Fell in love at the lfs

[MikeFromTheInternet]

Since the serra i was going to do my experiment on passed away, i planned on tearing down my 40b, 29 and 20 gallon tanks. Then I fell in love with a little red belly at the lfs. Named him jim and he's my favorite baby natt i've owned so far. Active as hell and pretty outgoing for a 1" natt. Either way, i'll be doing my high flow/chrunchy food experiment with him. He'll be getting ghost shrimp as a staple and when he gets to about 3" i'll be switching to crayfish. I'll just pop their claws off and toss them in for him to beat up and chew on. He'll also be getting the scraps from my cariba every once in a while. They usually dont leave any scraps, but they occasionally leave a bit of spine or fin. I figure that'll be good for Jim to chew on as well. For flow he's got a cascade 700, an ac70, and a hydor nano 240gph powerhead in a 40b. When he hits 2-3" i'll be jumping him up to an ac 70 powerhead or a hydor 1400gph.

[video=youtube_share;N1TgYdjFwMg]http://youtu.be/N1TgYdjFwMg[/video]

PS: Please dont tell me to get him on pellets. I understand the benefits of pellets, and i normally feed pellets to my other piranha. Thats not the point of this experiment. I dont need help raising fish, i want advice on how to recreate the flow and diet of wild fish. I appreciate the help though. I'm also completely prepared for this experiment to fail. But the way i see it, worst case scenerio is i have a red belly that looks like any other tank raised red belly. But if i succeed, then i have a badass looking red.

 

[stempy]

What exactly is the "experiment"? To get a "wild" looking rbp? Is there a tremendous difference once they are grown as opposed to a lower flow with a pellet diet? I've had a few shoals of red bellies over the years and raised them exclusively on crayfish/shrimp with selcon and housed them in a 125 gallon with tremendous flow in the tank and I think they turned out quite beautiful, but never once even considered if they looked like a "wild" counterpart. I wish I could find some of my old pics

 

[MikeFromTheInternet]

Yeah theres a huge difference between a fresh wild import and a tank raised. I'll hunt for some pics to show what im looking at. If you can find those pics and share them here with me i'd really appreciate it. So far only a few guys have contributed any help towards this

 

[MikeFromTheInternet]

Freshly imported 7" cariba (pics taken by jack, JP80911)
View attachment 833476
Here's one of my 6" cariba, I still think they look good, just nothing like the wild ones

Here's a wild caught red from the Rio Araguaia (from the opefe website)
View attachment 833477

Compared to my tank raised reds

Jaw size/development isnt close!

Heres another pic from opefe of a rhom
View attachment 833480

Look at that jaw. Its so wide and thick compared to similar sized tank raised. Ive yet to see anyone raise a nickel or dime sized rhom to 8-9" and have a jaw like that.

 

[F1 VET]

I understand it, it may be more work then just pellets but a cool experiment. With flow you whould build a DIY waterfall with an old hob or canister output to replicate a better flow.



Go S. Vettel #1 rb8

 

[stempy]

Ill see if I can't find them, its been YEARS ago so not even sure where I have them at anymore. I had a 125 gallon reef tank that I had swapped to freshwater so the flow in it was crazy. I had an iwaki RLT 70 return pump and 2 2200gph koralia wavemakers that made some impressive swirling water movement that the fish loved to "play" in. I never paid any attention to their jaw structure so I honestly can't remember how it looked compared to a wild fish, I just remember them being very thick and had a very bright deep red along the entire lower length of their bodies and the rest of the body being very very dark, almost black. They were probably my favorite group of fish I've ever owned. I eventually sold them because I was leaving for college and could no longer care for them Besides that there towards the end they had become VERY bold, to the point I could no longer put my arm in the tank as they would "charge" my arm if you wanna call it that!

 

[MikeFromTheInternet]

I know what youre talking about with the charging. My cariba and one of my old red shoals have rammed my hand before. I damn near **** myself. My hand came out of that tank so fast...

 

[Atfownz]

Mike, is it just me or the attachment isnt working ? Damn I cant wait till the nat gets bigger. Good luck with the experiment Mike, I hope you achieve the results you are seeking. As always you will make my nats look "typical" whiles yours will luck fabulous. ;P

 

[Atfownz]

So other than the shrimp, what food are you going to add to its diet ? Similar to what they eat in the wild ? Like critters and etc?

 

[MikeFromTheInternet]

Yeah idk why its not showing. Either way. Heres a freshly imported cariba 7-9" (pic taken and posted on piranhakeepers.com by jp80911)

Wild red fishing trip. Look at all the awesome head shapes and jaw sizes! (Taken from opefe.)

Another red from the Rio Araguaia. Look at that jaw! (From opefe)