Piranha Wont Eat

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swordtail_king83

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I have a huge red-bellied piranha that weighs about a pound and a half. is about 9 inches long, and fatter then a desert plate!. anyways my question is why wont he eat? he hasn't aten in over a month, just sitting in the same corner, day after day after day. I drop shrimp so it lands and hits him on the nose..nothing..the shrimp lies there till it rots and I have to take it out. I drop a wriggling dew worm infront of his nose...nothing...my other juvenile piranhas come rushing in and destroy the worm. this big one doesn't eat he is becoming frustratingly boring!. I do weekly water changes of 25-30%, siphoning out the gravel as im going along. I use easylife easy start, as well as another brand of nitrifying bacteria, I use either prime, or API water conditioner to make it safe depending on my mood that day lol, I use nutrafin waste control to break down organic waste and help to clean my filters. the fish are in a 90 gallon tank for now. will be moving all 5 to a 125 soon. my ammonia and nitrite lvls are ZERO, my nitrate are very low, water temp fluctuates in this heat of the summer but since the weather is turning into fall gradually here, the tank is back around 79-80F. I just cant figure out why this big piranha doesn't do anything besides sit in the same corner day after day after day. and never eating.
 
A 125 will be better for them. (Edited because my maths was rubbish lol)
As for not eating mine did that when I first got them, when did you introduce the juvenile fish?
Do you have plenty of hiding places?
What is your flow like? IME they become more active when there is some flow, I just took the spray bar off my external filter and let the u bend on the pipe spray straight out diagonally across the tank.
I would try changing the tank..mixing up the decoration so there are no set territories, they will find their own again.
Piranhas are very skittish fish, it may well be eating, just not when you are not in the room, try turning the lights off in the room, making everything silent (tv etc.) wait 10 mins or so and quickly but quietly put in the food, it might take it straight away then.
Have you tried feeding whitebait? Mine rip it to shreds in seconds.
 
Hope this helps.
 
I introduced the juveniles a week ago. he doesn't bother them or my rosey reds in there. even the juveniles don't bother the rosey reds lol. the juveniles are fond of freeze dried krill and shrimp lol but as for the big one he just sits in the corner and mopes lol. im at the point now if he eats he eats he dies he dies. the foods there no excuse for him lol. atleast the juveniles eat like kings and there not shy of me
 
increase the flow of the water and add more hiding places if you can.
he'll most likely perk up when you move them to a bigger tank.
as long as he doesn't look like he is starving then you know he is eating
if he is fat and bloated then he could have come into contact with an internal parasite.
 
Yeah I thought of parasites too.. I know you can worm discus.. Not sure about piranhas though 
 
its funny to see he just sits in the same corner all day long, doing funny little gulp motions with his mouth lol. not opening wide just LITTLE gulp gulp gulp lol. soon as the sun sets and the tank is pitch black I sometimes catch him swimming the length of the tank but come sunrise hes right back in his same exact corner, gulp gulp gulp lol. the 4 juveniles provide more fun then him! they stick together in a tight pack under the floating plants, I drop a shrimp or worm or anything down the edge of the plants...GONE!! there fun, there in the same tank as the big one but the big one doesn't bother anyone or anything in the tank. even the rosey reds swim right infront of him he just does the same little gulp motions with his mouth lmao! oh well. atleast the other piranhas are healthy and provide me fun :D
 
I mean the big one to me looks healthy, he has a slim, muscular lookin belly, all fins are huge, creates a wave when he swims near the surface, I have never grown a red belly this huge as him but I remember when I tried netting him when I moved him into this bigger tank he weighed atleast a pound maybe pound and a half. and hes atleast 9 inches long maybe longer. he used to eat frozen shrimp..2 bites and the whole thing was gone. that wud keep him full for 2 weeks before he wud want to eat again..now its been a month if not more since I know the last time I saw him eat. all my rosey reds are accounted for..all 12. the juvies don't even bother them, they only like to eat there shrimp and krill I found lol. o well gonna try feeding the big guy again hopefully the juvies don't destroy this shrimp before the big guy has even a chance to think if he wants to eat today?
 
Maybe he needs a different kind of food? I probably wouldn't know because I've never owned a predatory fish, let alone a piranha.
 
You mentioned that he stops come sunrise, could it be that he doesn't like the light? Try feeding him after dark. :)
Have you tried increasing flow yet?
 

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