My Piranhas eat each other!

[ace.monster]

Hi,

I am new here, and have a quarry for you all.

I had 6 Piranhas and they all are of the same size. they are 3 month old and i feed them once daily. But recently 5 of them got together and ate away the smallest of them.
Is this normal and will they do it again to each other?

Thanks and Regards,
Luke

 

[matt clark]

unfortunately big fish eat small fish. i had the same thing happen to me when i kept them. i would say it will happen again unless they stay around the same size

 

[Poloboy]

i have pirahnas and its most likely a fight for terotry.
i had the same case with my fish

 

[Poloboy]

i have pirahnas and its most likely a fight for terotry.
i had the same case with my fish

you can put an intersectionplate

 

[ziggy2]

What size tank are they in???

 

[h1n1]

well im guessing u have pygos, and if not than they shouldnt be togeather but in a pygo schoal there is a rank system and a leader and if they are hungry or they see weakness they will join togeather and kill the weak fish. but there could be other reasons for cannibleism, mainly your tank could be too small for 6 red bellys ud want at least 75 gal just so they dont kill each other due to stress and territory needs, but if ur only feeding them once a day at that age that could be y there eating each other u should feed them at least twice a day and if they dont eat right away leave a little pece of like talpia in there for there just incase they do get hungry. but if u got P questions trhan u should check put piranhafury.com

 

[pi-eyed]

Piranha are territorial and are pack hunting cannibals. This action is kinda what darwin meant by," survival of the fittest". Piranha will gang up on the weaker one/ones in the shoal. In my experience they don't only do this for territory or hunger but also to establish a rank. Loosing a fish to this behavior is par for the course. Just remember that the bigger the tank you have the better off your piranhas will be.

----Chris

 

[cichlid8336]

Increase feeding to more then just once a day. I had the same problem many years ago and that resolved the issue for me.

 

[Redearsunfish]

Piranha are territorial and are pack hunting cannibals. This action is kinda what darwin meant by," survival of the fittest". Piranha will gang up on the weaker one/ones in the shoal. In my experience they don't only do this for territory or hunger but also to establish a rank. Loosing a fish to this behavior is par for the course. Just remember that the bigger the tank you have the better off your piranhas will be.

----Chris

Agreed.

 

[MonsterMinis]

Increase feeding to more then just once a day. I had the same problem many years ago and that resolved the issue for me.

x2 generally when piranhas assuming they're RBP start cannibalizing it's due to underfeeding or malnutrition. Improper foods will often cause them to seek out these nutritents in other fashions. Though sometimes they will simpply pick-off a weak individual.

w/out tank size, feeding regime/and whats being fed. general husbandry practices in general ect it's hard to pin-point the issue or if it was simply a fluke.