New to Piranhas

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
M

mistawac

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 14, 2008
38
0
0
Akron, Ohio
Hey all,

I just moved into a new house and decided to get a new fish tank. I found one at a thrift store for $30 (12x30x12) so I bought it. I decided to go with piranha and so far they're pretty sweet. I got five for the tank and right now they're pretty small (about dime size). I'm hoping they last until the summertime when I have the money to get a bigger tank (hoping to get a 150 gallon). The questions I have are:

  • Should I be feeding them pellets/flakes or just let them nibble on the guppies?
  • Will the five of them be okay in there until May/June?
  • What are some pointers you can give me for taking care of these guys?
I hope to make this a new hobby of mine so I'm open to all ideas. I'm a college student so don't tell me to go out and buy this super great $3000 tank and $200 filter.
 
I'm guessing you got 5 red belly piranhas? the tank is too small and won't last until May/June, probably few weeks the most since they grow very quick and you have 5 of them.
If you can get them on pellets/flakes then go for it, other wise try market shrimps and fish fillets. guppies would be fine every now and then, but make sure you quarantine them first.
 
You have to make sure the guppies you get from lfs do not carry any disease/parasites into your piranha tank.

not sure how much 100 gallon will run you in Ohio, you should be able to find some larger tank on Craigslist if you don't mind used tank. Just make sure there's no leak or crack or any potential issues.
also check out the buy/sell section here, you may find something.
 
Check craigslist or the classifieds here.. I got a 135G with a stand for $165 on here.

You should be able to find a good deal. And yes, they will grow out of that tank very fast. I would get atleast a 75g or 100g for 5 of them.. Used you could get one for $150-$250 depending on your location.
 
First off I wanna say thanks in advance for all the help. I'ma keep asking questions here because so far everything I asked the guy at the pet store about this whole situation you guys have said pretty much the opposite of. Right now I have four guppies in there that the piranha have barely eaten at and I've been giving them bits of ham so they survive.

More questions:

  • Is frozen shrimp okay? (after thawing of course)
  • Say I get a used 100gal, what would equipment cost? I've got an Emperor 280 pump now. Would I need another one of those or something a lot bigger? I know I'd need more gravel and two heaters, but I'm trying to ballpark a figure here so I can start getting cash together.
  • How often should I clean this 30gal if I'm feeding them pellets?
  • How often does a 100gal need cleaning?
Sorry for all of the questions, I'm just really trying to do this the right way without killing any of these little fellas. Are there any books that I can check out that might help me get a handle?
 
piranha are hardy fish and easy to care for.
shrimp is a good source of food for them and some say its good for the coloration of the P's.
Get the 100g tank and cycle it first. You should clean your 30g 1 or 2x a week coz piranha are meassy eaters and if your feeding them feeder fish or shrimp there are bound to be some small remains or leftover in the gravel and you wouldnt want amonia rising and maybe some infection in your P's.

In my 100g I usually clean it once every week 30% water change.
hope i answer some of your question.

A lot of members here can help you. Just read some of the threads.
 
hey man welcome...i would say that you should prob stay away from ham lol. piranhas will not starve..they can go ALONG time without food. people starve there piranhas to try and get them to eat pellets and flake all the time. make sure the shrimp you get is the uncooked kind...and outta shell..so the black shrimp not the pink(i made that mistake) piranhas need HEAVY filtration. thats what i learned on here. i have an AC 110 and a magnum 350...im adding another AC 110. make sure that you get dechlorinator for your tank... read the directions on it...that takes out chemicals from your water supply. thats a necessity..and after you do a water change....re add the dechlorinator. to replace the water you took out.ummm anything else?
 
Its sad, most LFS people are either just making up everything they say as they go along, or are pre-trained on (mostly) inaccurate information.

For a 100 Gal I would get 2 Hagen AC110's. You can order them online from Dr. Foster & Smith's for $33.99 each with the right code. (They run about $90 at pet stores) That would suffice for filtration, you can always add more later if your tanks too messy, but a canister filter is going to start at like $150 instead of $33.99.

You can get a 250W stealth heater from the same site for under $20.00. Its about half the price of any pet store. I would get a stealth for sure here, they will probably shatter a glass filter.


I would change 30%-40% of the water weekly on either tank.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom