I recently acquired an elongatus piranha from a friend of mine. I introduced him to a tank of mixed cichlids.After about 10 minutes I had a very full elongatus and only 2 cichlids left. I then moved him to a 75 gallon tank by himself. The tank is fully cycled with a ph of around 6.8. The temperature is kept and 80 degrees consistantly. I am not new to the fish keeping hobby but this fish stumps me. He will eat any cichlid that comes anywhere near him as well as an hepsetus odoe ( nearly twice his size ) and a couple of large congo tetras. He DOES NOT touch feeder minnows guppys or goldfish. Nor does he eat the zebra danios that my friend was feeding him. The only thing he shows interest in is the big red devil in the tank across the room. I am currently running one eheim 2217 classic as well as a seio 1100 powerhead for constant water movement, which he seems to like. the bottom of the tank is bare but has a dense carpet of algae. My nitrates are at 0-5.0 and my nitrite levels are undetectable. Single tube t5 light. He will not eat any dry or frozen food. Does anyone have any ideas besides starving him because he hasnt eaten in 3 weeks !?
Elong Trouble help plz.
- Thread starter cepon3
- Start date
It was bad thinking to stick an elong into a tank of cichlids and expect them to get along. The only way is to train him to eat dead food, maybe he hasn't ate in 3 weeks, but he wont starve himself to death, piranhas are smart creatures, I believe they have a memory span of 3 months? Refer to www.piranha-fury.com, theres alot of excelled knowledgable people higher than the average hobbyist there. if you have questions relating to your elong, take a look and introduce yourself. take care
Elong are definably one of the more fussier piranhas and get easily hooked on one type of food. I knew of one that only ate goldfish, nothing else. Firstly cichlids are a lot healthier for your piranha than feeder minnows or goldfish. But if i were you i would:
-Not put any food in the tank for three days.
-Drop in some earth worms and some shrimp.
-If he does not show any interest remove them after 15 minutes and wait another 3 days.
-Then try again, and you can afford to keep this up for up to 3 weeks.
Starvation and natural instinct will get the better of him, and in the end he will start to eat either earth worms or shrimp, I recon after 3 attempts (9 days). If he does not eat them after 3 weeks, you'll have to give in this one time and pop in a big fat cichlid. But then repeat the process.
-Not put any food in the tank for three days.
-Drop in some earth worms and some shrimp.
-If he does not show any interest remove them after 15 minutes and wait another 3 days.
-Then try again, and you can afford to keep this up for up to 3 weeks.
Starvation and natural instinct will get the better of him, and in the end he will start to eat either earth worms or shrimp, I recon after 3 attempts (9 days). If he does not eat them after 3 weeks, you'll have to give in this one time and pop in a big fat cichlid. But then repeat the process.