Super skittish, is this normal?

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bahamaqt00

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 7, 2009
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kirkland wa
I have 4 RBP's and we have had them for about 5 months now. Every time we walk into the room they freak out and act like they're about to jump out of the tank. Even if we walk very slowly to try not to spook them, it doesn't help. Is this normal? Anything that might help them? They are the only ones in the tank becides a pleco. Any opinions or suggestions would be appreciated. Also, we feed them and they eat just fine but only when we leave the room. They won't eat when they think we're near.

Thanks
Ashley
 
Ashley, rbps are known to be skittish, how big are they now and what size tank you have them in? what kind of decor you have in the tank?
I'm assuming that the tank is not in a high traffic area so they are not used to people walking around. if moving the tank to a high traffic area isn't possible then try to spend more time in front of the tank so they can get use to you.
if the tank is big enough then add some hiding area for them so they can retreat into safety when they are scared. as they get bigger they should be less skittish.
 
Thank you. I appreciate the reply, a lot of good information. They are in a 55gallon tank in the bedroom, so no there isn't much traffic. I will look into getting more decorations. What do you suggest? We seem to kill all living plants and my boyfriend hates fake plants. So I guess plants are a no-go. They are about 3 inches so they are still juvies but they are loosing their spots and getting darker on top.
 
at 3" or so they'll be skittish, as for decorations you can use driftwoods, or rocks (make sure it doesn't change your pH level). as for plants, you probably had plants that require more light than what your light can provide that's why they die off. you can look into some low light plants if you still want to have some green in your tank.
what I'm concerning about is since you already have them 5 months now they should be about 5-6" by now even if you get them at 1" to start with. what kind of filtration do you have and what's your water change schedule?
 
Well we probably don't change the water as much as we should. About once per month. =/ We have a 150gal that we change more often and it gets kinda pricey. No excuse though. We only have a HOB on the piranha tank, no canister. But when we test the water it comes out fine every time.
 
Out of curiosty, what are you feeding them?

IME, a lot of P's calm down when I have removed a lot of cover and opened up more space for them to move in.
My reds are currently in a 90 gallon with a single piece of driftwood at one end and a rocky cave at the other end.
As soon as I rescaped it like this, they calmed right down when I'm around and they finish their food promptly now.
It might also help the flow from your powerhead if you opened it up more.
This is just my experience though, and might not work for everyone.
 
i used to also have rbp's in a 60 gallon a while back, they are skittish as heck. like stated, going around them alot helps but they will have to get bigger before it goes away. bright lights also make them like that, i took electrical tape and wrapped it around the bulb like a candy cane to dim it. i may also suggest a good secured lid becasue i spooked em before and had one jump like 4-6 inhes out of the water!

may i ask what you are feeding them? i had mine about 2 years and i only fed them live food a few times. i usually fed pellets and frozen foods and i wonder if that has any effect on their skittishness in general. after having red bellies a while it made me wish i would have got some caribes, or even a single piranha tank liek a sweet elong or a black diamond, maybe even manuelli or serra the reg reds are LAME!

wait till they get big and you want to move them to a different tank or to a bucket to get rid of em, prepare to ruin like 2-3 nets unless you catch them in a different fashion lol
 
I have 1 RBP in a 55 gal tank. Raised him to 8" in a 29 long - he became very skittish a few months ago from what I believe was lack of space. When we enter the fish room he no longer bangs the glass and lid in a frenzy like he used to in the 29. I can't say he shares the same outgoing personality traits as my Arrowana but has become more personable w/ more room.
 
with a bigger shoal it would help with the skittishness of the fish but it would then require a bigger tank (at least later down the road which will be just few months if well taken care off) and much bigger filtration as piranhas are messy eaters.

you should really be doing water change once a week instead of once a month, the most I've gone by was two weeks without water change (yea...I got lazy sometimes)
besides, water shouldn't be the expensive part of the hobby, assuming you do 25% water change every week, that's only 55g of water in 4 weeks, even including the 150g you have that's only a little over 200g per month or so. not sure how much your town charges you for water and sewer but where I live I get charged roughly $5 for every 1000g (water and sewer) if remember correctly so that should be the very less of your worry. you'll probably use more water from taking long shower or bath every day as compare to weekly water change.

when you test water parameters what do you use? those all in one test strips are unreliable, should really get you self a master test kit. and by "parameters are ok" what are the numbers?
what do you feed and how frequent you feed them will also effect their growth other than water parameters. at the size yours are in you should be feeding 3-4 times a day if possible. or at least once in the morning before you head out and once at night after you come home.
 
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