New to fish......piranhas?

[Geography Guy]

I am THINKING (meaning I MIGHT NOT) of getting some piranhas. They seem like interesting fish . I seen some for sale at a pet store. But I have never had fish before. So I know nothing about cleaning the tanks, lighting, food, water etc. Yes I know they probably aren't best for a first time fish but I'd like an exotic kind of fish and so piranhas just came to mind but maybe there is a better fish. I'll keep my options open . But can anyone help me out and/or recomend a better species of fish if piranhas aren't suitable for me?

Remember it's just a THOUGHT. BTW if your wondering why I am being so specific on "it's just a THOUGHT" is so then hopefuly people will actually help me out instead of me attracting all the AB complainers that go on and on about how stupid I am and that I am ruining the hobby blah blah blah when I may not even get the fish in the first place. I don't mind people telling me there could be severe consequences of buying that animal, but with all the well educated people on AB, I think someone can do that without posting any negetive/insulting comments I'm also posting this about piranhas because I seen TV shows on them and they all said how fast they can eat flesh so maybe there is some severe consequences involved :?

:worship: :worship: Thank you for the people who do help me :worship: :worship:

Shame at the people who post something rude and unwanted

Cheers,

 

[wicked]

The only person I knew with a piranha had it in a 29gal hexagon tank. Treated it just like any other tropical fish and it was doing fine. Fed it feeder goldfish, but I don't recall how many he went through in a week. The one thing I remember about the fish was it was very shy, if a stranger came into the house it would hide behind the heater. Not exactly a display animal. But of course I only have the one fish to use as an example, maybe some other aquarium enthusiasts around here can be more help.

From what I have seen, if you were hoping feeding time would be some spectacle of nature I think you might be dissapointed, unless you were planning on sticking your face in the tank , but even then I imagine it would zip behind the nearest tank decoration and wait for the scary biped to leave. Only thing the piranha has going for it is that gruesome looking toothy underbite.

Personally I think an Oscar might be a better choice, they are aggressive, eat the same thing and are a lot more showy. You could also have more than just one lonesome fish in the tank. Good luck with the tank, whatever you decide to get, and post pics!

 

[bugmankeith]

Oh no a piranha thread right after I posted something about these fish. I feel like a moron now.

 

[wicked]

Oh no a piranha thread right after I posted something about these fish. I feel like a moron now.

Don't feel bad, I posted before I realized there were two other threads on it. After reading them I realize I knew next to nothing of their varied diets:8o .

Let's pool our threads.
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=75896

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=75911

 

[Geography Guy]

Shy? That's not how TV makes it seem. But like for fish in general, what do I need? How do you clean them? Or if you have a filter you don't need to clean them? What kind of heater? The only heaters I am aware of are heat rocks and heat lamps but those are for herps? I have a 15-20 gallon tank. Is that big enough for 1-2 fishes?

Cheers,

The only person I knew with a piranha had it in a 29gal hexagon tank. Treated it just like any other tropical fish and it was doing fine. Fed it feeder goldfish, but I don't recall how many he went through in a week. The one thing I remember about the fish was it was very shy, if a stranger came into the house it would hide behind the heater. Not exactly a display animal. But of course I only have the one fish to use as an example, maybe some other aquarium enthusiasts around here can be more help.

From what I have seen, if you were hoping feeding time would be some spectacle of nature I think you might be dissapointed, unless you were planning on sticking your face in the tank , but even then I imagine it would zip behind the nearest tank decoration and wait for the scary biped to leave. Only thing the piranha has going for it is that gruesome looking toothy underbite.

Personally I think an Oscar might be a better choice, they are aggressive, eat the same thing and are a lot more showy. You could also have more than just one lonesome fish in the tank. Good luck with the tank, whatever you decide to get, and post pics!

 

[Hedorah99]

Shy? That's not how TV makes it seem. But like for fish in general, what do I need? How do you clean them? Or if you have a filter you don't need to clean them? What kind of heater? The only heaters I am aware of are heat rocks and heat lamps but those are for herps? I have a 15-20 gallon tank. Is that big enough for 1-2 fishes?

Cheers,

red bellied pirhanas are pretty bold in large groups. Only having a few will cause them to be very reclusive. My friend had a tnak with one and it spent all of its time hiding. Even in the wild small groups will hide because they are much lower on the food chain then. To heat them you will need an underwater heater, you can find them in any pet store selling aquarium supplies. If you are investing in a more expensive fish I would buy the type with a thermostat so you can set it at a specific temp. You will still need ot clean the tank. Carnivourous fish tanks need a very good filter because of the amount of waste that is produced whenever they eat. I would get a decent canister filter like a MarineLand Magnum or a large Fluval. YOu will need to clean the gravel periodically. You use a siphon for that to suck up any decaying material from the gravel bed. If you are worried about being bit they sell ones long enough to keep your hands out of the tank. If you buy a magnum filter, you can hook the siphon right to the intake and this saves you a lot of trouble.

As for the tank size, that may be alright for 1-2 red bellied pirahnas. I am not too aware of their size needs. But before you get one, you nee dot check the laws concerning them in your state. Here in CT, it is pretty strictly regulated.

 

[Geography Guy]

I don't live in a state and where I live has no laws regarding animals. Any usual animal is ok to own

Cheers,

red bellied pirhanas are pretty bold in large groups. Only having a few will cause them to be very reclusive. My friend had a tnak with one and it spent all of its time hiding. Even in the wild small groups will hide because they are much lower on the food chain then. To heat them you will need an underwater heater, you can find them in any pet store selling aquarium supplies. If you are investing in a more expensive fish I would buy the type with a thermostat so you can set it at a specific temp. You will still need ot clean the tank. Carnivourous fish tanks need a very good filter because of the amount of waste that is produced whenever they eat. I would get a decent canister filter like a MarineLand Magnum or a large Fluval. YOu will need to clean the gravel periodically. You use a siphon for that to suck up any decaying material from the gravel bed. If you are worried about being bit they sell ones long enough to keep your hands out of the tank. If you buy a magnum filter, you can hook the siphon right to the intake and this saves you a lot of trouble.

As for the tank size, that may be alright for 1-2 red bellied pirahnas. I am not too aware of their size needs. But before you get one, you nee dot check the laws concerning them in your state. Here in CT, it is pretty strictly regulated.

 

[Midnightrdr456]

honestly if i were to get piranhas i would get at least like 5 or so. They feel much safer in at least a small group.

 

[Geography Guy]

honestly if i were to get piranhas i would get at least like 5 or so. They feel much safer in at least a small group.

so if I got 1-2 could it make them stressed?

Cheers,

 

[Hedorah99]

so if I got 1-2 could it make them stressed?

Cheers,

It probably would. IN the wild they live in very large schools.

 

[Pyst]

It probably would. IN the wild they live in very large schools.

Actually I was watching a documentary on piranhas the other night and there are several species. Some of which dont live in large schools and lead pretty solitary lives. Unfortunately I cant remember the species.

 

[Ewok]

There is a pet store near me that has small red belly piranhas for $8, if I had a larg tank I would get a small school of them and feed them live baby kittens, I'm joking , I'm joking

Seriously though I would buy them if I had a larger tank, its the first time i have seen them for sale in a pet store as they are illegal back in Florida. I was thinking it is pretty neat how smaller tetras like serpae etc are in the same family and have the same feeding behavior as piranhas but yet look so different in other ways.

@ geography guy, yeah I would also recomend having more than 1 or 2 redbellies as the fish would be less stressd and it would also impressive looking having a small school.

 

[Geography Guy]

There is a pet store near me that has small red belly piranhas for $8, if I had a larg tank I would get a small school of them and feed them live baby kittens, I'm joking , I'm joking

Seriously though I would buy them if I had a larger tank, its the first time i have seen them for sale in a pet store as they are illegal back in Florida. I was thinking it is pretty neat how smaller tetras like serpae etc are in the same family and have the same feeding behavior as piranhas but yet look so different in other ways.

@ geography guy, yeah I would also recomend having more than 1 or 2 redbellies as the fish would be less stressd and it would also impressive looking having a small school.

but with more fish I need a bigger tank don't I? I don't have the room for a giganic tank unless I put it in my basment but that won't be for a while as our basment is under contruction

Cheers,

 

[sammyp]

Yeah, unfortunately you would need a rather large tank to keep a school of these. And because of how potentially messy their feeding can be, the larger you go the less problems you'll end up having with water quality.

 

[Randolph XX()]

I know ppl don't sell corn shell, or any hot scorp to an underage here in Canada
So they can sell piranahs to a 15 year old now in Ontario?

 

[mitchrobot]

A lot of the Ps that are available are schooling fish, and do better in large numbers. There are many species though that cannot be kept with anything else, and do fine by themselves. S.rhombeus (the black piranha), S.elongatus and S.Manueli are some of the ones that do best by themselves.
Red bellies are skittish, at least in my experience, until they get about 6". Mine would hide whenever I came up to the tank.

Once they got some size on them they stopped killing each other (I lost a few to cannibalism) and were much more interesting, but still not the killing machines you see on TV. But start out with the biggest tank possible, and a good sized school of them. Also, I think the more of them there are, the more comfortable they are. After my school got down to 5 (sold a few, and one jumped out of the tank) they became the most skittish fish ive ever had. I ended up selling them because of this.

They will get large, and grow fast. So as said, go with the biggest tank possible, this will give them growing room, room to hold their own territories and room to get away from each other.

I kept mine at 78-82F degrees. I also did one to two 50% water changes a week, and vacuumed the gravel weekly. They are very messy feeders, and can eat A LOT, so they produce a lot of waste. My water is on the hard side, but they did fine. They should be fine in most types of water as long as extremes are avoided.

They will pretty much eat any meaty foods. Mine ate a variety of seafood and fish fillets. Use raw prawns, not cooked. They also were fed meal worms, water snails, gut loaded crickets, and earthworms. They were given pellets as a staple though. Don’t feed them goldfish, they are not good for them in anyway, they are low in nutrients, have a vitamin B inhibiter and are full of parasites. If you insist on feeding them live fish, breed your own or at least quarantine them and make sure they don’t have parasites...All my fish eat spawns that I get form my other cichlids. Don’t feed them mice.

There are a lot of forums that can help you get more information. A lot of people have had success raising them their own ways. So read up on them and proper fish tank care, cycling, etc.

 

[sick4x4]

:clap:

A lot of the Ps that are available are schooling fish, and do better in large numbers. There are many species though that cannot be kept with anything else, and do fine by themselves. S.rhombeus (the black piranha), S.elongatus and S.Manueli are some of the ones that do best by themselves.
Red bellies are skittish, at least in my experience, until they get about 6". Mine would hide whenever I came up to the tank.

Once they got some size on them they stopped killing each other (I lost a few to cannibalism) and were much more interesting, but still not the killing machines you see on TV. But start out with the biggest tank possible, and a good sized school of them. Also, I think the more of them there are, the more comfortable they are. After my school got down to 5 (sold a few, and one jumped out of the tank) they became the most skittish fish ive ever had. I ended up selling them because of this.

They will get large, and grow fast. So as said, go with the biggest tank possible, this will give them growing room, room to hold their own territories and room to get away from each other.

I kept mine at 78-82F degrees. I also did one to two 50% water changes a week, and vacuumed the gravel weekly. They are very messy feeders, and can eat A LOT, so they produce a lot of waste. My water is on the hard side, but they did fine. They should be fine in most types of water as long as extremes are avoided.

They will pretty much eat any meaty foods. Mine ate a variety of seafood and fish fillets. Use raw prawns, not cooked. They also were fed meal worms, water snails, gut loaded crickets, and earthworms. They were given pellets as a staple though. Don’t feed them goldfish, they are not good for them in anyway, they are low in nutrients, have a vitamin B inhibiter and are full of parasites. If you insist on feeding them live fish, breed your own or at least quarantine them and make sure they don’t have parasites...All my fish eat spawns that I get form my other cichlids. Don’t feed them mice.

There are a lot of forums that can help you get more information. A lot of people have had success raising them their own ways. So read up on them and proper fish tank care, cycling, etc.

:clap: bravo mate

 

[Hedorah99]

Actually I was watching a documentary on piranhas the other night and there are several species. Some of which dont live in large schools and lead pretty solitary lives. Unfortunately I cant remember the species.

he wants red bellied though and they tend to live in large groups. blacks and golds i am pretty sure are in smaller numbers.

 

[sick4x4]

if its single fish you want only three species should be kept by themselves these 3 belong to the species Serrasalmus..these are S. spilopleura, S. geryi, S. rhombeus...these three must be kept alone and are not communal in any sense of the word...also these are not for newbies or average keepers..and are highly aggressive....

 

[Geography Guy]

if its single fish you want only three species should be kept by themselves these 3 belong to the species Serrasalmus..these are S. spilopleura, S. geryi, S. rhombeus...these three must be kept alone and are not communal in any sense of the word...also these are not for newbies or average keepers..and are highly aggressive....

but even for a highly aggressive fish, if your hands aren't in the water what could it possibly do? BTW those fish you mentioned, are they common ones?

Cheers,