my tank / room

[paOol]

i had these moved from my living room into my room today. heres some pics. :D

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/2636/img29552dc.jpg

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/3472/img29578df.jpg



that pic was before the water was in .


when i had the light on, and moved the piranhas, they didnt move at all, just sat at the bottom of the gravel. when i turned the light off, they started moving around.
is there a way to train them to get used to the light so they arent always motionless when my light is on?

[paOol]

oo yea, i got these babies when their were under 1''. :D about 2 months ago.
their 3 inches now.

[Calgone]

is there a way to train them to get used to the light so they arent always motionless when my light is on?

I've just recently gotten into using live plants in my aquarium, so I typically have to leave my bulbs on alot. It's been about 3 weeks, and the pirahnas aren't as spooked when I turn the lights on. They'll hide for about 10 minutes, and then move around as usual. They enjoy feeding with the lights off alot better though.

[mainy999]

Nice P's....they still look tiny. It will be awesome when they get all fat and evil.

[DontGoInTheWater]

Nice tank and reds .. as to your question... I have been keeping piranha now for a little over 10 years... Even to this day some of my breeders still get a little skittish after i turn the lights on.. .. don't worry as mentioned above , they will settle down after a while .. adding live plants is a must (Amazon swords) for helping your reds settle into your tank...

also .. piranha are a great fish for learned behavior.. What I mean by this is ... a great way to get your piranha to recognize you is to feed them the same way ever time… try walking into the room slowly… Allow them to see you with out startling them… sit down on the floor in front of the tank slowly … open the hood of the aquarium and hold a thawed shrimp in the water.. Don’t drop it in just dangle it so the smell from the shrimp gets in the water.. then take it back out and sit back for a sec… you will see a few moments later that they start swimming around the tank searching for the source of the smell…the longer the period between feedings the more aggressive they will search.. At this point in time they will tend to eat from your fingers.. but be careful while doing this … piranha can jump .. the longer you do this.. the better they will remember .. ie learned behavior… here is a video I made for just this point… hope this helps a little


ps the video is a little large.. but my server has realy good bandwisdth .. so if you have highspeed .. it should only take about 6 min to download.. click save, not open because the file is so large

enjoy

http://www.DontGoInTheWater.com/forum/Videos/Video005.avi

[memphis]

nice tank

[memphis]

how hard is it to keep live plants?

[DontGoInTheWater]

Depends on what species of plant you are using? also it depends on what species of fish you are keeping..
let me know what you have and i will fill in the blanks

[paOol]

Nice tank and reds .. as to your question... I have been keeping piranha now for a little over 10 years... Even to this day some of my breeders still get a little skittish after i turn the lights on.. .. don't worry as mentioned above , they will settle down after a while .. adding live plants is a must (Amazon swords) for helping your reds settle into your tank...

also .. piranha are a great fish for learned behavior.. What I mean by this is ... a great way to get your piranha to recognize you is to feed them the same way ever time… try walking into the room slowly… Allow them to see you with out startling them… sit down on the floor in front of the tank slowly … open the hood of the aquarium and hold a thawed shrimp in the water.. Don’t drop it in just dangle it so the smell from the shrimp gets in the water.. then take it back out and sit back for a sec… you will see a few moments later that they start swimming around the tank searching for the source of the smell…the longer the period between feedings the more aggressive they will search.. At this point in time they will tend to eat from your fingers.. but be careful while doing this … piranha can jump .. the longer you do this.. the better they will remember .. ie learned behavior… here is a video I made for just this point… hope this helps a little


ps the video is a little large.. but my server has realy good bandwisdth .. so if you have highspeed .. it should only take about 6 min to download.. click save, not open because the file is so large

enjoy

http://www.DontGoInTheWater.com/forum/Videos/Video005.avi



took me about 4 1/2 minutes going at 600kb/sec :D

i was going to pickup a few more reds this weekend but the guy sold them all already T_T.
they were the same size as my current ones too , and only $7 each. o_o
i'll try the shrimp method, and i also had some questions about the plants.
wheres a good place to get some? my local petsmart / petco have crappy plants, i dont think there are any swords. i looked at a few online stores, but some didnt have pictures so i didnt know what to order o_O.

can you recommend some for piranhas that provide cover and are easy to care for? i just want my Ps to be less skittish and not hide all the time.

[paOol]

oo yea, and to get them used to the light, should i keep the light on alot or off?
right now i have the light dimmed with some printing paper under the light. they arent AS skittish now. i left the light on for about 8 hours.

[paOol]

i just watched the video. i almost wet myself after that o_O.
dang, i want my Ps to be like that. right now their pussy size though, lol.
i think i'll make a video like yours and show you how mine act >_<.

[DontGoInTheWater]

Dimming the lights can help… But the longer you leave them on ... Meaning having them on the same length of time everyday consistently will allow them to become more accustom to it. You can also use dark water extract ... But personally I don’t use it.

As for the plants.. there are many different types of swords out there… as long as you get swords in general things should work out… reason being .. Swords tend to be a hardy plant and have strong stem structure to them and also tend to have good root structure as well…

Hope this helps… if you are looking for more in depth information… www.DontGoInTheWater.com also has its very own Plant expert … He has a Masters in Oceanography. Just check out the plant section and ask (Stu) a question. He is always willing to help a fellow hobbyist.

[Calgone]

took me about 4 1/2 minutes going at 600kb/sec :D

i was going to pickup a few more reds this weekend but the guy sold them all already T_T.
they were the same size as my current ones too , and only $7 each. o_o
i'll try the shrimp method, and i also had some questions about the plants.
wheres a good place to get some? my local petsmart / petco have crappy plants, i dont think there are any swords. i looked at a few online stores, but some didnt have pictures so i didnt know what to order o_O.

can you recommend some for piranhas that provide cover and are easy to care for? i just want my Ps to be less skittish and not hide all the time.

First off... that sucks about not getting those P's man. I've been waiting for a smilar sized P to show up at the local stores for about 5 weeks now, and I know I would be bummed if I missed the opportunity.

As for an online store, check out this site...
http://www.aquariumplants.com/cgi-bin/cart/index.html

I personally haven't ordered from there yet... but it looks nice.

If you want to get some fakes while you wait, you can swing by the crafts section at walmart and target and get some nice fake vines.... or stop by a hobby store. I started with fakes for awhile just to get an idea of what looks I liked... and then I moved on to live plans. I moved the vines that I had to the sides of my tank and let them hang off... it looks nice and gives the aquarium a nice look.

[patriotsfan]

nice p's. they grow so fast and its fun to watch.

[dapike1979]

is it worth the trouble and money to keep live plants.

[benzjamin13]

Just hope we don't have an earthquake anytime soon :grinno:

[paOol]

sad to say, but i think im selling these guys, and converting to saltwater. T_T

[Dovii dude]

Nice fish and tank,in my experience Reds are always skittish,thats why i like Serrasalmus species better. :naughty: