Dither Fish for Piranha's

[Mokles]

Hi folks,
Will be getting a 210 gallon aquarium soon. Dimensions are 72 x 24 x 29. Goal is to have a heavily planted CO2 tank with dwarf hairgrass as the carpet, long hairgrass, amazon swords, driftwood pieces with some type of moss, and floating plants. I am very interested in keeping exactly 5 Red Belly Piranhas as I want keep my stocking low as possible, heard these guys get to a foot. I want to add a dither species and/or "showpiece" fish to really make my aquarium pop. I want to know your successes and failures with keeping piranhas in a community tank. These are the candidates I have in mind:

Dither fish:
- Emperor Tetra (Nematobrycon palmeri)
- Buenos Aires Tetra (Psalidodon anisitsi)
- Bucktooth Tetra (Exodon paradoxus)
- Cardinal Tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi)
- Neon Tetra (Paracheirodon innesi)

Any other suggestions? Looking for your hands-on experiences with these guys. Thanks )

 

[tlindsey]

Hi folks,
Will be getting a 210 gallon aquarium soon. Dimensions are 72 x 24 x 29. Goal is to have a heavily planted CO2 tank with dwarf hairgrass as the carpet, long hairgrass, amazon swords, driftwood pieces with some type of moss, and floating plants. I am very interested in keeping exactly 5 Red Belly Piranhas as I want keep my stocking low as possible, heard these guys get to a foot. I want to add a dither species and/or "showpiece" fish to really make my aquarium pop. I want to know your successes and failures with keeping piranhas in a community tank. These are the candidates I have in mind:

Dither fish:
- Emperor Tetra (Nematobrycon palmeri)
- Buenos Aires Tetra (Psalidodon anisitsi)
- Bucktooth Tetra (Exodon paradoxus)
- Cardinal Tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi)
- Neon Tetra (Paracheirodon innesi)

Any other suggestions? Looking for your hands-on experiences with these guys. Thanks )

I remember seeing a video of someone with a large Black Rhombeus Piranha with a large group of Cardinal Tetras. Redbelly Piranha are extremely fast and agile so you would probably have to add new fish to replace the eaten. I suggest trying the cheaper Neon Tetras.

 

[Deadeye]

Piranhas are pretty much the poster child for a species only aquarium. In almost any case, tankmates are either soon to be food or a threat to the piranhas themselves (or both if they’re Exodons). It’s just their nature to eat or try to eat anything living in the tank (often including other piranhas).
Theoretically smaller tetras wouldn’t be worth chasing and eating, but in a relatively small glass box, it’s only a matter of time.
If you want any dithers for activity, your best bet is to set up a breeding tank of mollies or guppies so you can replenish as needed.

Piranhas aren’t the most exciting fish (unless it’s feeding time) - so if you want something active or colorful I would go a different route. I had a solo RBP in a 55 that I was obsessed with trying to keep tankmates with and I went through a lot of fish before learning that it just doesn’t work. Tetras lasted a few hours. A Texas cichlid tried lip-locking (and came out missing its mouth) and eventually was bit in half. The only survivor was a banded leporinus (which eventually killed the piranha).

Essentially, piranhas don’t play nice with tankmates. Save yourself the headache and just stick to the piranhas. If you really want them to live with other fish, get silver dollars instead.
Also, definitely get more piranhas than you plan to keep. They have a nasty tendency to eat each other when young.

 

[jjohnwm]

The owner of a LFS where I worked part-time while in high school kept a group of big RB Piranhas in a big display tank with large numbers of tetras, livebearers, plecos and other fish. I remember a young kid bringing his mother into the store to show her the tank, trying to convince her to let him get some piranhas. She looked the tank over...the piranhas all had torn fins, missing eyes, scars, etc...and didn't seem convinced. She asked the owner how he managed to keep them with all those other fish.

He answered slowly "Easy; we just add more fish every week..."


Why do people want to do this? I personally find piranhas dull as stink, but if I were to try keeping them it would definitely be a species tank. They're supposed to be these bad-ass fish that are meant to impress everyone with their dangerous personalities. Keeping other fish with them just cheapens the whole "piranha experience".

 

[Deadeye]

I have seen them cohabbed with pacu, silver dollars, leporinus, plecos, and rays (I definitely don’t recommend the last one) where the p’s seemed to be the only damaged fish, but this was in a public aquarium setting in a multi thousand gallon tank. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a lot of deaths that went unnoticed.

The owner of a LFS where I worked part-time while in high school kept a group of big RB Piranhas in a big display tank with large numbers of tetras, livebearers, plecos and other fish. I remember a young kid bringing his mother into the store to show her the tank, trying to convince her to let him get some piranhas. She looked the tank over...the piranhas all had torn fins, missing eyes, scars, etc...and didn't seem convinced. She asked the owner how he managed to keep them with all those other fish.

He answered slowly "Easy; we just add more fish every week..."


Why do people want to do this? I personally find piranhas dull as stink, but if I were to try keeping them it would definitely be a species tank. They're supposed to be these bad-ass fish that are meant to impress everyone with their dangerous personalities. Keeping other fish with them just cheapens the whole "piranha experience".

They’re not for everyone…
Piranhas are one of my favorite species/families, but definitely not the monster they are fabled to be. Even my sanchezi, supposedly famous for its interactiveness and aggression, needs to be coaxed out with salmon just for me to get a good look at it.