# Piranhas



## lorrii (Sep 17, 2010)

The bf wants to get piranhas, now, don't get me wrong I know they will be in a tank, behind glass where they can't eat me.
But there's something about keeping them as pets that makes me uneasy.

I mean, what do they eat? They have to be fussy about water, something tells me that it will be a time consuming and wallet munching hobby...

Any advice, or just general info about keeping the f:censor:s

Thanks


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## daikenkai (May 24, 2007)

Theyre actually very shy fish and rather boring. :lol2: Theyre also very messy and need a BIG tank to keep them happy.


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## ctarry (Jan 24, 2007)

instead of red bellies (boring), look into getting a rhom (black piranha) or an Elongatus Piranha. both have to be kept as a single fish per tank. 

Both are aggressive and not too shy. not the most common fish to get hold of, but some places (especially in and around london) would be able to get them


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

lorrii said:


> The bf wants to get piranhas, now, don't get me wrong I know they will be in a tank, behind glass where they can't eat me.
> But there's something about keeping them as pets that makes me uneasy.
> 
> I mean, what do they eat? They have to be fussy about water, something tells me that it will be a time consuming and wallet munching hobby...
> ...


They're pussies. You could happily put your hand in the tank with em.


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## wils978 (Aug 24, 2008)

I had Piranhas, They all died when I was moving house . I had 8 red bellies. They're shy as anything and moreless just sit there trying to hide. You can put your hands in, as long as you haven't got a cut or blood on your hands, they're pure wuss.

Put a gold fish in alive if you like that sort of thing. They lasted 30 seconds until it was just a skull left on the sand. You can buy them alive shrimp, they love these. They have blood worm quite quickly. You can also buy stuff like Cows heart from butchers, just they're very messy fish. You'll need to keep ontop with cleaning the filters (not with tap water I might add) and keeping the sand clean. Best to get a min 180L tank or the biggest you can go. Then use fluvel external filter. Then they can be amazing for friends coming into the house, but personally I wouldn't buy them again simply because they don't do much until you put food in.

Edit: just to add, I used to have friends bringing me gold fish to watch them feed so it didn't cost that much but certainly more expensive than your flakes.


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## berry1 (Sep 25, 2010)

red bellies are shy as juveniles but when their 12" their not so shy


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## ipreferaflan (Oct 8, 2009)

Nobody has ever been killed by a piranha ever.


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## _jake_ (Jul 3, 2008)

Careful, it'll bite your hand and pull your body in and slash your troat with its razor sharp fins!


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## Victor Creed (Aug 25, 2010)

Bleh...Piranhas are ok, but if you want a REAL menacing fish, go with a male Midas (Amphilophus citrinellus)or male Red Devil (Amphilophus labiatus), as well as Jaguar/Managuense Cichlid (Parachromis managuensis) or anything from the Parachromis/Nandopsis genus. Some other cool options you might want to look into that will permit community tanks, but as long as it is with OTHER aggressive fish are : Jack Dempseys (Rocia octofasciata), Black Convicts (Archocentrus nigrofasciatus), {Green Terror, Gold Saum, Acaras,}-(Aquidens) Texas Cichlid (Hetirichthys), Firemouths (Thorichthys), Earth-Eaters (Geophagus), and several others that are not only much more interesting than Piranhas....but also much SMARTER and more owner-responsive.

P.S. I have a 12+ inch male Midas Cichlid that must be housed alone. He would rip a Piranha to shreds in a matter of hours, almost effortlessly.


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## jakk (Jan 22, 2008)

a friend of mine kept Piranhas. his tank was 5ft long 4ft high and 2ft deep and he only had 5 in there. just thought you would like to know a size ratio :2thumb:


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## gaz2374 (Aug 29, 2005)

ctarry said:


> instead of red bellies (boring), look into getting a rhom (black piranha) or an Elongatus Piranha. both have to be kept as a single fish per tank.
> 
> Both are aggressive and not too shy. not the most common fish to get hold of, but some places (especially in and around london) would be able to get them


 
as above rhoms are usually expensive too ,and tbh having a huge tank with 1 15" fish in is boring too even if it is active, 

i had red bellies and they just sat there all the time until feeding then in a split its over and they sit there again, 

is your fella after them because hes seen the film :lol2: 

only messing but most ppl do get them just because they sound cool in the pub or chucking a live mollie in and seeing it ripped to bits is impresive when the boys are round, (i was the same so im not slagging anyone off, we all do it)

if hes serious then do belive that when ppl say they are borring they really do mean it you wont get an active few, there all the same, apart from the rhoms,


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## Fiw666 (Dec 13, 2008)

Piranhas are pretty boring fish.
Cant go far wrong with oscars or other big cichlids as mentiond by Victor Creed


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## Adam98150 (Jan 12, 2009)

They're boring. And they will not eat your hand in 0.2 seconds if you place it into the tank, like everyone thinks.

Is that why your boyfriend wants them, because he thinks they're 'badass'? He hasn't got a staffie too has he?


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## Victor Creed (Aug 25, 2010)

Adam98150 said:


> They're boring. And they will not eat your hand in 0.2 seconds if you place it into the tank, like everyone thinks.
> 
> Is that why your boyfriend wants them, because he thinks they're 'badass'? He hasn't got a staffie too has he?



......and just wth is THAT supposed to mean? I hope u said that because they have a bad reputation but are actually one of the most friendliest, sensetive, caring, loyal and emotional breeds to ever have existed. I am an American Pitbull Terrier breeder and an American Bulldog breeder and they do NOT deserve their reputation for being "killers".


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## pythonpower (Apr 24, 2007)

i started out with 8 young red bellied piranhas that were fed live goldfish every few days i stopped feeding live straight away and over a period of weeks the result was me ending up with 3 there young adults now and seem happy enough in a trio they are very shy and quite messy/smelly fish to keep the only time there aggressive is feeding times well mine are anyway i recommend a half decant external filter a good sized air stone or 2 plenty of plants and places to hide

they dont mess around when they attack each other either sorry for the pic hope people dont mind.


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## ctarry (Jan 24, 2007)

if you want something that feeds like piranha, but are active, i'd go for bucktoothed tetras exodon paradoxus :2thumb:


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## Victor Creed (Aug 25, 2010)

ctarry said:


> if you want something that feeds like piranha, but are active, i'd go for bucktoothed tetras exodon paradoxus :2thumb:


Yea, that's great....a 3 inch fish that needs a whole 30 gallon tank to itself cuz it will kill......no SHRED everything else.


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## lorrii (Sep 17, 2010)

Adam98150 said:


> They're boring. And they will not eat your hand in 0.2 seconds if you place it into the tank, like everyone thinks.
> 
> Is that why your boyfriend wants them, because he thinks they're 'badass'? He hasn't got a staffie too has he?


Erm, no, wow, just because he thinks they will be an interesting pet! Lol... I love how rude some people are on here.
Nah we don't have a staffie, we have a g. rosea, boa and 2 burms... Is there some kind of snidey comment you wannah make about those too coz I'm open to it... :bash:

Dunno if we are getting them anymore, looked into it and didn't realise just how expensive everything is, so I think it's a plan for the future! 
Thanks anyways guys! You have been a big help! :2thumb:


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## lorrii (Sep 17, 2010)

pythonpower said:


> i started out with 8 young red bellied piranhas that were fed live goldfish every few days i stopped feeding live straight away and over a period of weeks the result was me ending up with 3 there young adults now and seem happy enough in a trio they are very shy and quite messy/smelly fish to keep the only time there aggressive is feeding times well mine are anyway i recommend a half decant external filter a good sized air stone or 2 plenty of plants and places to hide
> 
> they dont mess around when they attack each other either sorry for the pic hope people dont mind.


Haha! Oh my!!!! :gasp:


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## ctarry (Jan 24, 2007)

Victor Creed said:


> Yea, that's great....a 3 inch fish that needs a whole 30 gallon tank to itself cuz it will kill......no SHRED everything else.


have you ever kept them? you can easily have a group of 15, maybe 20 in a 30G

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WtFy84EsQ0&feature=player_embedded


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## Adam98150 (Jan 12, 2009)

Victor Creed said:


> ......and just wth is THAT supposed to mean? I hope u said that because they have a bad reputation but are actually one of the most friendliest, sensetive, caring, loyal and emotional breeds to ever have existed. I am an American Pitbull Terrier breeder and an American Bulldog breeder and they do NOT deserve their reputation for being "killers".


Ha ha, you didn't get it. It's pretty obvious that the breed itself has nothing wrong with it.

It's just, a lot of nob heads own this breed - thinking they're badass because of it. Hence my previous comment.
We get the same stereotypic guys in our aquatics shop - usually dressed in trackies, nike airs, cap, tracky top. Asking for piranhas.


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## Victor Creed (Aug 25, 2010)

Adam98150 said:


> Ha ha, you didn't get it. It's pretty obvious that the breed itself has nothing wrong with it.
> 
> It's just, a lot of nob heads own this breed - thinking they're badass because of it. Hence my previous comment.
> We get the same stereotypic guys in our aquatics shop - usually dressed in trackies, nike airs, cap, tracky top. Asking for piranhas.



Fair enough.


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## KurtH (Sep 24, 2010)

Or keep both......the Bucktooths go for each others scales, but that's it, nowt major.....


Here's my 2 Red Bellies, 8 Bucktooth Tetra and 1 Pike Cichlid Sp Belly Crawler

YouTube - Piranha,Bucktooth Tetra and Pike Cichlid (sp Belly Crawler)

Oh, and Piranha's are interesting, mine are just getting used to movement outside the tank, they get overly excited when they see my 2 year olds fingers on the glass :lol2:



Victor Creed said:


> Yea, that's great....a 3 inch fish that needs a whole 30 gallon tank to itself cuz it will kill......no SHRED everything else.


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## s6t6nic6l (May 15, 2010)

had a fascination about these fish since i was a kid. even did a school "talk" on them in high school. their menacing traits still attribute to the main topic about this fish. how many of the "BRAVE" keepers and wuss callers of this fish have actually put their fingers in and wriggled or splashed about the surface!!!!!!............ thought not. again in the family we've had everything from coldwater to reef set-up but never once considered this as a pet fish. unless you have a large tank/filtration system going you will have nothing but foul water every 3 to 4 days if your feeding them a good live food diet. most will put this in a small tank and wait for some action?. you might aswell have a photo of your nattereri instead on a shelf for the movement you will see in the tank. as most have pointed out they are so listless because you must have to appreciate these are a shoaling fish. people do and will get these fish for the novelty factor alone and not as a viable inmate for an aquarium.

nuff sed.


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