piranhas not eating !

hello,
I bought 3 juvenile piranhas (red bellies) 4 days ago and I put with with 1 oscar and a pleco
what I need help with them because they haven't eaten anything except some feeders they don't swim to the top of the tank like the oscar to get some brine shrimp I drop, instead they eat the sinking wafers I drop for the pleco !!
they are not swimming to the top and I don't want to drop food and just go I have to pick them upp riightttt !

please help how can I get them to swim to the top to get food !!!!????????

*params are all normal
*60 gallon
*3 RBPs
*1 pleco
*1 Oscar
*2 filters (I don't get what u say about them but they HUGE and strong),

(btw I don't know if they're brackish or freshwater people say both but I put it in this forum)

Thanks in advance

 

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/piranha-caresheet.11508/

https://www.fishlore.com/Articles/PiranhaKeeping.htm

Good morning,

Check out the above links while you wait for more responses.

Ken

 

I don't know much about piranhas, but I know a lot about pleco's food being stolen, because my own goldies are ''PLECO FOOD KLEPTOS''
For some reason, if I try to hide the wafer, they go get it, but if I drop it in plain sight, they pretty much ignore it. Maybe if the pleco has a favorite hiding spot, you could tuck the wafer in there?

 

Wow, I have never kept piranhas, as they are very illegal in the US.

I have never seen anyone keep them with anything else. I'm pretty sure that 3 is not a big enough school, that may be why they are nervous and not eating everything, including the oscar and the pleco, which I'm almost certain they will do if they live long enough.

My two cents worth..

 

Wow, I have never kept piranhas, as they are very illegal in the US.

I have never seen anyone keep them with anything else. I'm pretty sure that 3 is not a big enough school, that may be why they are nervous and not eating everything, including the oscar and the pleco, which I'm almost certain they will do if they live long enough.

My two cents worth..

Very possible. The only place around here that has piranhas is the Denver Aquarium, and they have a massive school of them housed with arowana. They were also... pretty big. All I do know about them is that they need to housed in odd-numbered schools if the school is less then 10 or so, to disperse aggression.

I do find it interesting that lots of tetras are closely related to piranha. You can really tell with black skirts; the mature adults have the same jaw structure and even have teeth!

 

They take some time to get used to their new tank and usually won't eat until they do so. This will take from a few days to weeks. Try feeding them while the lights are off. Best time to feed them is during dusk and dawn. They can go several weeks without food but this would make them more aggressive and they could harm each other.

Red-bellied Piranhas should to be kept in species only tanks with the minimum number being 4. You will have to get rid of the Oscar and Pleco. And get 1 more RBP before they start to kill each other. I used to have 8 RBPs with a Red-bellied Pacu and a Pleco. They grew up together but once the Piranha's got to 6" they started to attack the 8" Pacu. I found the Pleco missing a part of its face months before that. I traded the RBPs to get some cichlids last year.

I currently have a single 4" RBP that I raised from the size of a tetra with 3 others. While I was away for 2 days, it killed 2 of its siblings when it was 2.5" and I gave the other one away after keeping them separated for a while. It has a cichlid like personality which is unusual for a piranha.

The old piranhas took 1-2 weeks to adjust when I moved them to their new tanks, twice. While the new one only took 2 days when it swapped tanks with a Convict pair.

P.S. I live outside the U.S.

 

Piranhas are illegal? Really, never knew...
I keep teasing my cousin, that when I'm in my 40's I'm gonna buy a piranha, and name it ''Fluffy''!

 

Piranhas are illegal? Really, never knew...
I keep teasing my cousin, that when I'm in my 40's I'm gonna buy a piranha, and name it ''Fluffy''!

Only in some states. Check this out: