Substrate Recommendations for 240 Gallon Piraya Tank?

[fishhead0103666]

And fishhead, quite possibly, must be the most diplomatic member on the forum since he got his probation lifted. He'll get nominated for an award soon, maybe Saint Fishhead.

Not sure if you’re being serious or poking at me but I’ll address it seriously. Ever since I got the probation lifted, actually since I was unbanned, I’ve been working hard at trying to become a better member. I’m trying to gather more information about a wider range of subjects so I can help more people in the future and help myself especialy in the disease area as I’m very weak in that area.

As well, if you take forum information out of the picture, there isn't really that much information on the Piraya out there. I've read all the online care sheets and things of that nature and many of them have just incorrect information in them. I don't consider those sites a valuable source of information and like to ask questions here on the forum so I can get it straight from the horses mouth. But I guess if my posts are annoying members, that in of itself is discouraging.

Quite frankly, I don’t care what other people think of me and I find that to be helpful in my everyday life. You may have aspergers but so what? I see you as a fellow fishkeeping comrade, you’re alright with me bud.
What I might do is google the scientific name of the fish you’re looking at because then you’ll find a lot more scientific information about the fish. You can find out where they live, the other inhabitants, with the area they live in you could see what vegetation lives in the water way, what prey items eat the vegetation. What the pirananha eats and all that good stuff.

If you want some help then I’d gladly do my best to help you out with this as I honestly am enthralled in your journey into this hobby and want you to succeed.

 

[The-Almighty-Zugs]

I apologise for coming across the way I did, the fact you have aspergers explains everything. I hope you get your set up running real soon.

Yeah sorry about that lol. Aspergers can get annoying at times.

 

[The-Almighty-Zugs]

Quite frankly, I don’t care what other people think of me and I find that to be helpful in my everyday life. You may have aspergers but so what? I see you as a fellow fishkeeping comrade, you’re alright with me bud.
What I might do is google the scientific name of the fish you’re looking at because then you’ll find a lot more scientific information about the fish. You can find out where they live, the other inhabitants, with the area they live in you could see what vegetation lives in the water way, what prey items eat the vegetation. What the pirananha eats and all that good stuff.

If you want some help then I’d gladly do my best to help you out with this as I honestly am enthralled in your journey into this hobby and want you to succeed.

That's a great tip as well. To look for the scientific name specifically.

 

[The-Almighty-Zugs]

Sorry about the wait bud, I’ve never been good at keeping my promises when I give a date. Here is the bag of sand.
View attachment 1389988View attachment 1389989

Thanks and no worries about the timing. I've been told that sand is "harder" or rather takes a more delicate touch when cleaning than gravel. I was looking into Flourite Dark from Seachem but I have heard that you have to shake out the dust multiple times and then rinse it multiple times out of each bag and I would need 15 or so bags. This is to get the overwhelming amount of dust and cloudiness out of the water. This wouldn't be so bad if people weren't saying that it also clouds while cleaning as well. That's the deal breaker to me. Don't want that hanging over my head every cleaning. I've been looking at Black Diamond Blasting Sand as well but I'm thinking I should maybe stay away from sand. Some people say it's easier to deal with, some people say it's harder. Sand in general I mean. So I;ve been looking into gravels but a lot of them are just white gravel painted black. I'd rather have just plain naturally black gravel. So I don't get white spots.

 

[The-Almighty-Zugs]

If you want some help then I’d gladly do my best to help you out with this as I honestly am enthralled in your journey into this hobby and want you to succeed.

As always any help is much appreciated. One of the biggest things that I still do not know is the amount and variety I can feed the Piraya. I know most keepers just feed raw tilapia and other fish etc or pellets but I would like to feed a variety to the fish and have special treats every once and a while. Maybe like a few frozen mice or something. But I know if they are used to eating one thing currently, it can be hard to get them to eat something else too. As in if they are used to tilapia then it can be hard to get them to eat pellets and such.

I know in nature they also eat fallen fruits but I have not heard of keepers feeding that. At least around here. One thing I have learned is that over feeding can produce HITH and that is not something I want. HITH is fairly common with Piraya in comparison to other piranha is the Pygo family but I want to make sure that I'm doing everything in my power to prevent it. And amounts can be hard to gauge if you feed until full. And some people have said that feeding to full is not a good idea as I said above, it can produce HITH. So if you hear or know anything about the above, any advice would be great!

 

[fishhead0103666]

Thanks and no worries about the timing. I've been told that sand is "harder" or rather takes a more delicate touch when cleaning than gravel. I was looking into Flourite Dark from Seachem but I have heard that you have to shake out the dust multiple times and then rinse it multiple times out of each bag and I would need 15 or so bags. This is to get the overwhelming amount of dust and cloudiness out of the water. This wouldn't be so bad if people weren't saying that it also clouds while cleaning as well. That's the deal breaker to me. Don't want that hanging over my head every cleaning. I've been looking at Black Diamond Blasting Sand as well but I'm thinking I should maybe stay away from sand. Some people say it's easier to deal with, some people say it's harder. Sand in general I mean. So I;ve been looking into gravels but a lot of them are just white gravel painted black. I'd rather have just plain naturally black gravel. So I don't get white spots.

I do not have experience with that particular sand, only my pool filter sand regrettably, so I can not help you with that. I can tell you that I had to break up my 50 pounds of sand into multiple batches to wash in a 5 gallon bucket outside. Just get a hose and fill it up while running your hand through the sand. Once the water runs clear it’s good. It doesn’t take a lot of focus so you could watch a video on your phone while you’re doing it if you wanted.
What I would do with 15 bags to wash is do 1 bag a day instead of trying to do them all at once. Maybe half a bag a day. It’ll be a rather quick and painless process if broken up.

I’m not sure if there is naturally black gravel. I’ve had gravel in my 29 for about 3-5 years and it’s just now showing signs of chipping.

 

[fishhead0103666]

As always any help is much appreciated. One of the biggest things that I still do not know is the amount and variety I can feed the Piraya. I know most keepers just feed raw tilapia and other fish etc or pellets but I would like to feed a variety to the fish and have special treats every once and a while. Maybe like a few frozen mice or something. But I know if they are used to eating one thing currently, it can be hard to get them to eat something else too. As in if they are used to tilapia then it can be hard to get them to eat pellets and such.

I know in nature they also eat fallen fruits but I have not heard of keepers feeding that. At least around here. One thing I have learned is that over feeding can produce HITH and that is not something I want. HITH is fairly common with Piraya in comparison to other piranha is the Pygo family but I want to make sure that I'm doing everything in my power to prevent it. And amounts can be hard to gauge if you feed until full. And some people have said that feeding to full is not a good idea as I said above, it can produce HITH. So if you hear or know anything about the above, any advice would be great!

I truly know next to nothing about nutrition so I’m of no help here. RD. might be able to help you though as he is very knowledgeable about nutrition.

 

[The-Almighty-Zugs]

I do not have experience with that particular sand, only my pool filter sand regrettably, so I can not help you with that. I can tell you that I had to break up my 50 pounds of sand into multiple batches to wash in a 5 gallon bucket outside. Just get a hose and fill it up while running your hand through the sand. Once the water runs clear it’s good. It doesn’t take a lot of focus so you could watch a video on your phone while you’re doing it if you wanted.
What I would do with 15 bags to wash is do 1 bag a day instead of trying to do them all at once. Maybe half a bag a day. It’ll be a rather quick and painless process if broken up.

I’m not sure if there is naturally black gravel. I’ve had gravel in my 29 for about 3-5 years and it’s just now showing signs of chipping.

Did you get the gravel from a hardware store or something? Or is it a specific brand?

I was thinking of maybe using this: https://www.amazon.ca/Estes-28012-s...?keywords=black+gravel&qid=1569804698&sr=8-10

But I still have to take a trip to the quarry or hardware store / TSC to see what they have.

Could I plant things in the above stuff do you think?

 

[fishhead0103666]

It was normal black gravel I found at a petstore. I know you’re in canada but I think yall have walmarts up there and my walmarts carry it. I can get you a picture if you wish?

 

[fishhead0103666]

You can absolutely grow it in that.