# Red Bellied Piranhas eating eachother!



## Koitoi (Jan 24, 2012)

Okay so I do not keep fish, only snakes :no1:

However I went into a garden center yesterday and I couldn't help but take my little brothers down to the aquatics whilst my mum and grandma decided on what to plant this year...... :lol2:

Anyways these red bellied piranhas caught my eye straight away. After a couple of minutes they started to 'dance' with each other, then I realised they were fighting. Before I knew it one of them had take a massive chuck out of the top fin of the piranha. 

There were three of them in a very small 10L aquarium, my only guess is that they are territorial and they they are picking each other off one by one :whistling2:

I alerted the aquatics keeper, however he didn't seem to keen on separating the piranhas :lol2:

Anyways, Just thought I'd post my first thread on fishies :whistling2:


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## Salzburg (Oct 17, 2011)

10L? Poor guys. Could be the stress of being in such a small space. Normally they live in groups, but I assume they do still need their own space. 
How big were the fish themselves?


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## littlefoot (Dec 6, 2007)

Are you sure it was only 10 litres? That is cruelty in my opinion and they should be reported if it is only 10 litres.


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## Koitoi (Jan 24, 2012)

Salzburg said:


> 10L? Poor guys. Could be the stress of being in such a small space. Normally they live in groups, but I assume they do still need their own space.
> How big were the fish themselves?


Not sure how to go about measuring fish, however from nose to tail I'd say about 4.5/5 inches. I believe red bellies can reach 14inches. However like I said I don't know anything about fish 

It was so sad seeing chunks being taken out of the piranha!


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## Koitoi (Jan 24, 2012)

littlefoot said:


> Are you sure it was only 10 litres? That is cruelty in my opinion and they should be reported if it is only 10 litres.


I'm pretty sure it couldn't have been more than 10 litres. I've heard they shouldn't be kept in anything under 100l!


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## tarantulamatt (Nov 12, 2009)

red bellied piranhas need 20 gallons each. so thats on the small size.

most people will upgrade them in the future but they can get stressed and then attack each other. its best to have a group in a massive tank so they can grow into it.


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## benh (Sep 12, 2011)

3 4inch fish would barely be able to move in 10l, im guessing it was a little larger than that. 
Sadly, fish in shops are often kept in stupidly small tanks, and the shops just claim its alright because its only temporary. Once you report it to staff, unless you can prove a pattern of cruelty, there is very little else you can do.


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## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

Koitoi said:


> I'm pretty sure it couldn't have been more than 10 litres. I've heard they shouldn't be kept in anything under 100l!


sure you don't mean 10 gal? even that's too small for more than one 4" piranha.


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## littlefoot (Dec 6, 2007)

How big would you say the tank was in inches?


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## Moogloo (Mar 15, 2010)

I doubt its too much of a problem to be honest, its a holding tank, not a full setup.

I kept young Red Bellies in the shop a fair few times! It was the same every time, i got them in the size of 5p coins, tiny, like 8-10mm tops... i had one choke to death on some chopped bloodworm.. how depressing is that!?

But its terrible, you can keep them alone as they end up really depressed, they are a shoaling species...

But the pack mentality is mental if they get over excited! You put some pellets in (at young age they go mental over Prima) but the trouble is... once food is gone and they are still in that mind set, they always seem to pick on each other mercilessly.

They calm down after an hour or two but by then they might have killed one or two or just done damage...

There isnt too much you can do about it, as a rule they get on great unless something triggers them or they get over excited about something.

Had the same problem with a display tank in a shop i know. 10ft x 2ft x 2.5ft tank and they started off with 20 x 4" piranhas... after the first year there was 12 x 8" piranhas lol. But they lived as those 12 piranhas for the next 4 years with no problems at all and they were all a good foot long at least... biggest piranhas i have ever seen!

And then one day they get fed, same routine as every day to minimize excitement over feeding and they go mental tearing each other apart. They all died from being shredded or from injuries.

They are predictably unpredictable.


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## caribe (Mar 21, 2010)

I always buy double what I want to eventually end up with when buying baby piranha.

They always pick of the weaker ones first so that way you get the healthiest fish IMO


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## ermgravy (Sep 19, 2009)

ditto... rbp's will kill and eat each other on any thing at first sign of weakness. even in a hungry state they generally wont attack non injured animals or fish... but show a sign of fatigue or weakness and they will go full frenzy in a sec... rbp's are pussy cats compared to rhoms or any other solo piranha sp tho....


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## littlefoot (Dec 6, 2007)

All this aside a 10 litre tank is still way too small.


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