Red Belly Piranha question

F

Forum221

AC Members
Dec 19, 2002
82
0
0
39
Naperville, Il
Visit site
I have 2 Redbelly Piranha one that is about 4 inches that is living in a 10 gallon tank and 6 inch one that is living in a 20l tank. I my buying a 55gallon tank and i would like to put both of them in there, i'm nor sure if they will fight but i think i will try it and if they don't fight, then keep them in there, but if they do then I will have to put the smaller one in the 20l and the big one in the 55gal by himself. I was just wondering if anyone knows if they will fight or not. (or if it just depends on the temperment of the fish). So if you can help me out, please do.

~Thanks~
 
From what little I know, reading threads and such, piranha are good in groups, but only if they've been together since really small, and in groups of 5 or more.

Which is not to say I guarantee they will fight, that just seems to be the norm. only way to know for sure is to try them out together.
 
Pirahnas school,i think 6 is the number you have to keep to stop them from killing each other or maybe it is feeding them regularly will stop them from killing each other
 
it depends on the breed as well...black piranah will kill anything, but I think they are a more solitary species; whites are the same way. I've never seen redbelly piranahs by themselves, always in groups of at least 5 or 6, and all the same size....

If they get aggressive, separate, but it's worth a try to see how they do, they might be fine....

EDIT: I had a thought: try putting a partition in the tank for a little while to see if they will try to attack one another. If they are constantly trying to ram the glass to get to the other fish, maybe putting them together is a bad idea, but if they ignore each other they will be okay and you can remove the partition...just an idea...
 
Last edited:
Yea, the divider is a great idea, I will be sure to try then when i get the 55 gal (hopefully this weekend). But about having Red Bellys by themselves, I have has my 2 for about 6 months and they have always been in a tank by themselves, and I have had no problems.

Both of my fish see fairly non-agressive and shy so hopefully they will be nice to eachother. I will be sure to post an update when i put them together. Thanks
 
I used to have 3 piranha in a 50 gallon tank. I finally sold them with the tank after about 8 years because of how boring the tank was and how scared the fish always were. I did not add any during an established tank but my GUESS is that if you add the small fish to the new tank first or possibly both at the same time then they will be more concerned about getting used to their new home more than attacking each other. I would also feed them heavily for at least a while while they are together so they can get used to each other.
 
I'd put money on yes for if they'll fight or not? A pair of piranha is just asking for trouble, you'll always end up with a more dominant one. As far as keeping them in a group, keep them in an odd number (3,5,7... etc) I'm not sure why, but that's what I remembered back when I was a member of predatory forum when I kept red bellies.
 
2 Piranha are ok too as one of mine died after I fed them large live fish. The water got polluted from the corpses very fast before I noticed and could change some water. 2 lived together for years, they were about the same size.
 
Hell, I'd put a divider in the tank anyways, just to contain them while I cleaned the tank. I wouldn't take any chanced with a piranha, no matter what other say about their skittishness... a trapped rat will still fight.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom