waltmillham

I am currently housing two convict cichlids in a 29 gallon tank & can sell the fry to a pet shop owner for .50 per fish when they get a little bigger, but I recently learned that I could earn a little spending money by buying baby RBs from him & then reselling them back to him when they get larger. He says there's a big demand for larger pirahnas which are big enough to feed on live foods. I am going to be getting either a 38 gallon bowfront or a 45 gallon long in a couple weeks. It's all the larger I have rooom for. How many could I have in these tanks & to what size? I was thinking maybe keeping them up to about 2 1/2 inches or so. At what size do they start to become a biting hazard insofar as biting a person's fingers or what not. I wouldn't want serious chompers in there when I'm doing aquarium maintainence. I know ther're pretty much a wuss at 1 inch. I had some before & they were getting picked off by "Fred"...my electric blue lobster. He's quite the little fisherman, but now I've got him in with African cichlids, He does well, but fisherman.......ah!.....not so much anymore!

joshthefisherman

If you keep them till 2 and a half id get eight or ten at a time because they can be agressive towards each oth also if you are worried about them biting your hand get a tank divider

robbieb

A rule of thumb is to have around 1.5-2 gallons per inch per fish. In that case, each 2.5 inch piranha would need around 4-6 gallons. I would get the larger aquarium and shoot for 8-10 fish.

Another note, they grow very fast at first. A month ago I purchased 6, 1" red bellies. They have already nearly doubled their size. They also eat a lot. Keep them well fed and they will not nip at each others fins (they will do this a lot if underfed).

Regarding the biting. I stick my hand into the aquarium to clean and move objects. One thing to remember, respect the piranhas. Always watch where they are. They usually always go to their hiding place in the aquarium, but it is a good idea to know where they are.