piranha(redbelly) what can stand up to them ???

[thamunsta]

i have 4 redbellies and am moving them to a 55gal very soon and want to know what i can put in with them ?????suggestions

[piranha45]

Nothing, safely. Anything you put in there will either kill them or get killed. You dont keep tankmates with piranhas, and expect things to actually work.

[purplecitybirdgang]

Pygrosnatteri do well will other pygros species but they have to be around the same size and introduced at the same time. Plus you only got a 55 gal tank. Yo can't keep but 4 to 5 fish any way. Step ya tank game up son.

[Fomoris]

Try a crab, a crayfish, a pleco or a catfish ;)

[butane216]

wouldnt the simple answer be food?

[guppy]

wouldnt the simple answer be food?
Lol. Plecos in rbp tanks sometines show end up as empty heads, and my piranha liked crayfish as snacks.

[unknownuza13]

My red bellies at 4-5 inches used to maul crayfish as well... and those 4 redbellies are definately enough for a 55 gallon..

[butane216]

crayfish vs RBP sounds like an interesting tank... I'l have ot set up the spare 30 gallong when I get some room :-D

[reefman]

once I had 13 natteri and a rhombeous in a 125 I use to catch 10 inch bass for there food but they would be tank mates for few weeks before it was lunchtime

[Mechanic]

I've kept tinfoil barbs in my 55 with my reds.
They were together for over a year with little trouble.
The tinfoils would get a nipped tail once in a while, but they were too fast for the P's to catch.
Once my P's got 6" or so I put scads of neon tetras in with them.
The Neons were just too small for the P's to bother with.
Sure once in a while I would come up short a couple,but when you have 50
you don't really notice.(can't be bothered to stop and try and count them all!)

[Phtstrat]

Standard 55s suck because they are only 12" wide. Use the money you saved for new tankmates on a wider tank (at least 18"), your fish will thank you for it.

[guppy]

I've kept tinfoil barbs in my 55 with my reds.
They were together for over a year with little trouble.
The tinfoils would get a nipped tail once in a while, but they were too fast for the P's to catch.
Once my P's got 6" or so I put scads of neon tetras in with them.
The Neons were just too small for the P's to bother with.
Sure once in a while I would come up short a couple,but when you have 50
you don't really notice.(can't be bothered to stop and try and count them all!)
Yep, neons, h+t lights, lemon tets, glolights, etc, all work great in tanks with large fish, looks good and they are cheap so who cares if you have to replace them every now and then.

[MR.FREEZ]

nothing has worked ever with my fish no matter what size

differences or what,

[thamunsta]

ive been keeping a crawfish for about a week now, feeding them alot so there not interested in it + i made caves and hiding spots all over for the crawfish.

[guppy]

nothing has worked ever with my fish no matter what size

differences or what,
How is your tank setup?

[EZHOOPS]

try a red belly pacu of the exact same size or even a little larger. look exactly like a piranha but no teeth and eats anything including fruits and vegetables, gets enormous though

[piranha45]

try a red belly pacu of the exact same size or even a little larger. look exactly like a piranha but no teeth and eats anything including fruits and vegetables, gets enormous though
pacu have some VERY capable, nasty teeth
http://images.google.com/images?q=pacu+teeth&hl=en

mine chewed a hole through a tinfoil barb of its own size.

[pirana-man]

one Black Pirahna the same size will own the tank ,believe me .

[joel]

I had 4 redbellies with a pair of Jack Dempsys. The each stayed to their side of the tank. The dempsy is more aggresive then the piranha. But i don't recomend putting anything with the piranhas.

[MR.FREEZ]

How is your tank setup?

completely bare, i have three large rocks but not enough hiding spots for anything to work anyway.

[hibkrhom]

nothing but pygos will work but if youre going to do that get a bigger tank.

[RhomBeusBoi]

convicts, large oscars, exodons, pleco and bottom dwellers. It's not guaranteed but they will eventually die probably. You may as well just get another piranha.

[FormulatedFire]

you should also try to upgrade to a 75 so you can have the footprint you need for them to live in there for life but there is no fish except for maybe a pleco that u can keep if you give them plenty of hiding space

[RhomBeusBoi]

FO SHO!

[pacu]

nothing can simply cause nature endowed them with weapons

[finsandfangs]

[/IMG]my cousin has eight rbp he mixed many fish with them successfully. jack dempsy,oscar, buttfi. they all dominated the tank. he mixed them one at a time and ended takeing them out because they were beating up the pirahna. the oscar did the best with them he was dominat with out being mean. the dempsy & buttif were just plain mean. he tryed a wolf fish, blue lobster, red lobster, and crayfish. they all got eatenthe two lobster were pretty big

[finsandfangs]

bad shot ...... they are really nice looking actually

[piranha45]

that's a good shot.

[fishnthings]

:headbang2 yea the 2nd shot makes em look alot better.......hahal :headbang2

[MR.FREEZ]

right now im having good luck with a couple guppies :naughty:

they been in there for almost two weeks now

[guppy]

How big are your piranha?

[CrAcKaJaP]

no kidding! how big are your p's? guppies wouldn't last 5 minutes in my piranha tank! lol! my p's are only 3.5 inches now maybe.

i had two red devils in my 30 gallaon with 3 rbp's. had to eventually get rid of the red devils cause they were so freaking mean! kept ramming in to the rbp's and stealing their food. they got their tails nipped, but that's it. the red evils pretty much ran the tank.

just upgraded my 3 rbp's to a 55 gallon tank and would love to put something else in there as it looks pretty bare right now with just the 3 red bellies. maybe i'll try a crayfish or something. love the neon idea, but right now my rpb's would eat em for sure! lol!

[Serygo]

Everything will end up getting eaten except like some plecos, and some catfish...

[boredcpl]

just buy cheap food i mean tank mates...the only thing that can stay in my tank is a pleco and 1 crayfish that hide all the time.. they ate about 10 CF's since ive had them.. they did let 2 feeder guppys live for like 1 month.. but they was lunch.. they even ate all the other fish but left the 2 guppys for like 15 feedings.

[Just1nK4ng]

Nothing, safely. Anything you put in there will either kill them or get killed. You dont keep tankmates with piranhas, and expect things to actually work.

VERY TRUE but 1 thing you can put in there is same size tiger barb lol it swims with the piranhas pretty cool

[piranha45]

there's alot of fish that can do that. just bear in mind they stand a strong chance of getting slain eventually.

[ICrazyChrisI]

Nothing in the long run.

[Nate_N_Nicole]

RBP arent exactly the toughest fish in the world its kinda like jeckel and Hyde with them they either kill what ever you put in with them or they get killed I have a brief experience with a 8 inch RBP...

Well I had a 90 gal with Two 12 inch Oscars, Two Red Devils one 10 inches the other maybe 6 inches well we wanted to add some thing different and a friend of ours had this 8 inch RBP in almost the same set up but he had all Oscars and his situation was working out geat but just wanted to keep the oscars, thought the RBP was kinda boring... Well anyways, we had him for about 3-6 months not sure how long but it was working out fine but my little red devil (6inches) was kinda nipping at him a little bit nothing to worry about but came home one day and my 10 inch red devil was missing his hump and was floating to the top of the water... Well we thought it was the RBP because who else would have done that to a (10inch) Red devil... Right!!! Well about a week later the RBP is all jacked up with the little Red Devil picking at him... So if that aint jeckel and hyde I dont know what is, to eat a 10 inch red devil but then get eatin buy the same type of fish but 4 inches smaller very weird if you ask me.... But thats why I dont do RBP anymore I like more then one type of fish in my tanks...

[Just1nK4ng]

Everything will end up getting eaten except like some plecos, and some catfish...

everything will get eating soon enough if your lucky maybe the pelco will live thats for the rbp to decide :cry: oh and another thing you can put in there is tinfol barb the same size as the rbp they swim with them pretty cool :naughty: but they will eventually get eatin too like i said its up the rbp but i think you should just leave 3 rbp in the 50 gallon and make the tank natural as possible like i did for my reds my reds are dangerous

[Serygo]

Some cichlids can stand to live with piranhas for awhile,,, not long though...
Piranhas will kill anything that is a threat to them...
Snakeheads will stay with them as long as the snakehead is a little bit bigger than the piranha...
I have heard of keeping Wolf Fish with piranhas but dont want to try it...

[softturtle]

put them with a 2 ft snake head. They will be FIIIIINNNNNNE!!!

[JAWZ]

guppies live well and exodon tetras that is all i had luck with in a 55 gal.

[koff]

gold fish....

[---XR---]

gold fish....

please don't bump old threads, for a reply like this

[pygo]

Kept 4 pacus with 4 Rbps. Worked for 3 months till the pacus got kinda big and they also tend to eat a lot. So gave em away.

[HiGhTiMeZ]

please don't bump old threads, for a reply like this

well basically, he can do whatever he wants :p

[redbellydaddy]

i have 3 rbp and thus far my algae eater is the only thing that has lived, he is a couple inches larger than rbp.

[toehead11183]

my boss keeps a 15" pleco with three 7-8" RBP in a 75

[black_monster]

i once had a RD w/ a rhom. quite a few months too until i took the RD out.

[Rez90]

I had 2 redbellies for about 5 years. i tried a few different fish with them. A very large pleco, crawfish, and a few others.........

eventually.......everything got killed........

[gar b3ar]

wolf fish should work

[gar b3ar]

pacu, snails, oscar(bigger than the rbp), wolf fish

[sirasoni]

I wouldn't put any wolf in with RBPs. Doesn't really matter what "wins", it probably isn't going to end up being pretty.

[tattooedgrahamcracker]

i threw a pleco in with my rbs that was twice their size and he was dinner overnight

[goodcents]

I tried neon tetras like I saw in a book and they lasted about an hour:nilly: and I keep my fish well fed:irked: crawfish lasted about a week or two:popcorn:

[goodcents]

I might try snails tonite:screwy: I would love to put a pleco in there to clean up the brown algae put they would wipe it out (I do 1/3 water changes every week and still get mild brown algae growth.:nilly:

[jloos1988]

i seen a program where a single wolffish fend of a whole pack of piranahs. but that was in the wild, i dunno about an aquarium...they'd have alot of confrentations.

[Nabbig2]

i seen a program where a single wolffish fend of a whole pack of piranahs. but that was in the wild, i dunno about an aquarium...they'd have alot of confrentations.

Really? A wold cichlid? Wow, I can't imagine. Well, you are right, it would be different in an aquarium.

[Piranhanick]

I've seen this question a lot and ya know i've tried everything over the years and the only thing that i have found to be successfull is your common Pleco. I have had limited success with Oscars and like others have said if introduced at a young and small stage they can co-exist but hell man i hate taking the chance and losing a fish. Coming home to a half eaten fish Always sucks especially when it's still holding on. I had a sweet 150 tank with just P's in it and my black at the time decided to gang up on this sweet Egemani i had and ate the ****ing thing in half and when i got home it was still swimming around eating and trying to stay afloat with half a body. . . . damn that sucked watching it die!. . . . so my advice be very cautious what you introduce at this stage in the game.

[sirasoni]

Really? A wold cichlid? Wow, I can't imagine. Well, you are right, it would be different in an aquarium.

Not a wolf cichlid. a wolf fish, hoplias sp.

[Pirwhana]

I have to agree with nothing. With Ps it is not a matter of size because they bite and cut chunks out of others, not just swallow.

[goodcents]

Yeah how do fish eat and swim around with over half there body missing? I see it alot with the feeder fish and it blows my mind how some are just a head only and you can see them gasping with no body.

[gar b3ar]

pacus, electric catfish, wolf fish

[Puff]

i had decent luck with tigerbarbs when i had my rbps. they lasted for quite a while. they were an AMAZING cleaning crew though.

but nothing you put in there would last. everything would "disappear" at some point.lol

[Ruger345]

i have 4 redbellies and am moving them to a 55gal very soon and want to know what i can put in with them ?????suggestions

Water! LOL! Nothing will live a happy life with them. Good luck!:)

[Nabbig2]

I have to agree with nothing. With Ps it is not a matter of size because they bite and cut chunks out of others, not just swallow.

That's true.


I think it's basically the piranhas eat, or get eaten. I mean, they don't live with anything but their own kind in nature, it's best too keep it like that in captivity, too.

[vlindertje]

In the wild they share their rivers with a variety of fish, though, and apparantly for some neon tetras work and for some they won't last for 5 minutes. Could that be because when you add something they always consider your presence as feeding time? If you put in the tetras a few days before adding the rbp, would that help? It really looks cool, rbp and neon tetra.

[Nabbig2]

In the wild they share their rivers with a variety of fish, though, and apparantly for some neon tetras work and for some they won't last for 5 minutes. Could that be because when you add something they always consider your presence as feeding time? If you put in the tetras a few days before adding the rbp, would that help? It really looks cool, rbp and neon tetra.

Well, if they are well fed, maybe they won't bother with puny, agile little fish, like neons. But you are right, if they see you adding fish to the tank, the could consider it prey. It depends on what you feed them, and whether or not they associate you with more food.

[jsnm1234]

I have a 8" RBP (Mitch) in a 55 gal tank by himself & his tankmates (food) about 15-30 goldfish. Problem is, he has aquired himself a taste for pleco's. He ate our 8" and then 2 weeks later ate our 6". Since, we have put in two smaller ones with the same results, and it's becoming an expensive diet for him. We constantly have goldfish in there for him, but he chooses the pleco's. Are there any other "cleaning fish" I can put in there to help maintain the tank that he won't eat? Or any other thoughts so he won't eat them?

[jloos1988]

try other kinds of armored catfish if u just want a fish that will help clean the bottom of the tank and take care of the P's scraps...if ur looking for an algae eater i think your outta luck cuz all other algae eaters are way too small for piranahs. maybe a large clown loach but i doubt that too

[jloos1988]

BTW i had a 7" striped rafael catfish in the tank with my 6 Piranahs and he didnt get bothered at all

[_Sushi_]

What about one of those Chinese algae eaters?

I know they're small (roughly 3 inches) but, it would be easier for them to hide, and they're much cheaper than plecos are, so if you lose one, oh well!!

Ghost shrimp are an excellent clean up crew, and they only cost about 15-30 cents, if you buy a bunch, he's got a crunchy snack AND a cleanup crew.

Right now with my P, I have a 4 inch Pleco, 1 crawfish, and 1 snail. The pleco's been in there about as long as the Piranha has. I took Whiplash OUT in order to add the pleco, I also did a bit of rearranging of the tank decor to break up territories, just like I was adding more ps.

[thamunsta]

its been about 2 and a 1/2 years since i started this thread. a few weeks back i finally found something that works with my rbp's. skunk loaches where on sale at big als 4/1.99 so long story short, knowing they where aggressive i thought id try them in the 30 gal community, that didnt work out, they ended up in the piranha tank. -1 that died randomly 7 of them are still fine about 4 weeks later.

[convict94]

wow who would have thought some of the smallest species of loaches can live with piranhas!!!

[phillybob]

I have three cloan loaches with 4 rbp in my 20 gallon tank for 2 weeks now. My P only eat feeder fish.

[necrocanis]

My friend brought one of his Ps to my house. He was sick of it eating all of his fish. He put it in with a 28" RTC that I had at the time. P lasted about 10 seconds and got swallowed whole. He was about 7". Kinda sad it was a beautiful fish.

[pygo]

What can stand up to a RBP?? a pair of breeding cons...even half their size..I have seen and observed them for weeks...cons roaming the tank with their babies...piranhas cowering in one corner..

[bob351]

i have 7 caribes all around 12-13" and i had two 2" whiptail catfish in with them and they hid so well it was hilarious to watch them just glide by this huge shoal of deadly fish never got eaten for like 6 months and grew to like 5" when i took them out, then got killed by my stingray:nilly:

[ductTAPE]

try some crabs :D
i have 2 mini crabs in with my 5 piranhas in a 90 gallon..
the crabs are still alive.. [:

[groovitudedude]

Standard 55s suck because they are only 12" wide. Use the money you saved for new tankmates on a wider tank (at least 18"), your fish will thank you for it.

Uh, NO! If a tank is 18'' wide, the same height as that 55, and another foot long, it nearly doubles the size!!!! And btw:

New Acrylic 55G w/ top: $186
New Acrylic 100G w/ top: $400

PLUS not everybody has room for a 1/2 ton tank. Sorry man.

[Ja-eh]

My bad I didn't realize how old this thread is, my previous comment was a case of jumping the gun.

[ol78hunter]

I would only try like a pleco. Try to get one bigger than they piranhas. Also put them in the tank at the same time seems to work well. I have lost one pleco but I have two in the tank now and both are doing fine. You may loose one or two but they are not too expencive if you get the standard plecos at your lfs.

[IndoBlue]

I would try a crayfish or lobster that has grown to a size that would keep your tank neutral between the RBP and the lobster. I've never had a prob, just make sure they are equivalent size and the lobster has places to hide. And make sure the RBP and lobster are fed enough to not care about eachother. Comet goldfish and minnows from your local pet store should be enough.

[doods]

here are some of my piranha tank mates
the pleco comes really handy, when my P's feels itchy, they scratch their body on the pleco, well the pacu just died, well not by the piranha, i transfered it to another tank and it died on me, the crayfish, well got to have some hiding places when molting, but in any normal day the crayfish tries to nip some of my P's

[dzb912]

seems liike some1 asks this question 2 times per day
my female bristlenose pleco is doing good with my 2 inch piranhas
be only about 3 inches
he will probobly get eaten soon tho

[SEPPA]

ELECTRIC CATFISH.......RB's should learn that it's NOT a easy meal. Thats my guess. My 4" cat has his own quiet section of the tank. Exodons and Crayfish won't go near him....Full grown/ 350 volts!!!!

[Ad@m]

i have had some red tail black sharks last a while... and some pleco's as well. but everything else from crayfish to large chiclids, all get eaten.

[syxteenhmong]

crayfish won't survive due to the fact that when they grow out and leave the skeleton, their new shell will be soft so RBs will kill it. no doubt, anything you put will most likely die unless you have a hiding place.

[rba718]

I've seen Plecos do well with them.