piranhas

[French Fry2]

anybody have any info on freshwater piranhas...:p :confused:

[slipknottin]

http://www.fishindex.com/phpinfo//106/1-1

[somefinnfishy]

I heard those "freshwater piranhas" are meaner than the saltwater one's:D

[spyderman]

try http://www.piranha-fury.com or http://www.predatoryfish.net
these sites are good for getting some good info on piranhas

[crash]

Piranha's, my favorite subject. Although I'm new to the fish hobby, I've gathered quite a bit of info on Piranha's.

To start, I'd like to say there's no such thing as a Saltwater Piranha, all Piranhas are native to freshwater rivers and some lakes, mostly the Amazon River.

Piranha's will eat anything pretty much. They are carnivours but that doesn't mean you have feed them meat. You can feed them fruits, veggies, pellets, freeze dried food, bugs. Even at adult size they'll eat this stuff. But you can feed them an array of live fish like brime shrimp, blood worms, night crawlers, any type of feeder fish, heck any fish that's smaller then it, they'll even eat another Piranha.

If your Piranha is small, and about 1-3 months old, you'd be able to feed it flakes yet, then move onto pellets or something along those lines. Along with guppies or some type of feeder fish.

Best tank mate for a Piranha is another Piranha. It's best to introduce all the Piranha's at the same time(when young), or they'll eat each other (once a Piranha is the dominate fish in the tank, it'll be hard to get anything else in there)

As for other tank mates, a lot of Pleco's and bottom feeders seem to work most of the time, as they lounge on the bottom, not really interfering with the Piranha, havn't had any problems with mine. Also a type of armored catfish might be helpful to get. Or any kind of armored fish what so ever.

Other options are getting a equally agressive fish, which could end up with both backing off each other and becoming friends (aww how sweet) Or one getting the best of the other. In any case, it's best to introduce the fish you want with your Piranha(s) when there young and small. Of course it never works out like it seems.

Bottom line is these creatures are unpredictable and you'll have to experiment when finding tank mates. Expect to lose at least some fish, it's all part of the game. But there's always the age old warning "Don't put any other fish with your Piranha". But doesn't hurt to try I guess. These guys semi-farely fast, in a years time they can be at about half there max length (max is 12in). So be prepared to house them in big enough conditions so they don't stress them selves out. And of course these are tropical fish, so always have a handy heater around for them.

[French Fry2]

thanxs a lot crash!!;)

[slipknottin]

So what size tank did you end up getting FF2? I know you were asking about 10 and 20 gallon tanks for awhile.

[somefinnfishy]

hey fry this guy on that piranha-fury board has $5 gold fry buy 5 get one free deal I'll split the shiping with you as I want some also.

[somefinnfishy]

I think he is doing research slip.
Good job ff2 study them good they arent the fish for everyone.
More than learning about the fish you need to learn the basics of cycleing,water testing and what your water tests are telling you.
Its a lot more than pluging in a HOB and filling with H2O.

[French Fry2]

slipknottin,i got a 20 can you erase all my ads about tanks???

[slipknottin]

Ill see what I can do.

[JohnMemorialHS]

saltwater piranhas do exist lol but the common name is all they share with freshwater piranhas.
http://home2.pacific.net.sg/~transins/MPiranha.htm

[somefinnfishy]

Eric inserts foot into mouth:rolleyes:

[crash]

When I say that only Freshwater Species of Piranha exist, I don't mean the name Piranha, I mean the species like serrasalmus nattereri or rhombus etc.. Sure the Bluefish (referred as the Bluefish more then a Marine Piranha) may be called a Piranha, but it's totally different. It's just the fact there is no "Species" of Piranha in saltwater.

[Philip]

I have a couple 2" red belly pirahnas in my 75 gal. They're great fish to keep. Just remember that they grow to 12" so you'll need to get a large tank if you plan on keeping them for a couple years. I think you can put 3-4 full grown in a 75 gal. They grow approx. 1" per month for the first 6 months and about 1" per year thereafter, or so I've been told. They are wonderful fish to watch and I really enjoy having them in my tank.

Major drawback is the fact that they severely limit what else I can put in my tank. I've provided plenty of room and hiding places for them and they continue (of course) to hunt down most everything else in the tank. I've currently got a pleco, which they don't mess with because he's just a turd factory and probably doesn't taste too good. I'm down to 1 cory, they finally caught the other one when he spazzed and forgot where his hiding spot was. Three crabs seem to hold there ground just fine in there as well. Anytime a pirahna comes within a few inches, they just throw the big claw up and the pirahna backs off. Any schooling fish, i.e. zebra danios, will be hounded constantly by aggressive fish like pirahnas. I put 9 zebras in the tank the other day and within ten seconds I lost one. Within 24 hrs, I lost 4. After a while the pirahnas get a little tired of chasing the fast zebras and they just hunker down and wait for me to drop some dinner (fresh shrimp) in. Overall, great fish. I still would like to add some color to the tank and I can't do that with the red-bellys in there.

[Philip]

Oh, I'd like to add that if you buy pirahnas, make sure that you get them all the same size. I lost a pirahna because he was a little smaller than the other ones. My mistake. He never hung out with the other two. I came home from work one day and couldn't find him. I doubt I vacuumed him out with the gravel.