this tank big enough , he is only about 6 inchs at the moment but they can grow upto 12 inches. I should probly let you know that I intend for him to be in there alone.

Second of all, filtration. It only has the fluval plus 2 internal that it came with, this would be fine for a normal selection of fish but not for a P's. What would you all recommend I went out and got to replace it?

Do I need to fit power heads to the tank, I think they need a sted current in the tank.

Lastly, what can I feed him, I mean is there a pellet type food that anyone could recommend?

Any help would be really great!

 

[smb]

Hi joe, I answered some of your questions in your pm before I knew you posted this but a couple points were brought up I wasn't previously aware of. So I'll answer them and won't go into too much detail about what I already replied to. If you have any other questions, please ask.

What size are all of these fish? What exactly is the rbp doing to the other fish? IME, caribe tend to be meaner than rbp's but as with anything in the fish World, there are always exceptions.

Filtration, I would get an Emperor 400. This would work well in 30g and even give you some play because you won't have to turn it all the way up if you didn't want to. Powerheads, if need be, may be used but with that filtration, it might be a bit too much to add them on, although I know some that do with no perceived problems. P's do like current, it keeps them more active and more muscular. Whatever you decide to use, just make sure they have a spot that is void of any current whatsoever.

Feeding- You can feed them just about anything at all. I mix in peas (which some p's will eat, some won't touch) cichlid flakes, veggie flakes, frozen shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, krill, bloodworms, cichlid pellets, earthworms,grocery store bought beefheart and live fish. I usually always keep live fish in there for them to eat even if I feed them every day. I have a tank that I use as a quarantine for them and let them breed for a steady supply. If larger than 4-5", I wouldn't feed more than 5 times a week, larger than 6-7" or so, I wouldn't feed more than 3 times a week but much larger meals at each feeding. Not anything I do that is written in stone, just a general guideline per se. With p's, you want them to have a slight belly bulge when done feeding but nothing too pronounced.

Like I already mentioned, a 30 gallon is too small for life and if I were you, I'd get a 55g and add 2 more p's to it. They are shoaling fish and do better with others. A single rbp will just sit and hide most likely. If you were to get into the Serrasalmus Genus of piranhas, then you would want single fish but not so much with Pygo's.

 

[joe2003]

Hi

Thanks for your continued support.

Just for info, the rbp actually ate the complete rear end of the carbie, the head was left, but this was about it, There is no way that this rb can be put in with anything else.

 

[smb]

No problem.

Wow, he sounds like a cool rbp, imo.

Is this a store bought rbp or a Super Red special ordered?