What is wrong with my piranha?

[sqibb]

I got a new pirhana a few days ago and i put him in a tank on his own. he is only 3"long and he has more than enough room in the aquarium. it is planted with a sand substrate and slate decor. he seems to be a bit upset or ill or something. he seems to sit at the bottom of the tank on the sand (fins just touching the sand) and hides an enormous amount. he is very very dosile and doesn't tend to swim around midwater in the middle of the tank at all. sometimes he even swims at a funny angle. he doesn't seem to be eating anything. i gave him a few shreds of wafer thin ham and he ate those. i also gave him some raw bacon but he was pretty quick to spit that out. and he shows no interest in anything generally at all. i have put a couple of teaspoons of salt in the tank but it doesn't seem to have helped anything at all. can somebody please please help me!!!!!

 

[Sean_Buckley]

It could be that the processed foods aren't good for him, and they also need to be in a school. You should be feeding lean meat like fish, and the occasional beef heart, and get him some pals. Pirahnas are a characin, so they like to be in a school, because they give off hormones in the event of danger or a feeding frenzy, which makes them feel more secure if they know they have extra danger-spotters.
Sean

 

[sqibb]

basically at the moment i have a small tank that he is in. but i am setting up a 90x38x30 tank for him to go in
i am told that this is not big enough for more than one fully grown piranah and i do not want to have to get rid of fish because they get too big.
is there anything i can do to make him normal without filling my tank up with fish i would eventually have to reject in some way shape or form>?

 

[clutterydrawer]

if you dont have room for a shoal of piranha, you shouldnt be keeping them...

 

[freshmike]

P's just don't do well on their own. Probably very lonely.

 

[Opcn]

Sgibb those cm's or inches?if its inches that will be enought room if cm's You need to go bigger. You need to get this fish with others Quickly otherwise when you do add him to a shoal he will be poorly adapted socially and weak and he will become dinner. Pirahnas Eat fish that is what 95% of there diet consists of in nature not shrimp not worms not bugs but fresh water fish so head down to the market and get your self a few filets if you are going to keep him. But you really need to get that one in with a shoal I can't stress that enought

 

[NinjaSmurf]

My brother kept one by it's self and it was fine, but I definetely wouldn't be feeding it what you have been, get some feeder goldfish or frozen stuff at a fish store.

 

[andywg]

My understanding is that how you keep piranhas depends on the species.

I seem to recall reading that Red Bellied should be in a shoal of 5 min but some other species - Black or [Gold? I forget some of the species] - are better kept alone as they live alone in the wild and tend to be heavily aggressive to their kind.

As for the problem, I would concentrate on trying to give it some fish based food as I think it is quite rare (though not impossible) that they would happen upon a pig in the river in the wild.

HTH

Andy

 

[sylvia]

I would suggest feeding it liver or heart and fish. Don't buy feeder fish unless you are prepaired to quarantine them for at least a month. Alternatively, get yourself some mollies or guppies and breed them yourself. Being river fish, I think piranhas like slightly soft, acidic water and would probably appreciate some current though I am not entirely sure. Also, I think it would now be difficult to introduce this fish into a shoal - it would probably be eaten.