pirahnas are realy dark?

[redruckus]

ive had 3 pirahnas for a few years now i have recently moved the tank and have been feeding them a all beef toung diet for about 2 months now because i couldnt get feed goldfish any more and today when i went down to feed them they were all very dark usualy ther bottom fin is red and the belly is red most of the way back but one of them had a little patch of red in the front and was very dark even the tail was darker then usual and the other ones looked alot darker as well but that was the darkest one. what would cause this to happen i have recently put a few java ferns into the tank and some marimo and started using a low dose of flourish would any of this affect how dark the fishes colour is? or is it just they are realy healthy?

 

[Tim Wheatley]

I have Silver Dollars (a close relation) and they get dark spots, dark stripes and red/orange patches depending on health and their readiness to breed... I haven't kept Pirahna but I also know there's a lot of different types, too, I would do a google image search for your type and see if you can find other photos like that.

My SDs all look different. I wouldn't be surprised if of the 13 I have there are 7 different types.

Sorry I can't be more help, but I didn't want to leave you without any response.

 

[redruckus]

this is exactly what they usualy look like like for the last 2 years they wer a bit pale in the morning when i turned the lights on but the colour showed up in like 20 mins

the last 2 days they have looked like this

i know i dont have the cariba sub spieces the one with the black spot and i know i dont have the "Golden/yellow pirahna" or "black Pirahna" tho i have had a true black pirahna in the past and it looked exactly like this\/ but a bit bigger so i know the diferent spieces.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Found it. They are in breeding condition as I guessed according to the breeding info on this page:
Red-Bellied Piranha, Pygocentrus nattereri Fish Profile, with care, maintenance requirements and breeding information for your tropical fish

I thought this could be the case as two of my SDs spawn regularly (no fry yet) and they are both black instead of silver.

 

[redruckus]

well this is better news then i expected and amazing news that they are doing it in a 40 galon tank with only 3 fish i might have to convert another tank to accomidate any potential fry but i will keep an eye on the breeding activity i havent noticed any thing out of the ordinary but i usualy only go down to turn the light on and put food in other then that its a 3 times monthly 10% water change but i will be carefull not to gravle vac now so i might get some fry if they dont get eaten by the other fish it would be realy cool to have a breeding pair of pirahnas

 

[Tim Wheatley]

IMHO they'll probably get eaten. In that size tank you might need to watch really carefully for aggression too from what I have been reading. 3's a crowd, etc... Best of luck!

 

[redruckus]

i havent had agression problems it is a 40 tall so its more square then long i will up load some photos tomorow they dont look crowded at all and might give each other a little push on the side once and a while but that is it, they are from the same brood is that couts for anything i know male betas from the same brood wont fight if they arnt in high numbers in a small tank .... i do feed them a about 2"x2" chunk of beef toung every 2-3 days and they eat it all right awaybut any little left overs i usualy can take out cuz its just little tid bits i can differentiat from the gravle thats why i want to get some MTS to keep that extra food in check but they might eat the eggs so i dont know im hoping for a breeding pair but who know

 

[4tanks]

ive had 3 pirahnas for a few years now i have recently moved the tank and have been feeding them a all beef toung diet for about 2 months now because i couldnt get feed goldfish any more and today when i went down to feed them they were all very dark usualy ther bottom fin is red and the belly is red most of the way back but one of them had a little patch of red in the front and was very dark even the tail was darker then usual and the other ones looked alot darker as well but that was the darkest one. what would cause this to happen i have recently put a few java ferns into the tank and some marimo and started using a low dose of flourish would any of this affect how dark the fishes colour is? or is it just they are realy healthy?

I have piranha's too, you may want to join this Piranha website, lot of good info there, you may want to research feeding and their diet. The site is called Piranha fury. I have some red belly piranha when they were small their belly's were red, they changed color as they have gotten older.

 

[TommyLiNy]

I had piranahs years ago, but now I cant get any. There illegal to own in NY which sucks, Id really like to get a few again they were great fish.

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[Tim Wheatley]

Glad to see there's some Pirahna owners/former owners coming out for this one. I see so few threads on them I didn't think he'd get an answer here.

I'd personally love to keep some Pirahna. Gorgeous colors and very interesting fish, but I haven't done nearly enough research to take the plunge and I'm not going to buy a fish with that kind of rep. without research.

 

[redruckus]

if you want to get them i would go with minimum 50 galon i only had the 40gal when i had 1 black pirahna you can only get 1 in a tank smaller then 100gal with out it killing the other one but red bellies 3-4 in a 50galon tank is fine as long as you buy them small like i did so the get use to being around each other feed them a decent amount of food so they grow equaly, and have some sort of "cover" in the tank bog wood works great plants are another option but they tend to get up rooted fast other then that they are nearly imposible to kill and would live in water unihabitable for commet goldfish and thats saying something just get a better then average filter and youll be good cold water shock effects them but only at total extreams i would say best beginer fish by far as long as you know how to feed them and clean the tank often easyest fish to keep ever

 

[Tim Wheatley]

I saw an awesome documentary on them once which showed how hard they are to kill, it showed how they are surviving in places like Wisconsin in the wild (after human release) during the winter. They lowered the temp in a tank and got down to 50 degrees before the Pirahna even showed any effect. Even when it went lower the fish actually huddled together and only showed signs of problems much lower. A lake where they had been caught by fishermen they went and tested the temps and found that although areas of the lake got very cold, there were areas where rivers flowed into the lake that was much warmer.

 

[TommyLiNy]

River Monsters... I saw that episode too lol

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[bradley27]

Piranhas should not be kept in a 50 gallon tank, they need at least 20 gallon each, and need to be in a group, if they are in a pair they will fight for dominace and kill the other usually, so the minimum is 3 RBP per tank and as they can get upto 12 inch easliy in aquria you will nedd a large tank i have 6 in a 125 gallon and would not put anymore in. As por piranhas breeding they will not eat the eggs they are very protrctive and the male will guard the nest once they become free swimming they will need removing as they may bevome lunch then, also note they can lay upto 7500 eggs in a single spawn.

 

[molliwopp]

Digging up an old thread! Thinking about getting some pirahnas. The tank will be upstairs and im trying to workingnout ifnmy floor will safely hikd a 90gallon. If not its going to be a 65. Any info on pirahna? Did thenpirahna breed?