# Happy Piranha



## Dylinger (Dec 11, 2004)

I bought my baby reds to watch them eat. As a child I was fascinated with this on television. Hearing that guppies often ate thier young, I wanted some just to watch this.

I got older and found other fishes to see this with. I love watching my oscar gobble up more then he can handle. The lucky feeder that gets out swims frantically away, into the mouth of a hungry overgrown goldfish.

I want to feed my rbps feeder fish, mice, crickets, anything that I can watch get ripped up. My gf thinks this is horrible of me. The only thing I can come up with is that they are feeders. They will be fed to my fish, or someone elses. The one difference is that I plan to give my feeders a chance at survival. A place to hide.

Now to my question. Feeding them mostly feeders, with flakes and chiclid pellets and such for other dietary needs, is this going to leave them unhappy? I do like watching this, as the main reason for my interest in these animals. I do not however want unhappy pets(or roomates).

If I had a snake, I would feed it live mice. A natural act being forced to my fish. Wrong? Please explain how you feel.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Feeding them "mostly feeders" is going to leave you with unhealthy fish. I'd stay away from feeder goldfish feeding anymore than once per week.

There are other alternatives if you're into live feedings however, crickets might be ok, nightcrawlers are excellent, live ghost shrimp will also work very nicely to give you a few things to watch your reds eat. I wouldn't bother with flakes and cichlid pellets though, they probably won't eat them.

As for the morality and how I feel, who cares about the moral issue of feeding live foods, they're your fish and we can't really be bothered to get upitty about everything other people are doing.


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

Dylinger said:


> do like watching this, as the main reason for my interest in these animals


























shouldnt have p's then if u just bought them to feed them feeders all the time


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## RhomZilla (Feb 12, 2003)

Dylinger said:


> Now to my question. Feeding them mostly feeders, with flakes and chiclid pellets and such for other dietary needs, is this going to leave them unhappy? I do like watching this, as the main reason for my interest in these animals. I do not however want unhappy pets(or roomates).
> [snapback]794593[/snapback]​


As stated... feeders arent the very best source, nutrition wise, to feed your Ps. Feeders can cause very harmfull problems in the long run as well as inhibiting other good resources for their diets. There are other already dead, cut up and raw foods which would suit your Ps just fine. Feeding feeders is an option, but most should feed them once a month or so just to see the FURY within.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Dude, you can't capitalize the word "FURY" in the context of "the FURY within" without adding a headbanging smiley at the end. It's all wrong dude.

Now how it SHOULD be, is



> feed them once a month or so just to see the FURY within


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## RhomZilla (Feb 12, 2003)

elTwitcho said:


> Dude, you can't capitalize the word "FURY" in the context of "the FURY within" without adding a headbanging smiley at the end. It's all wrong dude.
> 
> Now how it SHOULD be, is
> :rasp:
> [snapback]794692[/snapback]​


Whoops.. my bad.







EDITED!!!!


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## shutter13 (Jun 23, 2004)

mice are messy... feeders are diseased and start to get expensive...

stick to shrimp smelt and worms... trust me, once they get used to smelt they will like it more than feeders and it will be even more fun to watch them rip chunks out of a smelt then biting a feeder in half...


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## mrspikes (Aug 10, 2004)

yes well a couple of things. first of all, to your girlfriend just tell her that hey, it would happen in the wild wouldnt it? dont fish eat other fish in the wild? dont fish sometimes eat mamals in the wild? so how is that any different if it happens in your tank? secondly, i know feeders can be bad. now i have still yet to see my piranhas get sick at all from a feeder. i have a good reliable source for mine though. i do feed my fish other things however seeing as it keeps them healthy. i find earth worms are good to watch get eaten and i heard they are supposed to be deliiscious and nutritious. o and to shutter IMO, and its IMO so dont take it as a fact, watching p's eat goldfish is exciting when their is a big chase going on. and fresh what you said makes sense and i agree. however most of the people who get into piranhas do it for agression. or at least everyone i know that has went into piranhas to see something get ripped to shreds. anyways if any info i have is wrong feel free to correct me


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

mrspikes said:


> however most of the people who get into piranhas do it for agression. or at least everyone i know that has went into piranhas to see something


not the people on here


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## mrspikes (Aug 10, 2004)

Fresh said:


> not the people on here
> [snapback]796158[/snapback]​


well of course not this website morphs everyone into people like us


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## Dylinger (Dec 11, 2004)

I want to start out with saying I love this website. I get lots of great advice. That is how I take it of course. Nothing is true in all cases. Take for instance my rbp's. Ripping up flake food. Eating nearly anything I throw at them. So far it has onlky been prepared foods.

I believe getting them used to it they will accept it all thier life. So when I go to feeders, I can add flakes or pellets as an appetizer, then toss in the feeders. My oscar lives on mostly feeders(in total food weight) and still eats his flakes and pellets everyday.


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

ok lets say this again. FEEDERS ARE NOT HEALTHY AND SHOULD NOT BE A DAILY DIET


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## Phtstrat (Sep 15, 2004)

Dylinger said:


> My oscar lives on mostly feeders(in total food weight) and still eats his flakes and pellets everyday.
> [snapback]796368[/snapback]​


Just be careful with how many feeders you give him, oscars are very succeptible to HITH.

As for the feeder topic, I also love watching my P's eat them. After doing some reading on feeders, and their nutritional quality, or lack thereof, I decided that I would only give them to my p's for exhibition. I just don't think it is worth it to hinder their growth and possibly bring disease into my tank just so that I can watch them constantly dominating feeders.


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## MR.FREEZ (Jan 26, 2004)

feed em what you want but look at \/ too, just for a little heads up on some risk


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## spawnie9600 (Nov 15, 2004)

feeders are still good once in a while i feed mine rosie reds do those have the same effect as gf


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

*_Moved to Feeding and Nutrition_*


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## CHOMP (Nov 6, 2004)

> feeders are still good once in a while i feed mine rosie reds do those have the same effect as gf


Same sh*t. If facts are that they're not good, why would they be good once in a while.


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## SpAzZy (Mar 30, 2004)

Dylinger said:


> I bought my baby reds to watch them eat. As a child I was fascinated with this on television. Hearing that guppies often ate thier young, I wanted some just to watch this.
> 
> I got older and found other fishes to see this with. I love watching my oscar gobble up more then he can handle. The lucky feeder that gets out swims frantically away, into the mouth of a hungry overgrown goldfish.
> 
> ...


when fbi investigators do criminal profiling... this what they learn about serial killers.

as little children, they like to watch animals kill each other or like to harm animals themselves. they also like to own animals/fish in which are coldblooded killers and will kill anything that moves. sound like someone??









anyway, like everyone said, sure it's fun to watch them eat, but eating live food isn't really part of their diet in the wild. piranha are opportunistic eaters and will eat whatever they can. they will rarely ever attack a healthy fish unless they are forced to when they exhaust their food supplies in the wild. (when they are stuck in lagoons after the rainy season or puddles). if you do decide to keep it a live diet, stay away from goldfish feeders, they have growth inhibiting enzymes/hormones (i forget the right word), and often carry diseases. if you want to have killer fish, be my guest.. just keep them healthy


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## Little Waffen (Mar 13, 2004)

well i think all feeders are bad ,,only if you house them in a tank alone for a week or so ,,but as far as everyone else was saying about smelt shrimp, and other things you wont regret it ,when you see the colors come out on your p's from a good diet ,,feeders to me i will feed them feeders like every 2 months ,and after there in my 10gal tank for a week or so,,,good luck with your fish


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