Buttikoferi and Piranha do not mix

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ImRonBurgandy

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 17, 2009
12
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Maine
I have a 8 inch Buttikoferi by himself in a 125 gallon tank... He is cool and everything but I wanted to add some tank mates that would be aggressive enough to survive. I knew he was aggressive but, did not know the extent of it. I decided to put in a 5 inch Red Belly Piranha to see how they got along. I had my net ready to closely monitor the aggressision between the two. The P swam around for a couple minutes everything seemed to be working, he then got to the Tilapia's side of the tank and got ravaged so fast and hard I could not save its life :(.. the Butti took out one of it's eyes and actually locked onto the P's jaw and torn it off before I could stick my net between them.. WTF.. The P died and it was a waste of a beautiful fish and money.. How did I not know they were like that?? I never read anything like this before. I love by Tilapia but it kind of sucks just having one fish.
Just thought I would put this out there if anybody else was thinking of putting a tankmate with a grown Buttikoferi. Don't!
 
piranhas and ____________ don't mix period they need to be with the same species
 
Who told you a piranha would be a good tankmate for a butti??
Terrible idea - as you already found out.

Try similar sized CA/SA cichlids such as a jag, red terror, midas, etc.
Rearrange the decor in the tank when you add new fish so they can establish new territories.
 
If you would have done any reading about either of these two fish, you would have know that the Piranha would be killed.

It will be difficult to find a compatible fish with your Butti.

We all have learned many lessons in this hobby. Next time do some research on this site and hopefully you won't have to learn the hard way again.:)
 
Dude, holy chit..

Sorry for your loss but uh.. What did you expect, Buttikoferi are all out beasts at the size.
 
you can maybe try another aggressive cichlid, but most likely in that size tank that butti won't allow any tankmates to live with it
 
Yes, 125 is just not large enough to have an adult Butti, and expect to have another cichlid to live in there with him. You would have a better chance at raising a baby Butti with other baby cichlids that is compatible...
 
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