Piranha and eating habits.

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Kaspern

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 25, 2013
77
8
8
Denmark
I don't get it.

When i give my piranha pellets, he eats them instantly.
When i give him raw meat, he eats it throughout the day. By that i mean that he nips to it, and it takes about 4-6 hours before its gone.
It's not because of the size of the meat, because it's not that big.

Btw. I have a new diet plan.

Once a day:
either
raw chicken breast
Filet
Shrimps
clam

So would it be okay to just leave the meat in the tank until he eats it?.
And what about the size? Is it okay?

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20140308_132720.jpg
 
When I was feeding my P's pellets, they would only eat every other day.

Now Ive switched to my own food, which is a blend of things and they eat that ravenously every day.

Try throwing in a little fasting period once a week - and see if that helps.

I would also say that chicken is a bad idea. Beef heart does seem to be popular, but as far as fish food goes it isnt the best either. Try feeding a mix of pellets and vitamin enriched aquatic proteins.
 
A hungry fish, is a healthy fish. Like many people in this hobby I suspect that you are overfeeding your fish. I would also stick to aquatic based protein, and pass on chicken, beef, pork, etc.
 
I do believe that i am overfeeding, and i do believe that i give to much food at the time. can't help myself, i feel bad if i don't feed him every day.

I think i will give him 2 fast days.
Then i will lower the amount of food.

But what's the rule about the amount of food? How do i know how much he needs?

How fast do your piranhas eat. ?
 
I feed my shoal of rbp everyother day or every 2days. There's never anything left after 5mins.

their diet consists of krill, carnivore pellets, blood worms, algae tabs and ocasional feeders.

like you i used to feed everyday-- in fear if i didn't that they would turn on eachother..but they don't.
 
Kaspern said:
I do believe that i am overfeeding, and i do believe that i give to much food at the time. can't help myself, i feel bad if i don't feed him every day.

I think i will give him 2 fast days.
Then i will lower the amount of food.

But what's the rule about the amount of food? How do i know how much he needs?

How fast do your piranhas eat. ?
Click to expand...

You shouldnt. Large shoals in the wild wont find food for everyone, every day. Some fish in a shoal might get scraps, or they might get nothing.

A higher quality food will help with appetite as well - which might be the reason he accepts pellets every day.

Make sure that your fish feels secure. Piranhas are skittish, having a place to hide, and appropriate habitat will increase appetite.

Being a "shoaling" fish having more than one fish might also help - the fish needs to feel secure before it will feed to its maximum potential.

Water quality can also affect appetite.

Like others have said, feed as much as he will consume in a few minutes. Everyday I feed as much as my P's will eat. They go from attacking it and coming up to the surface to feed, to ignoring it. There's no gradual transition. So once they reach that point, Im done. I fast them one day a week when I perform water changes as well.

I would say that they eat very fast - the whole feeding lasts about five minutes I would say, feeding one or two pieces of my food at a time.

Before I started with my custom food, I was feeding Hikari Carni-Sticks (which is still my second favorite food to NLS) but they would only feed once every other day, and they picked at each other more.

Color has improved, and the fish are much thicker now than when they were only feeding every other day.

Ive also observed some pre-spawn behavior in them since switching to my food.
 
i have 2 RBP's just over 6month old, used to eat everyday but for the past few weeks neither of them has touched anything, tried live goldfish, mice, meal worms and normal frozen fish, can anyone help me solve this thing?
 
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