Pirhana tank size

[AnThRaXiD]

well. most of you guys are talking nonsense.
1st of all "small" piranhas like 6" dont exist. unless u keep them in 20g till the get stunt so they will stay 6" but their internal organs will keep growing till the fish dies.
2nd piranhas are 2 species. serrasalmus which in most cases get much bigger need much more room and are isolated species (that means they prefer to be alone with no other fish in their territory-tank ) and pygocentrus which are the typical piranha that everybody come to think when the piranha word is mentioned. pygocentrus nattereri (red bellied piranha) are the most well known piranhas tend to grow up to 10" and they need to be in a minimum group of 4-5. they will probably need 75g +. a nice school of 10 nats need at least 125g as a minimum. standard could be a 180g.
so dont be to happy like "wow piranhas are small cool they eat and tear apart live food I AM GONNA GET ONE" stop getting cocky. you get animals-fishes because you love them and want to take care of them not just to entertain you.
also feeding them mice, chicken etc is WRONG. example : a chicken walks through the amazon and OH the piranhas ate it... sure. or the mice would say it would go swimming through the piranhas and it got eaten to :/
piranhas can eat frozen food like all the other cichlids do. also adding a couple of fishes to eat 1 time per week is a must. but better take fish fillets and not live feeders because there is a big possibility for your fish to get infected of a bacteria and die.

thats all from me

any other questions feel free to ask

 

[AnThRaXiD]

I read that the cariba pirhana's stay pretty small, right?

well if you consider 10-12" small then they stay pretty small

 

[Sandtiger]

Well, no, I really don't consider that small. The artical I read (THF, Jan 2004 Top of the food chain by Brian M. Scott, Examination of Pygocentrus cariba Humbolt 1821 (Teleostie, Charaformes) ) said that normal aquarium length for these animals was 4-6 inches. He did say that they grow to 12" in nature but that it was more commen to see the 4-6 inch specimens in the aquarium trade.

 

[scubadude]

I doubt it. The big q is always 'what will you do with it when you're bored with it?'

Bored? I've had my RBP's for 4 yrs and I don't see myself getting bored with them any time soon. These things are jumpy! Every time someone sits on the sofa next to the tank they shoot all over the place blasting water out the top of the hood. The look on my girlfriends face when I have my arm in the tank to retrive uneaten food or clean the gravel... Heh..Heh..Everyone who has seen them is suprised at their speed and beauty, and of course they always want to see the fish eat. This rarely happens in front of strangers, my fish are very shy and won't eat unless they are relaxed. Now they have been spawning! I couldn't be more excited! I was caught by suprise the first 2 times they did it, but I've done some research and bought more equipment, and I feel that I'm ready for them to try again.
I admit that when I first decided to buy these fish it was based soley on witnessing the massacre of about a dozen rosies by 8 juvinile RBP's at the pet store. They were the first fish i ever bought and once i got into the hobby i really enjoyed it. I didn't see them eat but maby 5 or 6 times for the first 2 years, but now they have seemed to warm up to me. Now that they are trying to spawn they are extremly aggressive! Taking care of my fish is anything but boreing. I've flung more water on the celing than they have.

 

[Sandtiger]

I agree with you wholeheartdely and compleatly, I would never get bored with my P's (if I had them, that is). And watching them devour rosies is not my number one reason for wanting them. I like them because they are graceful, beautiful, and full of personality (Sound like some cichlids we know?). I also like them because they are misunderstood, kinda like me. Watching them massacer diseased feededrs is pretty far down on my "Top ten reasons for wanting pirhanas" list, in fact, it's number 30.

 

[scubadude]

Feeding live fish is a lot more work than what it's worth. 1 week quarentine unconditional, 2 weeks if any disease/parasite is observed, overstocked feeder tank when I buy a new batch that needs very close attention untill the stock is thined out.
And in spite of all these precautions I still worry about their health. The only reason I feed live fish is that they prefer the goldfish over anything I've tried. If they are hungry enough they will eat anything that hits the water, but they will barf it up later if they don't like it. Friends and visitors always want to see them "pacman" a goldfish with perfectly interlocking razor sharp pointy teeth, but I rarely watch them eat any more. By the time i put the net up it's over. Keeping them has been a great experience,and if you get the chance, get one. I doubt the pirana squad is going to bust down the door and raid your house. My favorite these days is the look on someone's face when i stick my arm in the tank.

 

[AnThRaXiD]

well "personality"
mmm seen lots of tetras with personality? skitish fish.
had 3 tanks for 1.5 year with 3 different p species.
a 200g with a school of 19 mixed pygocentrus (10rbps 9" ,5 caribes 10" , 3 ternetzi 11" and 2 piraya 9")
an 125g with a single serassalmus rohmbeus
and another 125g with a serassalmus manuelli

i tried to get fascinated by everything i even managed to get a pair of the caribes and a pair of the nats to spawn. never saw the babies though

whatever they are everything else in fish world but no personality i can guarantee that ^^ (btw i hope when u said about p's personality compared to a well known for us cichlid.. u didnt meant oscars.-)

 

[Sandtiger]

What I meant was, is that p's have a lot of personality for a characin! I was not comparing them to Oscars, okay! Lighten up! *SUNSMILE*

 

[Sandtiger]

Oh, and BTW, I did know a tetra with a personality. It was a neon, my first tropical schooling fish. I named the fish Maralyn Monroe, because it was alsways putting on a show.

 

[AnThRaXiD]

What I meant was, is that p's have a lot of personality for a characin! I was not comparing them to Oscars, okay! Lighten up! *SUNSMILE*

mmmmm

I like them because they are graceful, beautiful, and full of personality (Sound like some cichlids we know?).

after all it sounds like you either think tetras are cichlid or i dont even wish to know ^^

 

[FroggyFox]

ease up Anthrax...she wasn't saying tetras are cichlids or that pirhanas are cichlids...she was comparing them. How about we stick to the topic guys?

 

[scubadude]

P's spend all their lives in constant fear of one another, in their world the strong survive. The only thing they fear more than one another is us, to them we are the biggest predator in their world. They do have personalty, but you won't see any of it unless you give them some room and observe them from a distance. It took 2&1/2 yrs for my fish to be comfortable enough to eat in front of me, and still, if you approach the tank too quickly, KAWOOSH! fright response. And I'm not talking about harassing them I'm talking about casually sitting down on the sofa. If you really want to see P's for who they are have patience and respect their personal space as much as possible.

 

[Sandtiger]

ease up Anthrax...he wasn't saying tetras are cichlids or that pirhanas are cichlids...he was comparing them. How about we stick to the topic guys?

Um, Froggy? Not sure if you know this, but I'm a girl. But it's cool. *SUNSMILE*

 

[FroggyFox]

Soo sorry Sandtiger!

 

[Sandtiger]

Like I said, It's cool. I've been called a guy before, I just want to make sure peolpe know.
No worries.

 

[AnThRaXiD]

btw SD been there done that :!

 

[scubadude]

Back on the original subject, I have 2 P's in a 55 and the large one is really fat. I'm wondering if she's beginning to stunt and feel like they may be cramped up in there. I would like them to be able to reach full size. A larger tank may cut down on the fright responses that are so common. Big tanks are sooo expensive at all my lfs, I don't think i can afford to go big just yet.

Any opinions? The people i bought my tank from said it was big enough for three, but i think they were more interested in selling than keeping the fish happy.

 

[Sandtiger]

I think a 55 is good, but if she's starting to stunt you might want to get another, bigger tank. Another thought, is it possible that she has eggs? Or that she's ready to breed? That might be another reason.

 

[scubadude]

I would love to get a bigger tank just to have one! I just can't do it right now.

Your idea about her fatness may be right on the money. They have spawned twice and have been all crazy for the past month. She's getting beat up with the high temp getting the male all jacked up. I'm going to stop messing with the tank trying to get them to spawn and just care for them like i always have. They seemed to be more prone to spawning behavior at lower temp anyway. Then again, they may never spawn again according the info I've found. Stuff said that you need a lot of luck along with perfect water conditions. Oh well I'm just going to let them do their own thing.

 

[jessejamespdx]

My opinion would be at least a 55 to start but even this wont last long. From what I have read and experienced is they (RBP) are scared easily and require a school of them (more than 5 at least, maybe 7 to be safe) to get the type of experience you really want.

scuba dude knows what he is talking about with the two lights this is a must

USE A TANK DIVIDER ALWAYS TO BE SAFE

I researched my setup for quite some time before diving in
and found that a long tank is best, also allow for room between the waters surface and the actual lid. In my case I removed the glass tops & got a canopy that allows for plenty of room so that when they strike they dont chip their teeth on it or worse break a lid apart which with my 10"+ isnt hard at all for him to do.

REMEMBER WHAT I LEARNED THE HARD WAY

Think It through First: its easy to say I'll just move this plant but once you have a tank with LIVE piranhas swimming around it isnt that easy

Good Luck & Holler if you have any more ???