Pirhana Feeding?

[jobeak]

I have recently purchased 6 red bellied pirhana's all one inch in size and they are housed in a 55 gallon planted tank. I am currently feeding them a mixed diet of flakes, brine shrimp and blood worm. I am not too keen on feeding live food to these guys so I am probably going to feed them beef. I bought a small piece of very lean steak today and had it minced by the butcher. I have fed them small amounts of it and they seem to like it. I was just wondering how often I should feed them meat and at what point I should stop the flakes. Basically any advice on their feeding preferences as they grow.

Thanks in advance.

Jobeak

 

[Fishckabibble]

beef is not the best thing for fish, it contains high amounts of fat and other thing not good for their digestive system, you could always buy some froxen bait fish and feed them that, but i have never had pirahnas so i cant tell you for sure.

 

[JAWS69]

Personaley, I have given steak to my Osacrs many, many times. They sem to really enjoy it. There is a video on the web right now of a mouse being eaten by a tank full of Pirhanas. I wont go into details, but lets just say, it seemed the pirhanas enjoyed him.

 

[Intravenous]

Pirahnas mostly eat fish in the wild don't they? Instead of beef you could just buy raw fish from the supermarket?

 

[TLM4x4]

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/universal-viewid262.html

This is a website that informs on how to keep them in an aquarium and it also says about feeding...
"Pirhanas can be fed flake food and pellets while they are young but will need more meaty food as they grow older. More mature fish should be fed low fat meat such as beef, fish pieces and live feeder fish. They should be fed several times a day while young while one time a day is enough for adult fish".

 

[Sebastiandacrab]

hey jaws what site is that

 

[Lotus]

He posted the link at the beginning of his post.

 

[Sebastiandacrab]

did he i dont see it

 

[scubadude]

Try to avoid the red meat while they are juvies as it is hard on their tummies. Frozen fish is your safest bet. If you do give feeders isolate them for at least a week and treat for parasits/disease. Only thing i'm worried about is your tank size. I had 3 in a 55 and when they got mature it was kinda crowded in there. i lost one and the remaning 2 seem to be much more comfortable. I would plan on getting a 100gal in a year & 1/2 if you want all 6 to be comfortable.

Suggetsion on keeping your fingers while cleaning the tank......Only turn the tank light on when you are working on the tank, turn only 1 light on at a time(whichever side you are working on) your fish will soon learn to huddle at the dark side of the tank allowing you to keep from getting in their personel space and avoid dangerous fright responses. Try to keep your tank out of high traffic areas and adding some fake plants so they can hide helps keep the fright responses down as well.

 

[jobeak]

I will try the frozen fish as I do not want to feed live food. I have a 55 gallon that has 4 comets in that I could transfer into a spare 30 gallon. This is the plan for the future, to split the six into 2 groups of 3 until such time as I have to get a bigger tank for them all.

Good suggestion concerning the tank lighting. I certainly dont want to run the risk of losing any fingers. Also, the tank is in my office at home which I get very few visitors in.

Thanks

Jobeak.*thumbsup2

 

[Spaceman_Spiff]

As previously said, beef is too fatty for fish. It's not too bad in small doses though. The best foods for Piranha are frozen fish fillets ( not cod, that flakes when you throw it in the tank), earthworms, and shrimp. Earthworms are a great source of protein, and shrimp really improve their colors. It wouldn't hurt to try pellets with them either, if you can get them to eat them.

And Scubadude, you're completely wrong. Piranha of the pygocentrus genus are skittish by nature. Especially red bellies. While Red Bellies generally don't like light, they do require it. So keeping the light off, and just turning it on is a bad idea. They will be so used to darkness that it will completely freak them out. And as I said, they're very skittish, so they will be afraid of your hand, and will swim away. Also for 6 red bellies, you'll need a 125 gallon.


-Spiff

 

[scubadude]

And Scubadude, you're completely wrong. Piranha of the pygocentrus genus are skittish by nature. Especially red bellies. While Red Bellies generally don't like light, they do require it. So keeping the light off, and just turning it on is a bad idea. They will be so used to darkness that it will completely freak them out.


-Spiff

Thats funny.....it has seemed to work quite well for the past 5 years. My fish and i are both quite comfortable during tank maintainence without any fright responses. Don't knock it till you try it man!

 

[Dennis-Pir]

WEll I agree with all the above responses,

Fish do need light regardless what 'works and what doesn't'... Everything will work for some ppl but not for 'all ppl'

Anyways, rbp need light because they have light in the wild they dont' live in complete desloation.

I have a friend that just feeds his rbp feeders and they are doing fine, doesn't mean you should.

For feeding I just suggest going to your local store and going to the deli or seafood section and getting shrimp or whatever and freezing some of it and then just defrosting when you need some.

But anyways, regardless on the 6 rbps in a 55g tank you will need an upgrading SOON, 3 rbps TOPS for a 55g.

Is my opinion.

ANd lighting just a regular lite 12 hours or 10 hours a day and then off will work

If you arne't at work all the time invest in a timer
Hmm ya thats about it

 

[jobeak]

I have been feeding the RB's small pieces of chicken ( filleted ) and they seem to enjoy it. My tank, while quite large is purposely dimly lit with plenty of cover from driftwood to various plants. Unfortunately, I lost one of the smaller pirhana today. When I came home from work, I saw what was left of him floating around the tank, so I am now down to 5. The remaining 5, I am pretty sure are responsible for his death.

I also feed blood worms and from time to time flakes. There is certainly no problem with feeding now as all the remaining pirhana have doubled in size since I bought them. Thanks for all the helpful suggestions everyone.

Jobeak

 

[jobeak]

Her are some pics of the guys that survived. Unfortunately I am down to 3 Piranha from the original 6, but these guys seem comfortable with one another now. They are almost three inches now and are fed mainly on shrimp and neons.

 

[GeraldTheMouse]

My friend in canada had a tank full of pirhanas and fed them small, dead goldfish.

 

[jobeak]

My friend in canada had a tank full of pirhanas and fed them small, dead goldfish.

It is apparently not a good idea to feed goldfish to piranha as the goldfish contain growth inhibiting properties and can carry diseases that could be passed onto piranha. Anyway, I keep goldfish myself and I would'nt have the heart to feed any of them to my piranha.

 

[elwood4321]

kinda off the subject, but i live in utah (ogden). where can i find some pirhanas? money isn't much of an object either...

 

[Breene]

there is a website called pirahna fury.com and they have some good forums... there is a recepe on making your own pirahna food on there in the DIY section i think. Look around...