Piranha

comando489

So a friend of mine breeds piranha. He has red bellies, yellow bellies, just grey ones and black piranha. The black ones are the meanest fish that I have ever seen in my life, there can really only be one in a tank at a time because they are so vicious. The pair that he had fully grown ate a rat in about 30 seconds right after it was placed in the tank.

I’m thinking about getting a few, maybe like 3-4 red bellies and then putting them in a 29 gallon tank. Everyone says that they need at least a 55 gallon but my friend said that you can keep 5 of them in a 20 gallon long if you wanted to so I am thinking 3 in a 29 gal will be O.K.

I will save up some money and hopefully in about 3 weeks I will post some pictures

beetlebz

double check before you go buying them :\ in alot of places its illegal to have them!

comando489

shhhhhhhhhhhhhsh! it is illegal to have them in NY. but i can get a permit for them for like $15 sooo it's not that bad

beetlebz

oh sweet.... ill have to see if i can get a permit for connecticut :P

Gump

I wouldn't get them.

29 gallons is not sufficient for anything other than a fry grow out. That and don't expect the red bellies to be anything like black piranhas.

Falina

I'd have to agree with Gump. 29g is too tiny for them.

comando489

how come every time i go to a fish store that has piranha there are like 5 of them and they are in a 20 gal long? i think this would be a step up for them....

Falina

Because they are probably not fully grown and fish stores cannot afford/don't have space to keep all fish in tanks they should be kept in long term. They are also not usually there for very long so tank size is less important and moreover, fish stpores are there to make money, in most cases, not to care for pet fish.

comando489

nope they are fully grown and are very happy in the tank. they were even spwaning while i was there

Falina

In that case, pretty much the same, just minus the fully grown part. I must say though, I feel really bad for 5 x 12" fish in a 20g. They must be hardly able to move! That's a new low even for a lot of fish stores I've seen.