im helping to set up a tank with a freind of mine, and he wants piranah's. what a surpise. well the store i work at just got in a bunch of wild grown redbrested prianahs. SO, what i ask may seem stupid, but since i have never really found piranahs intresting (although these wild ones seem cool) what i want to know is, what would make suitible tank mates for 2 or 3 piranah's in a rather large tank (70 - 100) im actually not expecting any fish to survive, but i am curious if there are any.
piranah
- Thread starter Dan the Moose
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Uh, more piranhas I guess. They're not very social toward other species, IME. But they do like to company of their own kind. Sort of like Neon Tetras but with more ravenous feeding habits.
It takes a pretty big tank to house a group of piranhas...
It takes a pretty big tank to house a group of piranhas...
Tank mates? Nothing. that tank is too small for them. They will kill any thing other then themselves. Species only tank.
in a 100G tank 3 would be the max. I may be wrong though? and they need a fairly bare tank because hey do swim around a lot. just a couple of fake plants?
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Anything you add to the tank is a potential meal. Some people have had some cohabs with success, but I wouldn't risk anything valuable.
red bellies is one of the very few piranha specie that MAYBE can coexist with other large agressive fish like the oscar (but your tank is too small). It's still a risk nonetheless.
3 rbp in a 75G is fine.
3 rbp in a 75G is fine.
Contrary to popular belief, Piranha do not really school and are not sociable with their own kind unless they are very well fed. When they aren't stuffed with feeders, they will nip at each other until the group is down to 1 large one. They are also a release hazard, illegal in some states, capable of taking a chunk out of the unwary hand (once they get to be several inches), and are good eating. Several years ago, someone caught one on a steel leader in a local powerplant lake near St. Louis - it was 13" (too big for your tank).
you could try some exodons, if the tank is big enough. They are found together in the wild and seem to be capable of surviving with a pack of red bellies. Your friend will also be kind of disappointed with a piranha tank. They are very shy fish and will hide a lot. If he's thinking he's gona have a tank full of man eating fish he won't. If that's what he wants you should try and talk himout of it.
Squawkbert said:
that's not true, it depends on the specie. Serrasalmus are solitary fish that will kill anything else in the tank. Pygos (red bellis, cariba) on the other hand are shoaling fish.
At early stages they do engage in cannablistic behavior if the victm is injuried/weak. But in general, and once matured, they shoal together forming a hunting pack and do not kill each other unless under very special circumstances. Red bellies are the most docile out of all the pygo piranhas, so it's an obvious beginner fish for piranha lovers.
