Beef heart

[Marximus]

Is this their main diet?

No.. they are live feed… diff kinds of cichlids

 

[Somesed]

I would disagree and say that beefheart is fine for piranhas. Obviously, you would trim all the fat pieces off the outside. After that, you are left with heart muscle. It is not fatty or greasy. Also, I'm sure piranhas eat mammal meat all the time in the wild. I would guess that a serra would not actually eat it however. I've had many pygos that loved beefheart, but usually serras are more picky.

 

[Deadeye]

They do eat mammal meat in the wild (so do a lot of predators), but it makes up a very small part of their diet. Even if they do, it would be scavenging off a carcass. The primary diet of piranhas is the fish and inverts of the Amazon basin.

Stomach Content of Juvenile and Adult Piranhas (Serrasalmus marginatus) in the Paraná Floodplains, Brazil

The piranha, Serrasalmus marginatus is an abundant fish in the floodplains of the upper ParanáÝ river. We studied the stomach content of juvenile and adult piranhas over a year and determined the f...

dx.doi.org

Food Habits of Piranhas in the Low Llanos of Venezuela on JSTOR

Leo G. Nico, Donald C. Taphorn, Food Habits of Piranhas in the Low Llanos of Venezuela, Biotropica, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Dec., 1988), pp. 311-321

doi.org

Piranhas are one of the many fish that will attempt to eat anything that touches the water (mine loved nipping the plastic plants in the tank), but like any of our fish, it’s best to try to match what they would eat in the wild as best as possible.

 

[CaribeWithaCavity]

I think they eat just as much mammal meat in the wild as fish... Maybe depending on location

 

[FJB]

So just what kind of mammals do you think they are eating frequently? And live mammals?
Monkeys? tapir? deer? nutria? rats? Amazon dolphins? Think about it....

 

[CaribeWithaCavity]

So much washes down that river.. Especially during flood season..

 

[Something Fishy Here]

Probably not often that a cow washed by...

 

[CaribeWithaCavity]

I bet they dont grow that slow in the wild. We are missing something in feeing them.
Snakes grow 5 times faster eating rats than they do mice...

 

[Deadeye]

Pygos already put on 1+ inches a month in captivity. Pacus do similar, and that’s on pelleted food. I’d call the pretty fast.
Serras just grow slower (still a decent rate), likely due to their nature as an ambush predator and many of them getting much larger than pygos.
As I had posted months ago, there are scientific studies proving that piranhas eat mostly (almost entirely) aquatic meat with some vegetation thrown in there. Feel free to find studies that prove otherwise and aren’t a YouTube video of someone tossing a steak in their piranha tank.

Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but most rats are bigger than mice. Bigger, meatier meals always gives faster growth, but with many reptiles and fish that can also shorten lifespan.

 

[CaribeWithaCavity]

More nutrients in rats from what i heard.. not sure i'm no expert just talking. I'm not a scientist just making statements.
I'm not finding studies just to chat on a forum..