Strange Piranhas

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J

jryegolds

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 9, 2014
28
0
0
USA
I have 4 ~7 inch red bellies who I have had for over a year. When I first got them they were 1.5 inches and I have had them on pellets for majority of their life, I use a mix of cichlid gold and massivore delite. I have also mixed talapia fillets soaked in Kent's zoe supplement into their diet and the occasional vegies. So one day I decided to give them a little treat and try feeding them some 1.5 inch convict cichlids. This was my first time using live feeder fish, although one time I tried feeding them live shrimp only to find the shrimp dead and completely intact the next morning. My brother told me just to put the convicts in my tank and don't acclimate them since it will make them easy pickings for the piranhas but I ignored this advice since I thought the convicts should at least get a fair chance to survive and maybe it would be beneficial to the piranhas by making them have to hunt and chase their prey.

Shortly after adding the convicts to the tank a few of the piranhas chased them but the cichlids were fast and quite good at evading the piranhas. I just assumed that they would be gone by the morning. Well now its a month later and all 4 of the convicts I added are still alive and my piranhas don't even bother to chase them. The cichlids will swim less than an inch away from the piranhas face and the rbps just act as if there is nothing there. I'm so confused now because I never imagined they would last this long after reading tons of threads about people feeding convicts to their pygos. I never had any intentions of giving my rbps any tank mates but here I am with 4 rbps and 4 convicts living peacefully together.

Has anyone ever had this happen to them? Is it possible for piranhas who have spent almost their entire lives on a diet of pellets to lose all interest in live prey?

I also have noticed that my rbps don't behave the same way as many others describe them. I always hear people say they are really timid but my rbps will just chill right in the front of the tank as if I'm not even there and they will approach me while feeding. The one issue with this is when I do water changes and tank maintenance the rbps seem to have little to no fear of me and will swim uncomfortably close to my hand which is making me seriously consider buying a chain-mail glove, the last thing I need is a surprise trip to the ER. So I was wondering if this could be related to my rbps not going after the convicts? I just feel like this is just a lot of uncharacteristic behavior for this species and is making me think that there might be a connection between the two. So please if anyone has ever heard of such a thing let me know because I'm really confused, thanks.
 
In my experience, red bellies have a wiiiide variety of behavior...there's no guarantee on how they will act. Some people have skittish Ps, some have calm Ps. Some will eat anything, some are picky. Some are aggressive, some are laid back.

i wouldnt say they're weird..Although most people report their RBPs as skittish.

as for the live food. I'm just speculating but it makes sense if they've been raised on nothing but manufactured food they might decline live food.
 
I felt the same about mine originally, too. I have 5 3inch rbs and they live with 3 giant danios, easily catchable, and they've left them alone the entire time I've had them. I think its more the fact that they can't catch them. Because I had another fish with my ps and within days, they stripped the entire fish and all that I could find was the skull, yet the danios are still there. But who knows. My previous piranha wouldn't touch live food. He was about 9inches long and extremely friendly. Total opposite of the babies.
 
Since you had them on pellets since you got em i feel that is the reason. My red wolf fish was on live at first, then pellets for about 6 months straight. I put a divider in and some smaller jewels on the other side, they were able to chill w/ my wolf when theyd squeeze through the barrier, my wolf has killed things larger then them seemingly for the fun of it in the past so this was surprising for me too

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Alright so I'm not the only one who has had relatively friendly piranhas, that's good. Thanks for your guys input.
 
i never feed manufactured food for my Ps.
smelt and other small types of fish (not bigger than 5 inches) i buy for them from market.
my Ps are about 5 inches.

I think ur Ps are ok, their behavior is normal, not all RBPs are skittish.
some don't eat live food at all.
 
This happens from time to time. I have seen grown goldfish with oscars cause the oscars never ate the feeders. (not recomending keepign the two together). I had two gold fish with my fahaka puffer for 2 months. I finally removed the gold fish. I typically don't use live feeders I was trying to get him to eat after he arrived through the mail.
 
rain21 said:
i never feed manufactured food for my Ps.
smelt and other small types of fish (not bigger than 5 inches) i buy for them from market.
my Ps are about 5 inches.

I think ur Ps are ok, their behavior is normal, not all RBPs are skittish.
some don't eat live food at all.
Click to expand...

Why no manufactured foods? I understand they contain preservatives but I doubt that the negatives outweigh the positives. I travel a lot and it's difficult to have someone come and prepare foods for them. Also try convincing someone to stick their hand in a piranha tank to fish out uneaten food which is why I just have them feed floating pellets while I'm gone. Although watching them tear apart a fillet of fish is quite more entertaining than a pellet.

If these cichlids reach 4 inches without getting eaten would you guys think I would be justified in trying out the whole tank mate thing? Maybe some cardinal tetras? If I do notice them starting to go missing I could always throw them in my cardinal tetra,oto, amano shrimp tank.
 
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