waltmillham

I started up my new 55 gallon aquarium about a week ago, did a 30% water change tonight & addded Bio Spira. I've had six Red Belly pirahnas in there since Saturday morning. I had them shipped in from aquascape. Anyway, I've been feeding them gold fish so that I could get some video footage of them in a feeding frenzy, they've performed well, but I know that a steady diet of feeders isn't so healthy for them. Anyone know what types of fish foods or other items I should use to supplement their diet?

Also, I didn't get my 55 gallon set up in time for the arrival of the RBs so I had to put them in another tank I have with a divider, but the piranhas must have pushed the divider out of place & left a two inch Jack Dempsey missing part of its mouth. It seems to be healthy & can & does eat, but is it wrong to try to keep an injured/disfigured fish?

Toddnbecka

Piranha's eat other fish as their natural diet, so feeders shouldn't be a problem. You could try pellets, they would live on those as well as any other fish. As for the mangled cichlid, as long as it can still eat it should live to a ripe old age (provided the piranha's don't get another shot at it).

sgould

I kept pirahna about 15 years ago. I don't recall ever giving anything other than feeders, and I had mine for quite a long while. I think the health concern with feeders is primarily one of disease since the stores generally keep them so tightly packed together than if one of them gets sick they all do, which could then potentially transmit to your piranha.

Sparkling Diamonds

My friend has a piranha. She fed him frozen..worms? It looked like some brown ice cube that she chopped up and he ate it with no problems. But that was when he was just a baby of like... 2 inches or so. Now that he's gotten bigger, she feeds him feeders.

Wilhelm Joshua Tan

Dear waltmillham,
I don't kept piranha but I know what they like to eat. To me, hurten fish, dead fish, young reptiles, chicks, mammals are some of their diet. But they also eat if others plants and scales of other fishes.

Allie

Try frozen uncooked shrimp...ours went nuts for it.

robert7008

I have 11 two year old RBP's in a 210 gallon tank and I feed them beefheart and raw fish filets every other day.

Allie

They actually eat every other day?
Our 4 wild caught caribe and 4 red bellies were between 10-12" and they only ate like once a week.
Fish fillets are messy our preferred shrimp and live feed once in awhile.

Azahara

I feed mine cheap goldfish, and baby mollies .. . . . and guppies . . . he loves them.

Oh . . . and mine likes lettuce, so you might try some kind of vegetables to see if they'll eat it.