New piranha ower : few questions

[_Piranha_]

I got 5 red bellys from the pet store. I got a 36 gallon tank now. Its been set up for about 3 weeks I had some ciclids in there but gave them away when i got my piranhas. I do a water test an my water is fairly hard. The fish seem active an fine enough but what can i do to lower it? I used conditioner, an I keep I eye on my PH an Temp, ect. I know I will need a bigger tank as they grow. Im only going to keep them in this tank a few months. But I got a few more questions.

1. One of my piranhas got a messed up eye. Like something had bite his an it healed? Only one eye other is normal.

2. They wont eat off the top of the water? or nuthing that dont move ( unless they see it drop in the tank)

3. Do they got red tint by gils? I know they are called red bellys but few of them got redish color by there gills. Just trying to make sure they are all healthy as can be.

4. What feeder fish is safest to feed other then breeding your own?

5. Why do they fight over one spot in the tank? When other spots are just as planted an good covor? Is it they just like to be togather?

I been using all kinds of stuff to feed. They seem to only like the chicken hearts an the 3 roseys in there last night an they slaughtered them in seconds. I tried pellets. Freeze dried shrimp. Flakes. They just swim by it even if they didnt eat for a few days.

 

[Greez]

I got 5 red bellys from the pet store. I got a 36 gallon tank now. Its been set up for about 3 weeks I had some ciclids in there but gave them away when i got my piranhas. I do a water test an my water is fairly hard. The fish seem active an fine enough but what can i do to lower it? I used conditioner, an I keep I eye on my PH an Temp, ect. I know I will need a bigger tank as they grow. Im only going to keep them in this tank a few months. But I got a few more questions.

1. One of my piranhas got a messed up eye. Like something had bite his an it healed? Only one eye other is normal.

Well, that does happen Piranhas are often known to attack and even kill each other as food when young. Do the others often attack him because I read on here plenty of times where they keep going after a deformed or damaged Piranha till they kill him.

2. They wont eat off the top of the water? or nuthing that dont move ( unless they see it drop in the tank)

That's pretty normal it may take them a while to get used to floating foods, I use sinking pellets and they seem to find them right away, but when I used floating pellets it normally took them 20 minutes before they noticed them.

3. Do they got red tint by gils? I know they are called red bellys but few of them got redish color by there gills. Just trying to make sure they are all healthy as can be.

Without a picture its hard for me to know what part of the gill you mean but this could either be normal or might mean they aren't Pygocentrus Nattereri, but without a pic that's all a guess.

4. What feeder fish is safest to feed other then breeding your own?

As long as you quarantine most should be fine I've used: Guppies, convict fry and mollies. But I've heard of a lot of different fry being used, the important thing is to quarantine them for a while.

5. Why do they fight over one spot in the tank? When other spots are just as planted an good covor? Is it they just like to be togather?

I would guess its because they don't have enough room, mine fought over space and spots until I moved them to a 180g now they don't seem to have spots and swim out in the open more. It also be that just because you think those other spots are covered to them they may not be.

I been using all kinds of stuff to feed. They seem to only like the chicken hearts an the 3 roseys in there last night an they slaughtered them in seconds. I tried pellets. Freeze dried shrimp. Flakes. They just swim by it even if they didnt eat for a few days.

As for food there are a ton of options in our nutrition sticky, check it out I'm sure you will find all types of options for your P's.