First Piranha, Feedback Welcome

[Tjs109]

Hi my first post here The purpose of this thread is just to explain my new/first set up and of course improve it in any way.

About 6 weeks ago I decided to get a fish tank. After hours of research on them, I choose to get red belly piranhas and figured I would be able to handle them.
I then bought a 75 gallon tank, Fluval 406 canister filter, 2-200W heaters, and a (i think) 750 powerhead. I have not been using the powerhead yet since it kept pulling my new plants out and my fish were pretty small for it. To not injure the piranhas, I started my tank off with a Cycle additive and 10 danios, an oscar, 2" pleco, and 3 jack dempseys. The oscar ate the danios and died, and i have since given away 2 of the jack dempseys. I had the water tested and told it was good but the hardness was a little high but not too bad.

I then got the piranhas. I bought 5 from a LFS and 2 of them died within a day. A 2-3" random cichlid sucked their eye out so i removed him. 2 weeks later I found a better LFS that had piranhas at least 2x the size of mine for the same price so i got another 6 bringing my shoal up to 9 total. I know 9 is too many for a 75gal tank but they are still small and the shoal will probably end up shrinking. I left one small jack dempsey in the tank cause she was too fast to net out without taking out all my plants. The piranhas nipped off her back tail a lot and i am fairly certain she was eaten. I have not seen her in the last 3 days lol. I tried counting my piranha last night since they were all out at once eating and I think i only counted 8 so they may have picked one off as well.

I keep the tank around 79-80°. For food I cubed a tilapia fillet and soaked it in Kent Zoe and froze it. I also have frozen bloodworms, frozen beefheart, and some pellets. The pellets are 2mm sinking pellets with 36% crude protein. I have been trying to feed them 2-3 times a day. I have been doing pellets @10am, thawed tilapia @7pm, then pellets or beef heart at 1am. The next day is usually a small amount or no pellets@10am, tilapia @7pm, bloodworms @1am. I usually feed them 2x then the next day 3x then next day 2x etc. I do this cause they don't seem to eat if the light is off and I work in the middle of the day so their light is on from 10am-1am so the next day I leave the light off till I get home at 7pm-1am. I read they don't like much light so I have some plants but I put 35% window tint on the top of my tank and it really cuts down the light for them. I want to be feeding them some live fish though. I know I read it can be dangerous but I gave them some feeder fish just I didn't know how many to feed 9. I gave them 16 Rosy reds and they were gone within 2 days. I am trying to set up a small breeder tank so i can grow some Convict cichlids to feed them occasionally.

I think I have been doing ok taking care of them as they look healthy to me and haven't been biting each others fins off. One got a bite out of the top of him but he has recovered in just a couple days. I found some Tetra brand Blackwater Extract cheap so i bought it since they are supposed to like the yellow tinted water but I read i would need to remove my carbon from the filter and I don't know how good of an idea that would be.

Attached is a few pictures of my tank. They seem to mostly hang around the right side of it so I think I will add a lot of plants to the left side cause it looks too open for them. What is your thoughts on how I have been doing? Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[welsher7]

Not a bad start, and like you said 9 is too many for 75g tank. They will probably thin the shoal by themselves. I would turn on the powerhead and look at adding a HOB filter, like a AC110. They are very messy fish so make sure you stay on top of of water changes. I'm against using feeders so I prefer shrimp, fish fillets and pellets, if they will eat them. Breeding your own feeders isnt real cost effective and always to be more trouble than its worth, but that is just my opinion. the blackwater additive and the window tint aren't really needed. The natts will be just fine with normal light. Also carbon isn't reannly needed in filters. I always throw in extra bio or mechanical media instead of the carbon.

Why don't you have the tank filled all the way?

 

[Tjs109]

Not a bad start, and like you said 9 is too many for 75g tank. They will probably thin the shoal by themselves. I would turn on the powerhead and look at adding a HOB filter, like a AC110. They are very messy fish so make sure you stay on top of of water changes. I'm against using feeders so I prefer shrimp, fish fillets and pellets, if they will eat them. Breeding your own feeders isnt real cost effective and always to be more trouble than its worth, but that is just my opinion. the blackwater additive and the window tint aren't really needed. The natts will be just fine with normal light. Also carbon isn't reannly needed in filters. I always throw in extra bio or mechanical media instead of the carbon.

Why don't you have the tank filled all the way?

Ya I will probably start using the power head again soon. I read they enjoy it and it's like a treadmill for them I just was annoyed about coming home to a different plant pulled out everyday when I used it.

The tank not being full.. Idk I've been keeping my tank about a coffee can or do above the level of the filter output. This way every few days enough will evaporate and my filter output flow will be at the top of the water level creating a lot of surface disturbance adding oxygen since I don't have much when it comes to aeration. I let the filter do this for the day then fill it up a little to quiet it down when I'm going to bed.

 

[F1 VET]

Not a bad start, and like you said 9 is too many for 75g tank. They will probably thin the shoal by themselves. I would turn on the powerhead and look at adding a HOB filter, like a AC110. They are very messy fish so make sure you stay on top of of water changes. I'm against using feeders so I prefer shrimp, fish fillets and pellets, if they will eat them. Breeding your own feeders isnt real cost effective and always to be more trouble than its worth, but that is just my opinion. the blackwater additive and the window tint aren't really needed. The natts will be just fine with normal light. Also carbon isn't reannly needed in filters. I always throw in extra bio or mechanical media instead of the carbon.

Why don't you have the tank filled all the way?

+1. Bw extract is good but ime tetra is less effective then other methods/brands. Microblift Amazon extract is some seriously potent stuff and has good minerals and such. Carbon will take other the color and its useless unless taking meds/chems outta the water!



#1 S. Vettel

 

[RampageRR]

I would probably lay off the beef heart at this age, I've heard they don't digest the fat very well. Make sure your tank has cycled completely, as the multiple fish dying off when you got them is not a good sign. Otherwise, sounds good. Have fun with them, and watching them grow.