awesome! so to create hiding spaces should I use wood/rocks/plants?
hey, I am still greatly appreciative of any of the help!
Provide floating plants and driftwood for small RBP as they get older I would place a centerpiece driftwood.
My main decor was some fake amazon swords and fake hornwort. It loved the hornwort, hiding between it and the back of the tank (which was against the wall).
Late but welcome! It’s good u decided to ask people first and not just jump into it. First of all I do hope u watch or have seen piranhas in an aquarium and not just feeding videos. Its ur first so heres my opinion on them, first is activity. They are skittish fish and they are not active unless feeding. they just hover in one spot most of the time that’s why people say they are boring. If ur the type that likes activity in the tank then sadly they are not. second is skittishness, conditioning them would help but still won’t be the same like oscars.people that owned other fish that are interactive usually give up on them down the line..u really have to like them to keep them. Of course their major draw is the feeding..live feeding is where they shine although people will tell u not to feed them live.. u can feed them frozen and pellets.. don’t give them plenty of hiding spots otherwise they become more skittish and u never really see them.
Hey
Sadrobots
,
I used to keep RBP a long time ago. I got mine at the size of a nickel and they grew pretty fast for me. As everyone has stated, they are in fact very skittish. Every time I walked by the tank they would freak out and scramble in all directions. Once in a while I gave them live feeders and that was the most action I got out of them. Most of the time they just kind of hung not doing much. They have quite different behavior then say cichlids. Cichlids are always doing something, digging, chasing, building gravel mounds, investigating territories and greeting you at the tank ect. When I had friends over they really liked the RBP tank a lot. I ended up rehoming them at about 6"-7" and fell in love with SA/CA cichlids. I'm not trying to talk you out of getting RBP, I'm just giving you my experience with them. You might end up really liking RBP. GL to you.
Sadrobots
,I used to keep RBP a long time ago. I got mine at the size of a nickel and they grew pretty fast for me. As everyone has stated, they are in fact very skittish. Every time I walked by the tank they would freak out and scramble in all directions. Once in a while I gave them live feeders and that was the most action I got out of them. Most of the time they just kind of hung not doing much. They have quite different behavior then say cichlids. Cichlids are always doing something, digging, chasing, building gravel mounds, investigating territories and greeting you at the tank ect. When I had friends over they really liked the RBP tank a lot. I ended up rehoming them at about 6"-7" and fell in love with SA/CA cichlids. I'm not trying to talk you out of getting RBP, I'm just giving you my experience with them. You might end up really liking RBP. GL to you.
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great input. i agree with u. I love and keep piranhas bec im fascinated by them but we cant deny the amount of P’s getting rehomed after a few months/ first year of ownership bec the owners didnt expect them to be inactive/boring. its sad to see Ps getting passed around bec. owners got “bored”.. this is the untold truth that some piranha keepers dont tell people that get into getting piranhas bec some hype up how awesome they are, which they are but not for everyone.Hey
I used to keep RBP a long time ago. I got mine at the size of a nickel and they grew pretty fast for me. As everyone has stated, they are in fact very skittish. Every time I walked by the tank they would freak out and scramble in all directions. Once in a while I gave them live feeders and that was the most action I got out of them. Most of the time they just kind of hung not doing much. They have quite different behavior then say cichlids. Cichlids are always doing something, digging, chasing, building gravel mounds, investigating territories and greeting you at the tank ect. When I had friends over they really liked the RBP tank a lot. I ended up rehoming them at about 6"-7" and fell in love with SA/CA cichlids. I'm not trying to talk you out of getting RBP, I'm just giving you my experience with them. You might end up really liking RBP. GL to you.
That's why it's very critical for myself personally to find out about the specie of any fish I would like to care for prior to purchase. I must confess around the late 70's purchased a small Black Rhombeus Piranha and didn't know they grew slow so I gave the Rhom to a friend because it was not active enough. I could only get my info for the Rhom from a Piranha book that did not state growth rate and lfs didn't have a clue. Thanks to members of MFK like yourself and other forums such as now inactive Piranha Fury you could get the info of care easily via the internet. Like you stated you must have to have a love for the Redbelly especially for activity besides feeding time with live feedings. Now that I'm older and mature I think keeping a Rhom would be a different experience because they are absolutely stunning as adults imo.
Agreed.. this is my only opinion but here is a kind of self assessment on how u will know u will prolly love/enjoy keeping piranhas>> if ur kinda busy with other things and most of the time only look at ur tank during feedings and get excited and happy doing just that then theres a high chance u will like keeping them. if ur the type that like to stare at fishes swimming around and spend alot of time infront of ur tank then chances are ull be bored with piranhas.. just an opinion, but who knows they might grow interest in u in the long run too.
