a few other red belly questions

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CrAcKaJaP

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 15, 2005
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Dallas, Texas
www.droppedsyndicate.com
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
 
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.
 
CrAcKaJaP said:
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
Click to expand...
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.
 
shrimp like we eat
defrost it frist
 
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!
 
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.
 
just started with beefheart. so far they seem to like it.

thanks for the suggestions everyone.
 
i have a 6 inch redbelly, does anyone know how to make it meaner, is it possible. a different kind of food maybe?
 
fishnthings said:
i have a 6 inch redbelly, does anyone know how to make it meaner, is it possible. a different kind of food maybe?
Click to expand...
redbelly piranhas aren't mean and you will have no luck trying to make it mean.
 
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