Piranhas??

So as you do.. I was watching Netflix and I was watching river monsters with Jeremy wade and he was talking about the red bellied piranha and I was wondering if anyone has any tips/if I should get some, it wouldn’t be for another couple of years because I don’t have space for another tank right now but I’ve fallen in love with the idea and my fiancé thinks I shouldn’t

 

a big tank with no tank mates. 125g or more

 

So as you do.. I was watching Netflix and I was watching river monsters with Jeremy wade and he was talking about the red bellied piranha and I was wondering if anyone has any tips/if I should get some, it wouldn’t be for another couple of years because I don’t have space for another tank right now but I’ve fallen in love with the idea and my fiancé thinks I shouldn’t

Well depends what your going for, as far as I'm concerned once you have piranhas you must have a dedicated tank to them with essentially no other fish, maybe something armoured like a pleco or something too small and fast that it can't eat, but otherwise you would have just a single tank with piranhas and no other fish. To add to it you need a pretty big tank and a shoal of them, I assume it might be quite costly to feed them or maybe just throw in some mince idk.

Goodluck mate I think Piranhas are pretty cool no doubt, but imo it kinda limits what sorta other fish you can have in there and kinda wastes potential for such a big aquarium.

 

I was thinking a 4ft tank with 6 of them in, dense vegetation around the sides and back with some sand but I just don't know if it’s worth it having a huge tank for 6 piranha, I could have 40+ fish in it with having placid ones

 

I was thinking a 4ft tank with 6 of them in, dense vegetation around the sides and back with some sand but I just don't know if it’s worth it having a huge tank for 6 piranha, I could have 40+ fish in it with having placid ones

Yep sure if you have an additional large aquarium you should keep some in one and leave the other as a community tank! Yes dense vegetation with driftwood and sand would look stunning with piranhas! Exactly my point you could place in so much variety of fish instead of piranhas which kinda limits you to armoured fish such as a large pleco or small fish. But if you have two aquariums it wouldn't be so bad to dedicate one to piranhas another to a community fish tank of sorts.

Goodluck I'm sure a planted tank with sand, driftwood, rocks and heavily planted would look amazing in replicating an amazon like environment!

 

A four foot is too small.
Personally, having dealt with a bunch of piranha species in wholesale, they are unattractive fish, although they are nice with their young in the tank. It's just a big, water fouling tetra that bites.
Most people who buy them like the novelty and mythology that surrounds them, but they realize the actual fish in a tank is a lot of work for very small reward. It makes neat holes in nets, and in arms if you are careless, but most aquarium piranhas end up pretty abused, neglected as the mystery wears off, and then dead quite young.

 

Another thing to remember is they are illigal in some areas. So you may not even be able to get them

 

I think maybe I’ll stay away from them until maybe I get to a retirement age where I can have lots of fish tanks, that way the novelty will stay with them for excitement, maybe in another 50 years then my little piranha friends