Piranha

ajd0003

I was thinking about getting three red bellied piranhas. I was wondering that if i got them what size tank i would need(plus the cost of it) and a good place to get them.

MegK

10 gallons per fish, and they will best in groups of 5 +

so ideally its a 55 gallon tank, but if u did have a 30 and want to have three u could, they would just be panicy

ajd0003

where could i get a 30gallon tank online

Gump

I would say 75 gallon as the smallest tank for a school of P's. RBP can grow up to a foot in length with a height of 8-9". As meg said they are best in groups so if you have the facilities I would start with a group of 8 or 10 and be prepared to house 5 or 6 as adults.

herefishy

Ten gallons per fish is not nearly enough. I had a group of 8 and they were in a 5 foot 135g tank. At maturity, I thought they should have be in something larger, although I don't think that they were suffering from a lack of space. I would recommend that you use a formula of 1-2 square feet per fish. Tank height could be from 20"-30".

Pirhana are a schooling, social fish, much like their cousins the tetras. They do best in schools of 6 or more. Live, meaty foods should be provided. I used to buy large quantitiesof Goldfish and feed them high nutrient diets before giving them to the pirhana. This increased the "gut load" of the Goldfish.

Pirhana are a very "dirty" fish. Frequent, regular water changes must be made. Water changes of 50% or more are the norm. They are also a very skittish fish. Their tank is best placed in a low traffic area. I have even had my fish jump out of the tank while I was cleaning it. These fish are not for the beginner and demand a great deal of dedication by their owner.

Gump

There are sooo many better foods to feed predatory fish than live Goldfish regardless of the gut load content. You can pick up many great foods from local markets like prawns, fish filets, squid, and a lot of P's will take food in pellet form.

fish_4_all

Depending on the age of the fish I would say there is a chance they won't eat anything else. I was given an Oscar when I was in high school and when I went to the LFS to find out what to feed him they sold me $30 in pellet foods and some other stuff that Oscar eat. He wouldn't touch any of it. If it did not move he would not eat it, period. I did get him to eat a couple crawdads and nightcrawlers but his main diet was Goldfish, he was raised on them and would refuse to eat if he didn't get them at least twice a week. He did try to eat my finger one day but it was moving in the tank.

Sure you might be able to train them to eat something else but until then, if they have been fed feeder fish it would be a good idea to get some, quarantine them, feed them good food and keep feeding it to them. This at least makes sure that they stay healthy while you TRY to get them to eat pellet foods and other dead meat.

paytheplayer

I have a piranha tank, with 3 RBP's in a 55 gallon tank. Even that is not recommended. It should be a little bit larger.

My LPS around here had rbp's for less than 1o bucks each. I bought them when they were the size of a dime, and after about 7 months, they are about 6-7 inches each now.

You definitely cant keep 3 in a 30 gallon, thats way too small.