ummm if u guys are settin up a new tank and u get a pike cichlid like a xingu 1 (orange pike cichlid) it works well cuz hell get really territorial as long as u give him a few caves to retreat too then u keep like smaller rbp in there but once u cross the number of 5 for a shoal of them rbp's theyll attack nething. ive kept rbp, rhom, and what was called a gold p. the rhombus devoured 2 plecos over the time of 3 years, he was only 4" and the plecos 6". but my brother and i kept rbp shoals for like 4 years and if u get some small babies and put them in with something that was in the tanks first they seem to not mind it but the xingu 1 will fight back and almost bully the rbp's when they fin nip him hell go in and beat up the whole shoal thats just what me and my brother have noticed also he kept p bass with em and it works the same. idk just a thought guys just thought id put my 2 cents into this convo
Questionable Piranha Tank-mates
- Thread starter Joshy
- Start date
Wow, I can't believe some of you have managed to have something in with the RBPs. I have had mine since they were smaller than a dime, I have tried many things to have something in there and everything ends up food. I had an armored pleco 14" but they harrassed it daily. Anything that fits in there mouth they will eat, perch, bass, trout, goldfish, plecos, gobys, anything. Tried the catfish but it disappearred in a few hours.
dude ive tried all the fishes above except for a pbass and i failed my reds are just to mean,im thinkin because i raised em on pellets when they see somthin movin in there tank and not its not one of there buddies its over fast really fast. Poof cloud of red dust lol.
the key to it is introducing all of the fish at the same time or if u introduce the other fish before the p's so they can have a territory set up then the p's iwll be less likely to kill them theres many case where p's dont attack sumthin if it was in the tank first
there is no key to mixing other fish with piranhas, the piranhas either attack it or they don't, sometimes it can take a bit of time. piranhas do not mix with anything, the fish will either become a meal or they could be aggressive towards the piranhas and end up stressing them out. either way, you would be putting a great amount of stress on the fish in the tank, so it is definitely not worth it.LobstersGoPeenchPeench;2065878; said:
true true but when we did this we were novice's. it was a survival of the fittest type thing. ive mixed p's with other p's too and that does not work out ether from what ive experienced. at least when there is not enough room in the tank for all of them to set up their territories. oh also the pbass and the xingu 1 out lasted the p's even through a 2 day black out (p's lasted a year, pike cichlid and pbass 2 years b4 another power outage). it says questionable tank mates ok....and i put my 2 cents in.
i have a red bellied pacu that is very aggressive. everything i have put in the tank with him he eats, or if theyre too big he takes bites out of them. oddly enough though he hasnt touched 3 goldfish for several months. but hes eaten smaller catfish, baby sharks, a lobster, oscars, black moors, you name it...
Two things:
One, on the sadistic side, my friend got a 50 gal for his b-day when he was 9 and impulse bought 20 fish and played survivor extreme. the RBP was eventually killed by the footlong RTC, which in turn was killed by a 18" koi. the koi did live, and Mac kept the fish for 2 more years, until it passed in a power outage
On a Happy side, A different friend has had piranhas with other fish with ease. But, some things that help are:
1: buy the RBP's/rhoms last! then they will be less aggressive.
2: If mixing with guppies, feed piranhas more or less to control population.
3: Be prepared to lose a couple fish. Avoid mixing with Discus/Altum angels.
4: They are unique fish. Personality does differ between fish.
5: Add Oscars at the same time to hopefully trick him into thinking he's a piranha. XP
I know how it feels to lose a fish to another fish. I lost one of the original 3 scissortails to a suddenly predatory molly. I am actually serious!
One, on the sadistic side, my friend got a 50 gal for his b-day when he was 9 and impulse bought 20 fish and played survivor extreme. the RBP was eventually killed by the footlong RTC, which in turn was killed by a 18" koi. the koi did live, and Mac kept the fish for 2 more years, until it passed in a power outage
On a Happy side, A different friend has had piranhas with other fish with ease. But, some things that help are:
1: buy the RBP's/rhoms last! then they will be less aggressive.
2: If mixing with guppies, feed piranhas more or less to control population.
3: Be prepared to lose a couple fish. Avoid mixing with Discus/Altum angels.
4: They are unique fish. Personality does differ between fish.
5: Add Oscars at the same time to hopefully trick him into thinking he's a piranha. XP
I know how it feels to lose a fish to another fish. I lost one of the original 3 scissortails to a suddenly predatory molly. I am actually serious!
ok so inverts work wat about a freshwater blue lobster. I used to have one and i loved him but when he died i wanted my piranha but if they can be housed together i'd love another. they do have claws and are fast movers but the p's might still get'em
I have otto cats and my rbps completely ignore them, and they do a great job on the brown algae in the tank. Theres also two black skirt and one neon tetra that were in the tank for the cycle and they seem to have been accepted by the rbps, prolly cus they were in the tank first. I tried to add more black skirts and they got killed immediately, the original tetras attacking just as aggressively as the rbps
