jumping in...first piranha and a few questions

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
P

predatorkeeper87

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Sep 8, 2014
4,293
2,038
164
pennsylvania
Hey all,

So tomorrow I pick up my first piranha. Its an adult elong. from a member on here. He's got a designated tank all to himself that will be ready to roll today.

My questions are as follows:

I want this to be a blackwater tank, but I will need to acclimate him slowly as he's been in standard water. What is the best course of action in slowly turning this into blackwater? Peat or oak leaf tea? just spend the money and get blackwater extract at the LFS? I'm flying moderately blind when it comes to blackwater, this will be my first tank using it.

So these piranha come from obviously SA lol, and from what I gather mostly riverine systems. Would you guys suggest high or moderate flow to the tank? The sticky says very high but I'd rather just ask again to double check. I'm going to be running a sump for this system so I can alter the flow fairly easily with the way I'm setting up the return plumbing.

As a follow up to the blackwater situation, what plants would thrive well in that type of environment? I'm going to do lowtech plants for this tank seeing as I've heard P's like real low light.

thanks in advance!
 
Although Im not a big fan of blackwater, I like to see my tank crystal clear and be able to see my fish. Piranha live in high current so power head and a lot of flow however leave a dead spot for him to chill.

Elong is fast swimmer and aggressive amount other piranha i had own. I hope you got a long tank for him, idea would be 55g-75g by himself would be best. Keep your tank temp high, 82-86f..it will keep them active and hungry.
 
StIcKy~RiCe said:
Although Im not a big fan of blackwater, I like to see my tank crystal clear and be able to see my fish. Piranha live in high current so power head and a lot of flow however leave a dead spot for him to chill.

Elong is fast swimmer and aggressive amount other piranha i had own. I hope you got a long tank for him, idea would be 55g-75g by himself would be best. Keep your tank temp high, 82-86f..it will keep them active and hungry.
Click to expand...
hes got a 125g all to himself man, he's got space haha. If I can find a bigger tank he'll get an upgrade but from what I understand 125G's are ok. If I get conflicting info on that on here I'll upgrade sooner.

haha I prefer the natural feel rather than perfect show tank clarity all the time. Alright I figured he would need a good flow but I wanted to make sure on that. thanks dude
 
Black water shouldn't require any acclimation. You can collect oak leaves and boil them. I used tantorra leaves for a brief stint in my 300 and it was way too expensive to consider on my wc schedule. In a smaller tank they could work without breaking the bank, just boil them and drop them in. The tannins will leach over time and I like the look of the leaf litter. (until it decays) I would do power head(s) on one side pushing to the other, it will give the elong some resistance when he swims which makes the tank feel a bit bigger. Plants arent really my thing, but I'd imagine anubias, low light Moss and any other low light suggestions will work if the lights are decent.
 
Woefulrelic said:
Black water shouldn't require any acclimation. You can collect oak leaves and boil them. I used tantorra leaves for a brief stint in my 300 and it was way too expensive to consider on my wc schedule. In a smaller tank they could work without breaking the bank, just boil them and drop them in. The tannins will leach over time and I like the look of the leaf litter. (until it decays) I would do power head(s) on one side pushing to the other, it will give the elong some resistance when he swims which makes the tank feel a bit bigger. Plants arent really my thing, but I'd imagine anubias, low light Moss and any other low light suggestions will work if the lights are decent.
Click to expand...
Well my thought on the acclimation was the PH difference, I didn't want to shock him to hell and back.

ok so you'd suggest leaves then, I've never done blackwater so I wasn't sure the best way to go about it. I have about 400 oak trees around my house, I'll gather leaves and make tea haha.

ok I'll strap a powerhead in under the return from the sump and give him so exercise lol. Thanks man
 
predatorkeeper87 said:
hes got a 125g all to himself man, he's got space haha. If I can find a bigger tank he'll get an upgrade but from what I understand 125G's are ok. If I get conflicting info on that on here I'll upgrade sooner.

haha I prefer the natural feel rather than perfect show tank clarity all the time. Alright I figured he would need a good flow but I wanted to make sure on that. thanks dude
Click to expand...
125g will be good for a very long time. you dont have to worry about updgrade.

good luck and post up some pics
 
predatorkeeper87 said:
Well my thought on the acclimation was the PH difference, I didn't want to shock him to hell and back.

ok so you'd suggest leaves then, I've never done blackwater so I wasn't sure the best way to go about it. I have about 400 oak trees around my house, I'll gather leaves and make tea haha.

ok I'll strap a powerhead in under the return from the sump and give him so exercise lol. Thanks man
Click to expand...

Afaik any shock related to PH is related to the TDS in the water, or more specifically a rapid change of them. I'm not an expert, but I think the only potential danger is lowering your ph enough that ammonia turns to ammonium and even that won't be a problem if you have stable conditions. Leaves won't effect the pH enough for this to be a problem most likely. I think you need to use the dried leaves, duanes duanes has some excellent posts I can't dig up currently.
 
Woefulrelic said:
Afaik any shock related to PH is related to the TDS in the water, or more specifically a rapid change of them. I'm not an expert, but I think the only potential danger is lowering your ph enough that ammonia turns to ammonium and even that won't be a problem if you have stable conditions. Leaves won't effect the pH enough for this to be a problem most likely. I think you need to use the dried leaves, duanes duanes has some excellent posts I can't dig up currently.
Click to expand...
ok fair enough im no expert either haha so I just assumed it would be enough of a PH change to harm him. But your info sounds way more solid than mine lol. ya I never have spikes, so im not worried about ammonia.

ya I was going to gather dried leaves, hopefully duanes sees this and responds, I remember reading some of his write ups on the matter.
 
predatorkeeper87 said:
ok fair enough im no expert either haha so I just assumed it would be enough of a PH change to harm him. But your info sounds way more solid than mine lol. ya I never have spikes, so im not worried about ammonia.

ya I was going to gather dried leaves, hopefully duanes sees this and responds, I remember reading some of his write ups on the matter.
Click to expand...

PH shock as we refer to it is osmotic shock. The fish lose their ability to regulate there body properly, due to a high swing in TDS. GH and KH are more important in this regard than ph, but they are obviously all connected. Tannins also do not raise the conductivity of the water, so a tds meter (conductivity pen) wouldn't be sufficient for testing. The dangers of altering water conditions are unstable parameters, but in this case tannins could potentially be a buffer similar to how we use crushed coral. I am a hobbyist however, not a scientist, so take it with a grain of salt.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom