What has his general personality been like since you've had him? Was/has he ever been shy? Do you feed only live food, if not how hard was it to get him on fillets and shrimp?
Serrasalmus Compressus Hunting (pics)
- Thread starter Diogenes
- Start date
Ohio Entusiast;3096840; said:
I've got a thread about his diet around here somewhere, but basically my fish is a pampered P when it comes to nutrition. I feed every other day. The majority of his diet is frozen shrimp. Not only does he love it, and pretty much eat it from my hand, but his colors are better after a few consecutive shrimp feedings than any other food. I also rotate in earthworms, fish filet (with scales if I can find them) which consists of tilapia, grouper, or catfish. He gets live crayfish about once every two weeks. He also gets live fish (black skirts are is favorite, BA tetras a close second, and convicts) about once a week, maybe slightly less. I occasionally add twenty or so glass shrimp to the tank too. All his feeders binge on spirulina flakes prior to feeding. I feed live fish more for mental stimulation, and exercise of the predatory instinct more than any thing else. I have tried to feed pellets but as far as I can tell he thinks they're rocks.
He was shy at first and aggressive. He bit through the bag on our first attempt to package him when I took him home. He charges the glass if you stare at him too long. He patrols some. He bit through a bag of feeders that was climatizing in the tank one time. He's opened up a lot, but being a piranha, he's generally about as fun to watch as drying paint. That's the only reason I would be interested in re-homing him.
Wow, excellent diet! The shrimp shells are rich in beta-carotene which brings out color more than any other food I've tried. Yours seems like the ones I've heard and read about.
I wish I was closer. I'd gladly buy or trade an impressive stack of books for him.
I wish I was closer. I'd gladly buy or trade an impressive stack of books for him.
Ohio Entusiast;3096907; said:
yeah well if you could really put darwin up in a 125 for life and continue a diet approximating what he's getting now I'd let you have him. I don't want to ship him because as you can probably guess, I sort of like my fish a lot, and if he died in transit I would never forgive myself. I spend more feeding this fish than I do feeding my bulldogs per month I think, and I would much rather see him in fishy equivalent of the 4 seasons than make 1 dollar off his sale to someone with sub par piranha keeping skills.
one other food that I don't feed regularly because he doesn't eat it as ravenously as others is super worms. They're like big meal worms. I throw a good size chunk of carrot in the carton with them, and they devour it and then are themselves rich in beta-carotene. Feed that to him and you have a pretty good color enhancer. This isn't part of his regular diet though. The shrimp does the same thing, and he likes it more.
I've never tried carrots, good idea. My Pygos go nuts over fresh green beans, cucumber, squash and zucchini but I've never thought of giving them carrots. I like shrimp as well due to all my fish preferring shrimp to anything else. I also make up a concoction in a blender with shrimp, fish, veggies and a commercial vitamin but they're not crazy about it and it tends to dissolve quickly which only creates more work for me keeping optimal water.
Funny, after talking about my Pygos freaking out during water changes and such. I just reached in my Piraya tank to clean a pre-filter and the largest swam directly to my hand and just sat 5'' from my hand with no fear whatsoever.
Funny, after talking about my Pygos freaking out during water changes and such. I just reached in my Piraya tank to clean a pre-filter and the largest swam directly to my hand and just sat 5'' from my hand with no fear whatsoever.
Ohio Entusiast;3097194; said:
HA! thats great. I've heard that RBP's eat fruits when they fall in the river in the Amazon, but I have never tried feeding fruit. I had no idea what to try...
