red belly piranha help

[sublime1184]

I started them in a 10, but quickly moved them to a 30, where they grew to around 10". I had to keep books and stuff on the top of the tank, because they were quite powerful fish, and scared me with their ability to jump out. One managed to get out of the tank once, but was alright. They are very hearty fish from what I saw, and not too difficult to keep. They do spook easily though, and are good fish to have in a bedroom or basement where there isn't too much activity. Make sure you build him a cave or something for privacy. They like their privacy.

I think you can tell the sex from their facial profile. IIRC correctly the females have a pointier head, while the mailes are more rounded and blunt.

Actually, RB's, among almost all P's, are not sexually dimorphic. There are no physical differences between male and female besides the common "females are more robust" which is in general to most fish. The only other way to tell is if you see one of them lay the eggs, in which case you can correctly ID that one as female (which breeding of P's in home aquaria is very, very rare...possible, but seldomly occures). Other than that, I agree with the first paragraph I quoted from you. I keep skulls on my tank because when my red eats floating pellets, he hits the hood so hard you can see him space out for a second then go back to work. At first those weren't there and he would knock the hood off or almost fly out the lift open part of the hood.

 

[Norflejv]

so is it better to get a 60 gallon orsomething and put a few piranhas in it or get a 20 gallon and put 1 piranha in it

 

[Norflejv]

I would prefer to go the cheaper and smaller route because i am only in high school and have a small dorm room

 

[Jerm]

Here we go again.

he likes "da" doesnt he?

 

[sublime1184]

so is it better to get a 60 gallon orsomething and put a few piranhas in it or get a 20 gallon and put 1 piranha in it

I answered your question earlier saying that a 20g will not be adequate housing for a RB. A 55g is minimum and can house three RB's (max) for life.
No tank smaller than 40-45g will adequately house any single piranha, unless you are in the Pristobrycon genus which there is no market for anyway. If you want a small piranha, I suggest an irritan (Serrasalmus irritan). The only incorrect information in that link is the maximum size for this piranha. They have been known to reach 7.5" (approx max) which would be fine in a 40g tank IMO.