Questionable Piranha Tank-mates

[DexteR]

In my lengthy experience in the piranha world, I have experimented with the below fish with varying success.

This experiment involved Natts and Caribe in the 5 to 6 inch range in a 180 gallon tank not heavily stocked. Shoals ranged from 3 to 8 at a time. I wouldnt try keeping piranhas with other fish in anything like a 55 or 75 gallon as the fish have no room to escape.

I have a smaller tank now in a new place so I just have my two breeding wild reds weighing in at roughly 11 inches.
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Exodon Paradoxus: (Short Term). Scale eaters. They are very active and can be vicious to their own kind and other fish. Unfortunately since they are scale eater, they can do some damage to your piranhas if you are wary of your piranhas getting nipped. Eventually though the piranhas get peeved and catch and kill them. The do have spunk.

Common Pleco: Short Term. At a foot, it was significantly larger. Active at night and push around other fish when scavenging. Stand their ground which makes them noticed by an aggitated pygo. It was able to hold its ground until one day I saw it upside down with chunks ripped out of its face. Push come to shove the piranhas got tired of its crap.

Jaguar Cichlid: No shot. To headstrong a fish. Got killed off easily as it liked to flare its gills at piranhas yawning with razor sharp teeth. Around 6 incher.

Tiger Oscar: One mean ass tiger oscar I got from someone who kept this badass 14 incher in a 55gallon tank. He was quite a bruiser and was able to hold his ground with the piranhas. Bear in mind this was one tough oscar, not the usual placid oscar that fights only when needed. Now and than he got his tail bit up. Shocklingly, he survived but I had to get rid of this fish because it couldn't co-exist with another fish I had with the piranha at the same time......My favorite fish with piranhas.

Red Belly Pacu: Able to blend in well with the shoal and even muched on feeders, this pacu was quite entertaining. Sure it grew to a whopping two feet and was the size of a plate, which made it stick out from the rest of its shoaling piranha brethren. Since it didnt lock jaws or try to go head to head with a piranha it wasnt in danger of losing a jaw like the jaguar or oscar. It would bull rush with its body and pound a piranha. Whenever it would get its fin nipped it would seek out the culprit and give him a massive ram. Eventually they all just got along fine and the shoal even stood up to an oscar I had in that was picking on him.

I had to get rid of him only because I was moving.

I would like to still try Silver Dollars or Red Hooks but the cost is prohibitve and as I said, I dont have a large tank anymore.

Hope this helps.

i have had one RBP for about six month now (i know i shouldn't have started with piranha...Dexter...but i did) in a 31 gl tank with a common pleco and was looking for a agressive fish to put with him... i went with a jaguar cichlid and a 75 gl tank. both the piranha and the jag are 4 inches, and have gotten along great. it is very interesting to watch as they have "schooled" together and they attack together as well as sharing the same territory in the tank. Is my Piranha/Jag stupid? from every thing i have read this is not supposed to happen... has anyone heard of this happening?

i also have a 2-2 1/2 inch tiger oscar that i will put in the tank when it is bigger, how long should it take for a oscar to grow? he is mainly fed off of bloodworms and pellets.

 

[_Sushi_]

I started off with goldfish, and jumped headfirst into piranha-keeping, there is nothing wrong with starting off with piranhas.

I haven't really heard of much other than tetras, plecos, oscars, pacus and silver dollars working with piranhas, so unfortunately I can't answer your question...But, you never know till you try, and I'm guessing that your fish might get eaten, so I'd try it with a "tester" first

As for tankmates that work, Here is my solo RBP (he has a bad eye) and HIS pleco (my poor fiance thinks he owns it, but it's really the piranha's now) if the piranha needs to be removed from his tank for ANYTHING, the pleco needs to be transferred to a holding container with him, or he freaks out. We tried seperating them when the P nipped the plecos fins, and both of their colors turned dull, and they weren't as happy, we put them back together, and you'd think we had new fish!! lol They like to squabble from time to time, but I always find them hanging out near each other at the end of the day.

You can't even see the second pleco we added in that tank, and he doesn't like her as much as the one he grew up with, but he never really bothers her.

Piranha tankmates are really a hit and miss situation, while they may like one fish in particular, they may dislike another one of the same species, or any other kind of fish either....

It just depends on your fish's personality

 

[jredner]

Hey sushi, I went straight from goldfish to piranhas and I've got a pleco with mine too. Never had any problems between them either.

 

[_Sushi_]

Yup, sounds like a good plan doesn't it? ^^ lol

 

[minizookeeper]

i have experimented with my 3 rbps and found that when i added tankmates to the rbps they ended up as food. but when i have put my rbps in other tanks with fish established i had less kills. i had a tinfoil barb befriend my rbps and was a great tankmate(9"tinfoil barb). any fish that fights jaw to jaw stlye will lose everytime to a rbp.a boxer is no good in a knife fight.

 

[fieroguy89]

how about south american and african cichlids?

 

[---XR---]

how about south american and african cichlids?

extremely unlikely, or just for a short time at best.

 

[ZCciVic22]

I've kept 2 Raphael catfish in with my Piranha, 1 spotted ans 1 striped. They are typically chilling a rock most of the day, but once in awhile will come out and swim. I've had the Piranha since they were about the size of a dime. They are now all about 4". The catfish have been in there with them since I've gotten them, about 7 months ago. And they've never bothered each other!

 

[PEVINE11]

I've kept 2 Raphael catfish in with my Piranha, 1 spotted ans 1 striped. They are typically chilling a rock most of the day, but once in awhile will come out and swim. I've had the Piranha since they were about the size of a dime. They are now all about 4". The catfish have been in there with them since I've gotten them, about 7 months ago. And they've never bothered each other!

one day ur piranha will snap, they are like pitbulls

 

[DBH_Hoodlum_Nick]

tried a 6-7" oscar and the piranha bit his eye off, tried 3" common pleco when the piranha was a juvenile n bit the pleco in half, 7-8" jack dempsey, the piranha ripped his fins apart, then i got another piranha for em n they were fine together