Question about black diamonds

[Howdoiplayxx]

I have an 11" black diamond, had him for a lil while now and he wil only eat medium goldfish, and only late at night when i have everything shut off (lights). He just chills in the corner pretty much the entire day until the lights are off and kind of skittish, not really but will certainly back up if my hand touches the tank. I am just curious if this is because he is getting adapted to his new home or what. and how do i get him off feeders and onto something like nice raw shrimp. I have my other redbellys and RTC on shrimp, however my muskies refuse to eat nething but live and same with my wolf fish. any tips or suggestions would be appreciated. i would like my diamond to start being the aggresive killing machine, and eat infront of me. he thrashes things just at night, i woke up the other day to half of a frog haha, he just ate his back legs and stomach.

thanks

 

[Joshy]

Let me get this straight buddy, your rhom has suddenly started to get a bit skittish yes? If so, i am guessing it is because he is being exposed to too much light. Piranhas in the wild are rarely in well lit waters for long. So i have found that when you put a piranha in a tank which is well lit all day, for a long period of time, they become to exposed thet finally ‘crack’. Though this is debatable between hobbyists, just my 2 cents.
So i would suggest cutting back on the lighting of the tanks.

As for getting him off live foods, sometimes its easy with piranhas and sometimes it isn’t. I would suggest starving him for a few days. Then dropping in some shrimp. If he does not take them, try starving him for another few days, and try again. If he still refuses, give in this one time and give him a feeder. And then try the process again. Its not impossible, just needs perseverance. Piranhas react to being hungry, and in the end eat what they are given (and get used to what they are given).

By starving him for a few days, when he does eat it should be more of a show as well, in terms of his hunting. After all, a piranha of that size does not necessarily need feeding every day. I would be more inclined to feed him every other day personally.

 

[Tango374]

Almost all aquarium fish get used to lighting, some just take a little more time than others. You might want to try "spotlighting" by covering the light output on half of the tank...then month by month, reduce the amount of shaded area.
Like stated before for feeding, you might want to try starving for a week, drop in some food you want him to eat and remove it after a couple hours. Wait a few days and repeat. Gradually shortening the amount of time that you have food in the tank. After a while, you come up to the tank, he will come up to the surface to eat like a puppy. Helps alot with skittishness too. You want him to associate you with "time to eat".
Serra's are awsome piranhas. Be patient, really patient. They are all different, but for the most part they all come around. I had one serra that took about 3 months to come around and start coming up to the glass when I did. I had another that took over 9 months but when he cracked out of that shyness he was a true demon.

 

[master.k.]

I run my light's between 5pm and 11pm . thats 6 hour out of 24 .
Are you aware of its habbitat before you got it .
Maby prevs owner did not use lighting and now its scared .

 

[Big Roc]

I remember when I had goten my BDR it took 3 months til it got comfertable with its tank,it wouldn't even eat at all I thought it was going to die from starvation. But when it got comfertable it would chase your fingers trying to break thru the tank, destroy 6-8 feeders at a time as soon as they hit the water, and it would just patrol the tank all day lookin mean as hell. Just give your rhom some time and it will adjust.

 

[Miguel]

I have a Piraya that was used, since wild caught, to gold fish. She was for more than a month without accepting any food, beyond the goldies which i fed her twice during that month just to double check if she had appetite and she went for them in seconds.

After those 30 days she started acepting silversides as if she had been eating them for ever.

don't stress and yes, reduce on the lighting...