Red Bellied Piranhas

[fish-r-fancy]

I was thinking of buying a 55 gallon tank which comes with 2 piranhas. Will this be overcrowded? Do they make good pets. What are the pros and cons about them.

 

[jayjay]

A 55g isn't big enough for them and they need at least a shoal of 4. 75g minimum for 4.

 

[fish-r-fancy]

Oh Okay I was just wondering because all the sites I read had different information.

 

[cane76]

jayjay is right roughly 20 gallons per adult fish and a minimum of 4 they need big filtration and are quite expensive to feed

 

[fish-r-fancy]

I just read the Piranha Centrel pinned at the top of the page and now I know that I need a bigger tank. But the piranhas I want to buy have been living with 2 red bellies for years in a 55 gallon, so woulden't they be used to having only 1 companion by now?

so space woulden't be a problem but the minimum of 4 would be.

 

[cane76]

are they fully grown?

 

[fish-r-fancy]

I only saw a picture of the tank some I'm not sure. I emailind the people selling it asking for pictures and how old the piranhas were. By the looks of it I would say that both piranhas are about 4 inches.

 

[fish-r-fancy]

The piranhas are about 3-4 inches long and about 2-3 inches high.

 

[jayjay]

Small then, should get 3x bigger than that. Probably in a big enough tank they will except more fish, if they are about the same size, also if you moved everything around and put them in a bigger tank and added the new fish all at the same time would probably be your best chance.

 

[fish-r-fancy]

How about if I bought 1 more red bellied piranha and left them in a the 55 gallon. I'm only 12 so I really can't afford a bigger tank. I just found this and it was a really good deal and the guy can't sell it without the piranhas so I thought it be cool to have some. How old would you say the piranhas are?

 

[AMS]

A single red belly can't be hosued in a 55 gallon tank, its simply too small, not to mention it will be miserable without some other reds to keep it company. Simply, if you want piranhas in a 55 gallon tank, red bellies are NOT the species to pick.

 

[fish-r-fancy]

If you did have red bellied piranhas in a tank, what would you feed them?

 

[AMS]

If you did have red bellied piranhas in a tank, what would you feed them?

Thats covered in the feeding section of the profile I wrote on them in the fish index.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

maybe if you could give the paranahs to a local LFS and get store credit that would work. If i were you i would try Discus in your 55g tank! 5 of them in there heavily planted! ahh man ud b lucky!

 

[ImperfectFaerie]

If you did have red bellied piranhas in a tank, what would you feed them?

So, what you are saying is you are going to ignore what's best for the fish and get them anyways, even though you are fully aware you cannot give them what they need to have a healthy life?