HELP - aggression issues

[scottswald]

i have 3 2.5" red bellied piranhas in a 22 gallon tank.

i have a 55 gallon for them but it is busy cycling so will be another 3-4 days before they go in.

anyway, they lived together fine but recently there is a lot of fighting going on and there is a lot of ripped and bitten fins going on all of a sudden.

is it because the size of the tank even though they're only small?

or do you guys think putting a fourth in wen i move to the 55 would be a good idea to spread the aggression?

 

[BRUNER247]

Go drain 1/2 of the 55gal. Put fish in a bucket, put all the water from your 20gal into your 55gal n use your cycled filter n add your fish.

 

[Zander_The_RBP]

Go drain 1/2 of the 55gal. Put fish in a bucket, put all the water from your 20gal into your 55gal n use your cycled filter n add your fish.

Adding water from the smaller tank will do NOTHING to help the cycle of the new tank, the beneficial bacteria don't live in the water coloumn they live on surfaces.



but putting the old filter on the new tank is a good idea and will speed up the cycle tremendously

 

[BRUNER247]

Go drain 1/2 of the 55gal. Put fish in a bucket, put all the water from your 20gal into your 55gal n use your cycled filter n add your fish.

I think they're like oscars either have 1 or 5 or more. Try 4 if there's still fighting add another I bet 5 your lucky #. GL

 

[BRUNER247]

Go drain 1/2 of the 55gal. Put fish in a bucket, put all the water from your 20gal into your 55gal n use your cycled filter n add your fish.

I think they're like oscars either have 1 or 5 or more. Try 4 if there's still fighting add another I bet 5 your lucky #. GL

 

[BRUNER247]

IMO the fish would be far less stressed by using the water their used to than climating to new tank in 3-4 days.might be a day or two to late!?

 

[scottswald]

wouldnt 5 be too much for a 55g? i thought 4 was pushing the limit?

 

[vaine111]

I agree you need more p's.

 

[BRUNER247]

I think 5 in 55gal be ok for a while. Their still fairly small yet. I have 3 pairs in 135gal n I personally think that's pushn it lil. While they growing lil more he could be shopping for cheap 135gal? Extra filters n more frequent water changes.careful not to over feed, plenty of plants,should be ok for good 5-6 months.

 

[Diogenes]

RBP's get up to 12" long. It takes a while, but some do. A 55g tank is only 12" wide. How are they going to turn around in a 55g full grown?

A 125g is recommended for a shoal of rbps, but you can keep up to 6 in there.

Zander is right. The nitrifying bacteria don't live in the water column. THe best way to "speed" the cycling process is by adding filter media from the cycled tank to the filter of the uncycled tank. Even then you're going to have to wait for sufficient populations of the bacteria to establish themselves in the tank before there's any sort of biological filter.