10"+ rbp

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Diogenes;4320972; said:
I think feeding live fish is okay in a diet with a lot of variety as long as their disease, parasite, and thiaminase free. I'm a little skeptical of this idea of added nutrition of live feeders. How does being alive make something more nutritious than something thats dead? I mean if I have a fish swimming in my tank, I take it out and cut it's head off, and then i drop it in the tank for the piranhas to eat, that's not aas nutritious as if put the same fish into the tank alive? :confused:

By and large most experienced P keepers discourage feeders because of the risk of disease and parasites.

here are some examples of other P keepers (one of which is an ichthyologist specializing in piranha) who discourage feeding live fish to your piranhas:

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/piranha038/opefe_ethics.html

http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?/topic/135651-live-feeders/page__st__60
Click to expand...

I don't think the nutrirional value would drop much if the fish was freshly killed and then fed however removing the head and discarding it could loose some mineral content that is included in the skull perhaps that is not contained thru out the body. The same fish frozen for several weeks would certainly have some sort of nutritional degradation.

My question would be are you gonna use true Goldfish (Carassius auratus auratus) aka Comets which contain the highest levels of the Thiamin (B1) inhibititing enzyme or garden variety chain store feeders (Pimephales promelas) aka Rosy Red Minnows which contain smaller amounts of Thiaminase. My newest P the 11" Caribe was said to be raised on market shrimp which also contains this same enzyme. I'd also like to know if this enzyme inhibitats all Vitamin B or just B1 as fish are known to contain human healthy levels of vitamin B3.
 
if market shrimp contains thiaminase then I would recommend excluding it from the piranha diet. I also agree that as much scale should be included on the fish as possible. It's probably best to feed everything but the guts, and then to avoid the guts only because of intestinal parasites.

It would be a simple experiment to setup. Buy a 180 put a divider in the middle, purchase 12 RBPs, place six on each side, feed rosy reds and minnows to one, and a non live diet to the second, keep meticulous growth/weight measurements of the fish for the life of the fish.
 
Theres alot of info on Thiaminase on this site - Disease and Health Forum has a sticky. http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167891

It shocked me as to how wide spread this enzyme is, which include Turtle Stix, Newt and Frog stix, and Shellfish including Clams - the prevention is a varied diet so the build up isn't to the point of health danger. I take it like alcohol poisoning - 1 pint of beer daily vs. 1 pint of grain liquor, shrimp being the beer and comets being the grain - which one is more likely to lead to wet brain. This analogy is somewhat used in studies explaining the effects of Thiaminase.
 
I didn't want to start a new thread and needed somewhere to post it. Figure Bruner wouldn't care if i hijacked his thread.

does anyone use NLS (New Life Spectrum) pellets for their piranhas? Floating or sinking if yes?
 
i had no luck with pellets and my p's, the only floating things they would eat was FD krill and sometimes some frozen smelts.
 
i raised mine piranha when it was only 2 inches... i fed it primarily feeders and pinkies although sometimes a shrimp or earthworm when i can find them. i also kept it in a 10g till it was 5 inch before putting it into a 75g. now its 7 inches and i have only kept the piranha for 8 month so far. whether or not it's true.. i believe pinky mice and feeders r the best food for a rbp
 
I would think whatever they eat in the wild. And I don't mean what they eat when a human throws a whole chicken in there. I mean in there natural untampered with enviroment. In the wild they have no choice but to grow. Grow big and grow up strong. So I would think numerous species of native SA fish. Crabs? Shrimp? Stuff that's live. I'm sure they scavange from time to time. So maybe daily live feeders (again something amazon native in there territory. And the occasional dead fish maybe? Also I think water current would impact growth as well. Probably more so than the food. If u HAVE to swim (not huver) ur going to burn more calories. In return eat more. Which leads to the above stated. Just me 2 cents
 
More current will definitely make a longer fish. My rbp pool with babies this summer w/ overkill current made longer fish than their siblings inside with less current. Need to look at studies river sizes vs a damned river area. Problem here is rbp don't get as big as tank raised rbp. Rbp in wild average bout 6-6.5" while this would be considered small or stunted in a home aquarium. Ballnoutta you can hi-jack my thread anytime. Variety is the key(food wise).
 
ballinouttacntrol;4366701; said:
I didn't want to start a new thread and needed somewhere to post it. Figure Bruner wouldn't care if i hijacked his thread.

does anyone use NLS (New Life Spectrum) pellets for their piranhas? Floating or sinking if yes?
Click to expand...
My reds love NLS, I fed it for over a year as a staple and they are healthy as can be.
 
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