3 RBP - very shy and skittish

[vosspacer]

I have owned 3 RBP for about a month now and are extremely skittish and shy. Unlike the first piranha I bought that ate live fish and anything I put into the tank - these 3 however are a bit more picky, have not touched the goldfish that was in the tank before them and allow the goldfish to participate in a feeding frenzy with them lol. I have it on camera. So ya I have a piranha trained goldfish that likes meat.
As for the 3 they eat dew worms and brine shrimp and occasionally shrimp pellets. They are just starting to show some red/orange coloration on their pectoral fins. They are healthy and otherwise co-existing peacefully at one side of the aquarium with a submarine decoration which they are outgrowing so they can no longer fit inside of it except for the smallest piranha which happens to be the most aggressive ironically. It has been up until recently that I have tried reverse psychology on them and started feeding them with lights turned on. So the last few days when I turn the lights on they swim near the glass at me, which I find to be a positive sign.

concerns :
How to get the smaller RBP to eat more without removing decorations and hiding spots.
When and will they ever eat the goldfish, and why haven’t they thus far ?
Will they outgrow being shy and skittish at some point ?

thanks,
voss

 

[tlindsey]

I have owned 3 RBP for about a month now and are extremely skittish and shy. Unlike the first piranha I bought that ate live fish and anything I put into the tank - these 3 however are a bit more picky, have not touched the goldfish that was in the tank before them and allow the goldfish to participate in a feeding frenzy with them lol. I have it on camera. So ya I have a piranha trained goldfish that likes meat.
As for the 3 they eat dew worms and brine shrimp and occasionally shrimp pellets. They are just starting to show some red/orange coloration on their pectoral fins. They are healthy and otherwise co-existing peacefully at one side of the aquarium with a submarine decoration which they are outgrowing so they can no longer fit inside of it except for the smallest piranha which happens to be the most aggressive ironically. It has been up until recently that I have tried reverse psychology on them and started feeding them with lights turned on. So the last few days when I turn the lights on they swim near the glass at me, which I find to be a positive sign.

concerns :
How to get the smaller RBP to eat more without removing decorations and hiding spots.
When and will they ever eat the goldfish, and why haven’t they thus far ?
Will they outgrow being shy and skittish at some point ?

thanks,
voss

Wekcome aboard
Yes Redbelly in a group can sometimes become skittish especially when small and view you as a predator. The Redbellies probably not eating the Goldfish because of being fed the other foods which is better for them. if live feeders like Goldfish are not quarantined prior to putting them in the main aquarium can spread disease. Possibly the smaller piranha is the low one in rank.

 

[vosspacer]

Wekcome aboard
Yes Redbelly in a group can sometimes become skittish especially when small and view you as a predator. The Redbellies probably not eating the Goldfish because of being fed the other foods which is better for them. if live feeders like Goldfish are not quarantined prior to putting them in the main aquarium can spread disease. Possibly the smaller piranha is the low one in rank.

the goldfish was living in a pale for a week or 2 because my previous aquarium broke. Ya it wasn’t fun - 35g all over the floor. Landlord was like SMH. Interesting you think the small one that’s hiding 20 hrs a day unlike the other 2 who are out of hiding for about 8 hours a day - is lowest in the rank whenever he gets a chance he will charge at the largest piranha out ofthe 3. Which I guess you could be right because piranha can attack when they feel threatened.

 

[tlindsey]

the goldfish was living in a pale for a week or 2 because my previous aquarium broke. Ya it wasn’t fun - 35g all over the floor. Landlord was like SMH. Interesting you think the small one that’s hiding 20 hrs a day unlike the other 2 who are out of hiding for about 8 hours a day - is lowest in the rank whenever he gets a chance he will charge at the largest piranha out ofthe 3. Which I guess you could be right because piranha can attack when they feel threatened.

Yes just keep your eye on the smaller RB and keep them well fed they may eventually eat the Goldfish.

 

[vosspacer]

Yes just keep your eye on the smaller RB and keep them well fed they may eventually eat the Goldfish.

It will be a sad day when that happens, I look at the goldfish as one of them because he eats with them lol. Carnivorous Goldfish rare ? I think of it in Star Wars when C-3PO arrives in the jungles of the EWOK’s and they worship him because he was golden and could tell stories. Lmfao.

 

[tlindsey]

It will be a sad day when that happens, I look at the goldfish as one of them because he eats with them lol. Carnivorous Goldfish rare ? I think of it in Star Wars when C-3PO arrives in the jungles of the EWOK’s and they worship him because he was golden and could tell stories. Lmfao.

lol yes years in the hobby so that would not surprise me.

 

[vosspacer]

Is it 6 posts or 6 threads that I can start posting links ? Because I have a video of it

 

[tlindsey]

Is it 6 posts or 6 threads that I can start posting links ? Because I have a video of it

R




I believe after 5 post.

 

[vosspacer]

Video :
3 RBP and Goldfish eat.

 

[TheBtchWhisperersWife]

Do you have any decorations? My husband's group of RBPs hid all the time until we moved in together and I planted the tank. They ate pellets and frozen food, preferring that to live. Prepared foods are more nutritionally complete. I usually kept a large group of guppies or pearl danios in the tank to act as dithers. With enough plants (real or fake) they don't get eaten very often. I kept large Raphael cats in there to pick up any pellets that made it to the gravel.