keeping Piranahs
keeping Piranahs
having a tank change around was going for cichlids etc but just thought of the goold old flesh eaters 
are they expensive to keep / feed? hard to keep?
are they expensive to keep / feed? hard to keep?
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From: The biosphere
Do a search for "Piranha" on here... should dredge up most of my threads 
If you have any questions after that then fire them my way, but to answer your questions briefly:
1) They can be expensive to keep depending on the numbers/species. They need a lot of space, at least 20 gallons per fish!
2) Food bills do mount up if you have a lot of them, especially making sure they get a varied diet as they should.
3) They aren't too tricky to keep technically speaking, but they do need a lot of attention. They are messy fish and require frequent water changes and large amounts of biological filtration. You need to keep a careful eye on their behaviour too as they can be very territorial. Certain genus should never be mixed or they will fight incessantly! They are good healers but frequent nips etc can lead to bacterial or fungal infections if the water isn't pristine.
Don't keep them for the wrong reasons. They don't tear apart entire cows to keep your mates entertained, in fact they are very timid and warey about feeding infront of people, especially people they don't know (yes they do recognise different people!). Your mates will get bored waiting for them to do something, or soaked when they panic and start bouncing off the sides of the tank (quite scarey!)
Having said that, they are quirky fish with funny personalities of their own and are very rewarding if you get into it for the right reasons and can spend hours cleaning up after them, treating wounds and hunting for cheap sources of non oily raw fish for them to eat!
Other sources:
http://www.piranha-fury.com - good site, plenty of info but a bit 'American'
http://www.piranhaforum.co.uk/ - good UK based site and home to the UK Piranha Club
If you have any questions after that then fire them my way, but to answer your questions briefly:
1) They can be expensive to keep depending on the numbers/species. They need a lot of space, at least 20 gallons per fish!
2) Food bills do mount up if you have a lot of them, especially making sure they get a varied diet as they should.
3) They aren't too tricky to keep technically speaking, but they do need a lot of attention. They are messy fish and require frequent water changes and large amounts of biological filtration. You need to keep a careful eye on their behaviour too as they can be very territorial. Certain genus should never be mixed or they will fight incessantly! They are good healers but frequent nips etc can lead to bacterial or fungal infections if the water isn't pristine.
Don't keep them for the wrong reasons. They don't tear apart entire cows to keep your mates entertained, in fact they are very timid and warey about feeding infront of people, especially people they don't know (yes they do recognise different people!). Your mates will get bored waiting for them to do something, or soaked when they panic and start bouncing off the sides of the tank (quite scarey!)
Having said that, they are quirky fish with funny personalities of their own and are very rewarding if you get into it for the right reasons and can spend hours cleaning up after them, treating wounds and hunting for cheap sources of non oily raw fish for them to eat!
Other sources:
http://www.piranha-fury.com - good site, plenty of info but a bit 'American'
http://www.piranhaforum.co.uk/ - good UK based site and home to the UK Piranha Club
Last edited by ajm; Nov 1, 2005 at 06:43 PM.
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