a few other red belly questions

[CrAcKaJaP]

i keep finding mixed information on feeding. we have 3 very small red bellies, about an inch, 1 just over. how often should they be fed? they guy we got them from said every other day. however, looking on the internet, i've read 2-4 times a day all the way to twice a week. so which is it? what is the best feeding schedule? i'm a little confused here.

and as far as what to feed them, they seem to not like any of the dried bloodworms at all, they just won't eat them. nor will they eat any of the cichlid pellets or shrimp pellets. however, they LOVE minnows. tried a few ghost shrimp, they ate them, but didn't seem to care for them much. tried a mealworm and they didn't touch it. put a couple guppies in there, but it took them forever to eat those, they ate the minnows before they'd even touch the guppies. shouldn't i be alternating what i feed them? they don't seem to want anything but the minnows. is this ok for them? i did drop in a frozen shrimp once and they pecked on it a bit and it was gone over night.

also, how do i know what type of red belly i have? nattereri, cariba, or piraya? what are the differences?

and as far as sexing them go, what do you look for to tell them apart?

any advice is greatly appreciated.

thanks guys!
mandy

[piranha45]

feeding them frequently will allow for a faster growth rate and reduced chance of cannibalization. twice a day is fine while they're small, although once they get around 6" or so I'd stick to once every other day.

Minnows are not a good exclusive diet, as they lack a certain critical nutrient called thiaminase (as do goldfish, although goldfish are worse than minnows). Guppies would be best, in terms of live feeder fish. To get them on guppies, just add guppies and stop adding minnows; when they're hungry enough, they'll eat. Its safer to use guppies/shrimp than non-live foods since guppies/shrimp can stay in the tank indefinitely, and the piranhas will choose to eat a guppy/shrimp before they turn on one another. Whereas, with dead foods, there's a reasonable chance the piranhas would sooner eat each other than the dead food. You can try feeding dead foods if you're willing to take the risk though; all it requires is some plain old starvation.

I'm not very good with piranha ID, but piraya tend to have an orange/yellowish belly while caribas and natts are red, although some natts can be yellow, you'd have paid heavy $$ for yellow natts since they are fairly rare. Caribas have a black spot on their gill plate; nattereri don't.

piranhas can't be sexed.

[DanDanUK]

i keep finding mixed information on feeding. we have 3 very small red bellies, about an inch, 1 just over. how often should they be fed? they guy we got them from said every other day. however, looking on the internet, i've read 2-4 times a day all the way to twice a week. so which is it? what is the best feeding schedule? i'm a little confused here.

and as far as what to feed them, they seem to not like any of the dried bloodworms at all, they just won't eat them. nor will they eat any of the cichlid pellets or shrimp pellets. however, they LOVE minnows. tried a few ghost shrimp, they ate them, but didn't seem to care for them much. tried a mealworm and they didn't touch it. put a couple guppies in there, but it took them forever to eat those, they ate the minnows before they'd even touch the guppies. shouldn't i be alternating what i feed them? they don't seem to want anything but the minnows. is this ok for them? i did drop in a frozen shrimp once and they pecked on it a bit and it was gone over night.

also, how do i know what type of red belly i have? nattereri, cariba, or piraya? what are the differences?

and as far as sexing them go, what do you look for to tell them apart?

any advice is greatly appreciated.

thanks guys!
mandy
well pretty much what p45 said is true .
The reason we don't feed Piranhas goldfish or minnows is because they are kept and raised in copper loaded water and the copper is no good for Piranhas.
If you do feel you wanna feed them live bait try and keep to tropical speices rather than goldfish etc....
If you do feel you want to try them on dead food try some Lance Fish or Prawns that work's for mine i also give them the odd Scissor tail's now and then or some Guppies and mollies they love them.
As far as sexing the Piranhas go's there's no chance you can tell at such a young age wait a while and they should pair off but they say that the male has a more longer caudal fin and the female's is more rounded and shorter.
Have a look at mine and if they look the same as your's they are Pygocentrus Nattereri. If still not sure do a google search.

[rayman45]

shrimp like we eat
defrost it frist

[CrAcKaJaP]

guess i'll try the frozen shrimp. so far they only seem to only go for the minnows. and boy do they love em! last night, put one in and before it even fell to the bottom of the tank, it was attacked and gone!

[guppy]

P45 gave good advice, I tend to overstock the fish and figure on losing a couple, I don't like pellets or dead food for p,s.Once they get a little bigger you should set a feeding schedule that always starts at the same time of day, everyotherday, you will get a better feed response that way. Try dropping in your feeders one at a time as they are eaten, since you just have three it might not help but in a shoal they get very competitive. 2 critters that make good treats for small p,s are fairy shrimp and 1" crawdads.

[Bas]

mine go ape****e for beefheart

[CrAcKaJaP]

just started with beefheart. so far they seem to like it.

thanks for the suggestions everyone.

[fishnthings]

i have a 6 inch redbelly, does anyone know how to make it meaner, is it possible. a different kind of food maybe?

[piranha45]

i have a 6 inch redbelly, does anyone know how to make it meaner, is it possible. a different kind of food maybe?
redbelly piranhas aren't mean and you will have no luck trying to make it mean.

[smoke187]

Dont think you can make it meaner by changing its diet.. red bellies are pretty much skittish 90% of the time, however they get braver when in large shoals.

[guppy]

It is not the diet, it is the conditioning and the habitat, they still stay skittish to anything unexpected

[Oscar guy]

Well crackajap i feed them minnows and the like to eat chiclid pellets and blood worms

[RhomBeusBoi]

twice per day should be just fine...

[thamunsta]

PHFFFFT my rpbs arent whussies and there by no means skittish

[RhomBeusBoi]

PHFFFFT my rpbs arent whussies and there by no means skittish
They must be gangsta, yo...

[Tango374]

I don't know if you're quarentining your minnow's. If you're not I'd say it's a good idea. I'm always paranoid about introducing sickness to my fish. Feed them what they'll eat until they put on some more weight and then cut out the minnows and force them to eat what you want them to eat while they are still young. If the fish grow to sub-adult size only being fed live food, it's a very unhealthy habit that is very difficult to break your fish of. They'll come around.

[CrAcKaJaP]

thanks for the advice. they are doing well and have grown so much! when we got that at the beginning of summer, they were about the size of a quarter. now they are about 2.5-3" already! so i guess i'm doing something right. still can't get them to eat much other than the minnows. yes, i quarentine the minnows in a 5 gallon tank for a few days before feeding. just to be sure, we always put a little ick away in the feeder tank. should i be putting anything else in there?

i've found they love beefhart and a frozen shrimp now and again. other than that, they seem to only go for the live food. someone mentioned stopping the minnows at a certain age and making them eat the pellets. when would you do that?

[tigerfish]

feed them the pellets, they will eat them wen they get hungry. its best,and running to the store for feeders gets old. didnt u say the are small?
put the pellets in and move away from the tank the fish are sissys u could be scareing them if u are standing at the tank. no im sure u are. ive had 2 foot red snakeheads that ate pellets, its up to u to train them.

[Just1nK4ng]

i keep finding mixed information on feeding. we have 3 very small red bellies, about an inch, 1 just over. how often should they be fed? they guy we got them from said every other day. however, looking on the internet, i've read 2-4 times a day all the way to twice a week. so which is it? what is the best feeding schedule? i'm a little confused here.

and as far as what to feed them, they seem to not like any of the dried bloodworms at all, they just won't eat them. nor will they eat any of the cichlid pellets or shrimp pellets. however, they LOVE minnows. tried a few ghost shrimp, they ate them, but didn't seem to care for them much. tried a mealworm and they didn't touch it. put a couple guppies in there, but it took them forever to eat those, they ate the minnows before they'd even touch the guppies. shouldn't i be alternating what i feed them? they don't seem to want anything but the minnows. is this ok for them? i did drop in a frozen shrimp once and they pecked on it a bit and it was gone over night.

also, how do i know what type of red belly i have? nattereri, cariba, or piraya? what are the differences?

and as far as sexing them go, what do you look for to tell them apart?

any advice is greatly appreciated.

thanks guys!
mandy

in my opinon i think you should feed it once a day and dude feed it some BEEFHEART THEY LOVE IT!!!!!! and maybe some small krill :thumbsup: its really up to you how much you wanna feed them but make sure you dont feed them to much take out any food that is left in the take in 10 mins good luck man!

[KevinFJB]

try some live blood worms in those cone shaped feeders or some small earthworms

[jaswv5]

try some live blood worms in those cone shaped feeders or some small earthworms
how do the cone feeders work?

[Bderick67]

how do the cone feeders work?

hey you would get a better response if you creat a new thread to post your questions in, instead of asking in a thread that is a year and a half old.


Welcome to MFK, it is simply the best.

[jjdsplace]

try them on stingray mine love it