over feeding

[_Sushi_]

yah but there is no bactira in teh air or filter to brake down the waste on the floor quiz kid. during the dry season piranahs spend there days in teped pools for months at a time they do fine in way worse condistions with no filters all.

First off, it's fish tank water, unless you boiled ALL of it, it'll have bacteria in it. Even tap water you drink (from a filter) has bacteria in it, they just filter out the metals and chloramines. There is no way on God's Green Earth that you have cheated Mother Nature with this one. Even then, water is only purified once it becomes a vapor. so you'd need to be catching all of the the evaporated water for this to work.

Secondly, if you want to follow through with dry season conditions, why don't you do your fish a favor and just let all their water evaporate? Then, they wouldn't have to live in the same nasty water. In those "tepid pools" the fish who are causing an extra bioload on MOTHER NATURE'S filter, are eaten, or starved to death. And that's the pools that don't dry out completely.

Even so, I have never heard of a 100 gallon pool in the amazon unless it was once 2-3,000+ gallons and it's on it's way out, and by that time, there usually aren't any piranhas left. Why's that? because the water is so NASTY by that time it won't support them. The bottom of an ocean, lake, or pond (without liners) is an efficiently built filter, there is ALWAYS something else to take care of the leftovers. In a fish tank, just because you have water moving, and getting screened, you're not catching all of those microscopic particles that could be causing your fish problems. Yea, sure, parasytic cysts are wiped out, but they're much bigger than other bacteria, and viruses, and some parasites that could just be collecting to someday bomb out your tank and kill the unfortunate creatures within.

Now, if you built a POND for your piranhas, let's say about.......4 THOUSAND gallons, you could have about 200 or so piranha following the 30 gal for one, 20 extra for every one after that-rule. Ok, so we have our 4,000 gallon pond, with 200 piranha. now we need to count the space and waste that feeders will take up. You'll want 3-4 feeders for every adult piranha. so 800 feeders. That's about a thousand fish. Now, we're stopping this here, but you have to count in the feeders for the feeders, on down to your herbivores. Then there's plants, these take some of the waste, and put oxygen into the water.

If you have plants, eventually you will have dead plants, and if you have fish, you will eventually have dead fish, so take into account the rotting organic waste. There is going to have to be millions of billions of bacteria to handle that. in an inch or two of sand, there isn't enough room, but in 2-6 FEET of sand, mud and muck, there is.

So back to the fish tank. Let's say you have 100 gallons. 1/4 of that tank would need to be sand to even BEGIN to replicate the wild's ability to keep the water clean.

I used to think the filters killed the bacteria.....yea, silly me, too bad I was only 7 at the time!! Now I know that the filters GROW the bacteria. Which would be why my water is so clean!!

I feed twice daily, a little bit, and, since my tanks are all understocked, water change every other week, and if I forget to vacuum my substrate, boy do I get a nasty surprise!!

Also, just because they CAN live that way, doesn't mean that they SHOULD. Piranhas can get all sorts of diseases in the wild, eaten by their shoal-mates, or so full of parasites that they only get 10% of what they eat, but that doesn't mean that you should be a lazy as$ and attempt to replicate that in your home aquarium.

So, for the benefit of your fish, CHANGE YOUR WATER!

 

[Onion01]

i guarantee that despite piranhas being able to live in abusive conditions, they will do much better in 100% good conditions all the time. Just cause it is normal for them to live in bad water part of the year doesn't mean they need to. Keep them in fresh water, with regular water changes and they will do much better

 

[_Sushi_]

EXACTLY!! ^^

 

[King Edward]

The water you are adding due to evaporation does nothing to freshen the water cause the nitrates that have piled up in your tank dont evaporate with the water.

All the filtering in the world wont remove nitrates, which is what fish waste is broken down to by the benificial bacteria. THE ONLY WAY TO REMOVE NITRATES IS TO DO REGULAR WATER CHANGES!!!!!!!!

I dont want to come across as a prick, but you cant just filter out nitrates. Your poor fish are litteraly swimming in a septic tank.

There are 2 ways I know to filter out nitrates...one, in the same manner as you filter out Nitrite, but the bacteria that eat nitrate are anaerobic so need low oxygen levels which usually translates to low flow, and is difficult. The other way is PLANTS. They eat nitrates and it is perfectly possible to maintain nitrate free water without ever changing a drop with a balanced set up.

 

[vinizuh]

There are 2 ways I know to filter out nitrates...one, in the same manner as you filter out Nitrite, but the bacteria that eat nitrate are anaerobic so need low oxygen levels which usually translates to low flow, and is difficult. The other way is PLANTS. They eat nitrates and it is perfectly possible to maintain nitrate free water without ever changing a drop with a balanced set up.

there is no way you'd have enough plants to totally eliminate nitrates. you'd have to stock up plants until you're piranha have no room to swim. even then with heavily planted tanks you'd still need to water change and have a co2 sytem running, and algea control witch is probably more work than just regular water change without plants.

spero, stop being lazy and do your water changes. i can gaurantee you my fish which get 2 20-30% water changes a week and a gravel vac once a week, will outgrow you'res and pretty much be happier.

if you say you're a 20y fish keeper than you must have lost interest because i enjoy water changes especially since i got my python. i like seeing my fish enjoy the new fresh water, and its my time away from the world.

 

[_Sushi_]

Even with the water changes, I think that's another opportunity to bond with your fish.

My fish are more personable because of the time I spend bonding with them, talking to and around them, and sitting beside the tanks just watching.

 

[The_Piranhaman]

so how do you deal with nitrates? being that the only way to keep it low is water changes.

Actually, water changes are not the only way to lower nitrates. You can also use the introduction of ozone into the tank with an ozone reactor. The correct dosage will not only remove nitrates but purify the water completely.

 

[importracer]

Water changes is already part of fish bible comandments my brothers and sisters....no question about it....I agree with Sushi when she mentions the fact that her fish are more personable with the interactions of doing water changes....Nothing more Feng Shui about it....The planted tank is cool too, but plant are whole other topic...they too have needs, which involve more questioning and answering....Stay simple with a rock, a big bushy plant floating on one end, one/two filter combo(preferably one canister and 2 ac mechanicals), some powerhead current, a varied diet(white meat), and one 25-50% water change every week(I do 2 changes a week, 3 for fry)....

 

[Bderick67]

this method of fish keeping works as long as you don't test nitrate levels.

 

[_Sushi_]

With a more personable fish that is used to human contact, your less likely to be bitten for spooking your fish.

plants would be great, and since they clean the water, that's a plus, but like it was mentioned, it's too much extra effort if you're not ready for it.

And I have not seen an ozone reactor anywhere, and if I did, they certainly weren't in my price range!!