piranhas

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