Hello All!
I'm a noob to this forum and keeping pirahna. I got my first red belly in September and housed him in a 20 gallon tank until upgrading to a 55 when I received 3 more piranha. All were about 2 to 2.5" in length. Since moving to the new tank, my eldest pirahna hasn't been eating like he used to months ago. The problem started just before I moved them from the 20 to 55 gallon tank.
I made sure to keep my water parameters in check as best as I could and given my constant checks, nothing is out of line i.e nitrites, ph, hardness etc. The only thing that is on the high side that I can't seam to fix is carbonate hardness, it is very high but it has been since day one, even when they were all healthy.
My eldest piranha is otherwise very healthy and colorful but his growth has all but halted. So much so, his smaller tankmate piranhas are catching up to him and may even be larger than him now. I'm kind of at a loss as to what is going on. He used to LOVE krill and brine shrimp and even ciclid pellets. He stopped eating all of them so I moved onto raw chicken and steak which he liked for a week or so and is now back to eating nothing. I bought fresh frozen shrimp from the market and he, and his other three tank mates loved it...for a week or so.
Now this brings us to today. As of recent, all my piranha suddenly stopped eating all together. I read that they do this sometimes so I made sure the tank was clean, did a 25% water change etc. With no luck, I isolated my eldest problematic piranha from the others back into the 20 gallon tank to try and coax him back to health in his own environment. He seems to have really liked that change b/c he's swimming around much more than before, albeit still not eating. There is food in the tank, so I guess he'll eat when he feels like it unless you guys can think of something else to try.
This morning, the day after I moved my eldest pirahna out of the tank, the other three remaining in the 55 gallon tank, whom had not been eating, decided to eat the smallest of the three and left half of it floating at the top of the tank for me this morning. My biggest question is, even after all the food I kept offering to them, why would they just eat one of their own instead?? Any and all information would be wonderful.
Thanks,
B
I'm a noob to this forum and keeping pirahna. I got my first red belly in September and housed him in a 20 gallon tank until upgrading to a 55 when I received 3 more piranha. All were about 2 to 2.5" in length. Since moving to the new tank, my eldest pirahna hasn't been eating like he used to months ago. The problem started just before I moved them from the 20 to 55 gallon tank.
I made sure to keep my water parameters in check as best as I could and given my constant checks, nothing is out of line i.e nitrites, ph, hardness etc. The only thing that is on the high side that I can't seam to fix is carbonate hardness, it is very high but it has been since day one, even when they were all healthy.
My eldest piranha is otherwise very healthy and colorful but his growth has all but halted. So much so, his smaller tankmate piranhas are catching up to him and may even be larger than him now. I'm kind of at a loss as to what is going on. He used to LOVE krill and brine shrimp and even ciclid pellets. He stopped eating all of them so I moved onto raw chicken and steak which he liked for a week or so and is now back to eating nothing. I bought fresh frozen shrimp from the market and he, and his other three tank mates loved it...for a week or so.
Now this brings us to today. As of recent, all my piranha suddenly stopped eating all together. I read that they do this sometimes so I made sure the tank was clean, did a 25% water change etc. With no luck, I isolated my eldest problematic piranha from the others back into the 20 gallon tank to try and coax him back to health in his own environment. He seems to have really liked that change b/c he's swimming around much more than before, albeit still not eating. There is food in the tank, so I guess he'll eat when he feels like it unless you guys can think of something else to try.
This morning, the day after I moved my eldest pirahna out of the tank, the other three remaining in the 55 gallon tank, whom had not been eating, decided to eat the smallest of the three and left half of it floating at the top of the tank for me this morning. My biggest question is, even after all the food I kept offering to them, why would they just eat one of their own instead?? Any and all information would be wonderful.
Thanks,
B
