New P owner!

[Asmotron]

Howdy folks, I was browsing the web for piranah tips and ran across your site, figured I'd say hello.

Anyway, I ended up with a Piranah today. One of my friends was moving and gave me his 30g setup with 1 8" RBP in it. Bitey is his name and he is a fiesty little guy. What are the chances I could get him to go onto other kinds of food? His entire life he has been raised on feeder goldies. Previous owner was giving him 12 small feeders every monday. Does this sound okay? What can I try to add to his diet?

Also, would dimming the light be a good idea? He seems to be more active tonight when I have the light off. Also, Decor? Currently the tank is pretty much bare save gravel and a small aztec head-thingy.

Let me know! I'm excited to have one and I want to take the best care of him I can!

 

[JD7.62]

An 8" fish in a 30 gal sounds a little cramped. See if you can get him in at least a 55 gallon tank. As far as diet try market shrimp. Ive never had experience with a P that only ate feeders so he should take to it just fine. As far as decor what you have is fine, just dont add too much or anything too big to take away from his already limited swimming space. Oh and very important in my opinion is adding a nice powerhead to create a current in the tank.

 

[Asmotron]

I'm not a huge fan of the 30g for him either, but he gets some decent swimming in when he gets fiesty. Sadly, I don't have the funding to put him into a bigger tank.

I was just thinking about the powerhead. I want to get one for my Cichlid 55g setup, as I think they could benifit as well. I'll probably pick up a small one this week for him when I go to get feeders.

By market shrimp I assume you mean raw store bought (fresh as possible) shrimp?

 

[RuXPiN]

I'm not a huge fan of the 30g for him either, but he gets some decent swimming in when he gets fiesty. Sadly, I don't have the funding to put him into a bigger tank.

I was just thinking about the powerhead. I want to get one for my Cichlid 55g setup, as I think they could benifit as well. I'll probably pick up a small one this week for him when I go to get feeders.

By market shrimp I assume you mean raw store bought (fresh as possible) shrimp?

Welcome to mfk, if you ever want to get rid of him i will take him!

 

[RBP7]

if iwere u depending on their size, i would put ur cichlid's in the 30g and put ur p in the 55g

 

[Asmotron]

if iwere u depending on their size, i would put ur cichlid's in the 30g and put ur p in the 55g

Very very tempting for me. 55g, couple of P's.... But, sadly I'm really attached to my Cichlids, and there are 2 8" severums, 5" Red Peacock, 5" convict, a 5" pleco, 5" green terror, and a 3" geophagus. I wouldn't be comfy packing all those guys into the 30g.

Bitey (The P) got hs first batch of feeders today. Of course, he only picks them off when I'm not looking.

 

[Asmotron]

Well Bitey's first feeding day went well. I picked up a Marine Land 550 powerhead for the tank. He seems to enjoy the current quite a bit!

I got him 10 small comet goldies, and 2 minnows. He doesn't seem interested in the minnows at all, but he destroyed all but 1 of the goldies in the 3 hours I was at work (Yay part-time-college-job!). The last one is a little beat up but doing a good job staying alive.

I am really excited about this fish! Was I correct about what market shrimp are, or not?

 

[JD7.62]

Sorry....yes you were. Just store bought SHELL-ON shrimp. Freshness isnt that big of a deal as long as its not rotten! If you can get your local seafood shop to give you some scraps thatd be great!

 

[ethnics]

piranhas are boring alone, let alone prolly even more bored alone. especially an rbp. if u had more then 1, you'd notice them devour 20goldies in 10 mins or less rather then having to leave for 3 hours and come home to 1 still alive. they prefer to hunt and take strikes off eachother. 1 following the other strike after strike. a piranha alone is prolly scared as hell cuz he has noone to help him out or back him up. i'd be bored watchin a tank with 1 piranha.

but its cool that u have one, but i bet he's miserable in that tank, and because he's alone.

 

[Asmotron]

piranhas are boring alone, let alone prolly even more bored alone. especially an rbp. if u had more then 1, you'd notice them devour 20goldies in 10 mins or less rather then having to leave for 3 hours and come home to 1 still alive. they prefer to hunt and take strikes off eachother. 1 following the other strike after strike. a piranha alone is prolly scared as hell cuz he has noone to help him out or back him up. i'd be bored watchin a tank with 1 piranha.

but its cool that u have one, but i bet he's miserable in that tank, and because he's alone.

Oh I would totally have more if I had the space/budget for it! Once college is over and I start making some decent money I'm sure he, and if I can find someone to go with him, will get the 55g at the very least.

I love the hobby and plan to have many many tanks with many many types of fish by the time I die. Piranha are now for sure going to be one of them!