Piranha question!!!

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

Mailm4n

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 1, 2010
60
0
0
Boardman Ohio (USA)
Ok so I literally just got off the phone with my lfs where i purchased my redbellies from. I have 10 of them in a 90 gal tank. They are roughly 3-5 inches each.

When I called the store, which I feel as though I could trust because of how many piranha they keep, the fact that it is a family owned business, and their stock looks happy and healthy, oh and the longevity of their piranha keeping experience (allegedly lol).
SO, I call and basically ask him this: My piranhas seem to be nipping and chasing each other a lot now a days. There are obvious runts and obvious alphas in the schoal. My concern was that they are going to get too overcrowded with 10 of them trying to grow up in my 90 gal and they will end up killing each other. I was asking if he could purchase 5 BACK from me to solve my overcrowding worries.

Firstly he explained he cannot buy them back. Ok fine, no problems there at all.

So then he starts going on about how they are most likley underfed and this and that and he wasnt really letting me talk (which was making me a bit frustrated :irked: )
He asks what im feeding them and when.
I try to put a lot of variety in their diet. I feed them flakes, freeze dried krill, and live feeders. Every day i feed them, and every day i rotate what they eat. and every other day, they get fed twice in the same day.

So he is trying to tell me that i am UNDERFEEDING THEM, and to forget freeze dried ANYTHING and do like a million and ten live feeders only with flake every other day. Then they will all be fine and happy and not eat each other.....

He explained that he had kept like fourteen rbs's in a 90 for four years and they were fine with each other.

So I ask you MFK community, can I please have your thoughts and opinions on my issue here! As soon as I hung up the phone I knew I could come straight here and post this and get some real life answers.
I just want to look out for the best interest of my fish. I love them so much and I just want them to be comfortable and happy :)
 
your tank might be ok for now but def. overstock in the long run as they get to 7-8" or maybe even larger...if all 10 of them lived. for the size of your tank I would say 5-6 when adults would max given that your filtration can keep up with their bio load.
the size of your fish now is way pass the flake stage. freeze dried krill is ok if they are large size but I would not recommend using live goldfish feeders at all, that's pretty much one of the worst food you can give to your rbps.
read up this sticky here and you will have a better idea what can be included in your rbps diet.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=306686
if you can upgrade then upgrade to a larger tank, if you plan on keeping all of them then I would suggest at least a 125g, a 180g would be idea.
the fin nip could caused by underfed or out of aggression, with piranhas you can't avoid that. I had 11 in a 180g and there are still fin nips every once a while.
 
See five was exactly what I was thinking! I went into the store with every intention of getting five in the first place. But the EXACT same guy I talked to on the phone talked me into getting the whole schoal of 10. And I felt the same way about live feeders. I mean, there is a high risk that they could be carrying a disease or something. Yeah He was telling me how the krill are a horrible idea and to stop that all together. I got off the phone and was sooooo frustrated!

I will def read up on that stickey. Thanks for the quick reply!

Anyone else have anything?
 
a bigger shoal is always better but you will need to have a tank that's big enough for them to feel comfortable. you can overstock (not following the 20g per fish rule but that's when you have a bigger tank (something bigger than 125g)
 
By Mcfall- listen to the people on here rather than that guy!
Click to expand...

UGH i know! I want to like go print out a copy of the MFK logo and like staple it to his forehead and walk out! GRR!

Oh, and JP I read that entire stickey and man that was very insightful, thanks for the link!
It looks like I am going to have to put up a listing in the market for 5 of my rbp's because my hunch was definatly right. overcrowding. their diet is fine after reading that stickey. I will experiment in some pellet use tho. And instead of using lfs feeders as a treat for my guys, i may look into breeding and keeping the fish mentioned in the stickey.
lol look for my listing in the marketplace.
 
GREAT advice! The guy probably was hoping in the long run that you'd be a new tank from them so they'd make more money off of you. Good luck unloading those. Should be able to recoup quite a bit of the money you spent on them.
 
Man I bet they ate 1/2 a can a flake food every couple days huh? Bet they were hungry,as I doubt flakes are very filling.bet they much happier getting some real food.kinda makes you wonder bout some Lfs!
 
Honestly, the first answer to that usually IS that they are underfed. P's eat a LOT so just make sure they are being fed enough and often enough. If your RBPs are still nipping its because they probably need more space.
 
McFall;4264683; said:
listen to the people on here rather than that guy!
Click to expand...

Much agreed. In the LFS guys defense though if I had 100 some odd tanks to keep track of I wouldn't much care about how many fin nips the piranha are giving eachother. Plus it would be mildly hard to tell if a few out of a tank died considering it would be food shortly after.

Do you have hiding spots for them, high tank temp, anything else not food related that might be stressing them out as well?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom