black pirhana questions

[phishphan]

Hi,
I just bought a black pirhana (3-4 in) 2 days ago. It doesn't eat anything and rarely swims around. I put 2 small feeder fish in the tank (25 gal) and it doesn't even go for them. I bought them at a fish store and they had it in a tank with about 8 red pirhana's. The clerk did a demo with feeder fish and they went crazy and ate them all in 2 seconds. I was wondering if you could tell me some conditions that are manditory for black pirhana's to thrive in. Thank you

Matt

 

[FloridaFishGuy]

They are very shy by themselves. Get bigger tank and mor pirhanas.

 

[smb]

Hi,
  I just bought a black pirhana (3-4 in) 2 days ago. It doesn't eat anything and rarely swims around. I put 2 small feeder fish in the tank (25 gal) and it doesn't even go for them. I bought them at a fish store and they had it in a tank with about 8 red pirhana's. The clerk did a demo with feeder fish and they went crazy and ate them all in 2 seconds. I was wondering if you could tell me some conditions that are manditory for black pirhana's to thrive in. Thank you

Matt

Oh yea! My alltime fav piranha! Serrasalmus Rhombeus.

It's only been 2 days. Give him more time to become adjusted. The reason he was aggro at the lfs was because it was his tank. You too khim out of that environment. he has no idea whatsoever if there's going to be some bigger and badder fish just around the corner to come and eat him up yet if he's out and swimming around. I know it sounds weird because we know there are glass boundaries but liken it to us being suddenly transported to some other Universe in an instant and you might understand. Trust me, within the week at the most he'll be out and kicking bootie! Infact, in about 2 months you'll wish he wasn't so outgoing because he'll most likely rip you apart or at least challenge you when you want to clean your tank. You have to really know his traits to get around that and learn by the ay he leans, moves etc if he means to attack and bite or do a "flyby". You'll learn very fast or lose fingers and chunks of limbs. A Rhom isn't best for trial and error into learning the facets of the piranha world but they are the best p's there are, imo!

These guys are solitary fish. They are not shoaling like rbp's. They are extremely aggro against all fish whether it be a catfish, a totally different shaped fish and even it's own. Nothing can be kept with him for long w/o him killing them. And trust me, he will kill anything you try putting in that tank with him.

A beautiful fish and one I highly recommend.

If you need any more info please let us know.


I'll move this out of the Newbie forum so others can help you also.

 

[phishphan]

SMB --

Thank you very much. I am clueless on agressive fish and I was worried. So now the question is should I keep the feeder fish in there or take them out and let him be alone ? He is starting to swim around more. Thank you

 

[smb]

SMB --

Thank you very much. I am clueless on agressive fish and I was worried. So now the question is should I keep the feeder fish in there or take them out and let him be alone ? He is starting to swim around more. Thank you

If you want him to eat the feeder fish, then by all means leave them in there.

Rhoms are so cool. Can you give us a pic?

If you have any more questions, please ask.

 

[phishphan]

hey very sorry about the triple posting. I saw the different groupings of fish and didn;t know which forum to post in. It will not happen again. Thank you for your speedy replies.

 

[smb]

hey very sorry about the triple posting. I saw the different groupings of fish and didn;t know which forum to post in. It will not happen again. Thank you for your speedy replies.

Thanks. It can be confusing so np at all. I shouldn't have been like that but we've had problems here and I was just trying to crack down a bit. It was stupid of me to do so. I apologize and my bad.



BTW, any chance of getting pics of the rhom?

 

[juanveldez]

sweet a rhom..... I am very jealous. I used to have two rbp and I am waiting till I can get another tank to house it in. unfourtantly many lfs don't know much about how to keep them. keep us up to date on his progress

 

[phishphan]

Hey thanks for the props on the rhom. You are making me feel like I have something special. I heard that when they get older they have red eyes and mor black color. Is this true ? So tell me why these fish are so special ? The only thing I find on the internet is how agressive they are. If you know a site of it's family background type stuff please post a web site. I think you are right about the lfs not knowing much about it. He just said how much to feed it and it's a mean mofo. I paid $40 for it...is that a good price ? So far this is the first full day and it is finally swimming around. The feeder fish are getting close but the rhom just looks at them. The feeder fish have a sense to get away when it moves. I don't know if this is due to it's larger size or a telepathy thing going on that says get away from me. Oh yeah more questions. How much light should there be ? I was told not to have the flourescent light on above the tank so I just keep the room light on. I'm going to put more scenery in the tank (wood,trees,etc.) Any tips would be greatly apreciated. Thanks again this alot of help to me.

Matt

 

[cichlidmaster]

A rhom for $40.00 is a great price!!

I have seen them much higher at the size yours is.

Here is hoping it's a rhom and not a black pacu!!

CM

 

[Alien Anna]

SMB --

Thank you very much. I am clueless on agressive fish and I was worried. So now the question is should I keep the feeder fish in there or take them out and let him be alone ? He is starting to swim around more. Thank you

I'm very worried about this - from the documentary I saw the other day, a black piranha could have a man's hand off. Not exactly the ideal pet by the sounds of it!

 

[CFC]

I'm very worried about this - from the documentary I saw the other day, a black piranha could have a man's hand off. Not exactly the ideal pet by the sounds of it!

That just makes them more fun to keep

 

[juanveldez]

any pirhana is fun to keep. it is just that the Black ones are so hard to find that is why you pay almost double the price for a black one that you would a red belly. yes they are the most vicious of pirhana, they get HUGE teeth when full grown. and I suggest that you save all your pennies and any other money you get your hands on. because at an adult size I would probably go with 55 maybe 75 gallons if you can afford it.

 

[smb]

Hey thanks for the props on the rhom. You are making me feel like I have something special.

You most certainly do, imo!

I heard that when they get older they have red eyes and mor black color. Is this true ?

Yes but it's more of a dark grey color than black and they look so cool. They look evil and mean and if you like that look you'll love this fish. BTW, they are evil and mean and that's why I like this p so much. I like aggro fish.

I paid $40 for it...is that a good price ?

That's a great price, like Cm mentioned. I've seen 7"-10" go for hundreds of dollars. They grow very slow and it will take years for it to get that big.

How much light should there be ? I was told not to have the flourescent light on above the tank so I just keep the room light on.

They don't like bright lighting but once it's settled in, it's ok to have the aquarium light on. I always wrapped mine in electrical tape to cut down on the glare. You could also use a smaller tanks lighting too. I would use some floating plants to block out some light also. Take regular plastic plants and take the plastic base off and put the glass top on the bottom of it and let it float for a cheap easy way to do it.

 

[phishphan]

Alright here's the update. The piranha's name is GWAR. Nice huh ? So he has been eating slowly but last night he was in full force. We put in 3 small feeder fish and we thought they would be gone in a week. Wrong ! All three gone in a few hours. What a site to see. So the question is ....was that a bad move or now we know to just feed him once every other day ?