# piranha companions



## skylute3 (Nov 30, 2007)

I have 6 pygos, in a 180, and I wanted to throw a school of little fish in there. Don't want them to get eaten, even tho I figure its inevitable. I do feed 2-3 times a day...but bite size amounts. What u guys think?


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## Johnny_Zanni (Nov 8, 2009)

probly neons, or danios something like that


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## bigshawn (Dec 29, 2005)

I love red-eyed tetras I have a couple in my tanks they do come up missing sometimes but thats piranhas for ya


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

Try Columbian Tetras I have 10 in my 50 breeder with my 5.5" Mac and he is doing fine with them because he cant catch them and they have some really nice colors.


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## Armand_caribe (Sep 9, 2009)

skylute3 said:


> I have 6 pygos, in a 180, and I wanted to throw a school of little fish in there. Don't want them to get eaten, even tho I figure its inevitable. I do feed 2-3 times a day...but bite size amounts. *What u guys think?*


I don't know what do you expect us to say if you're already answering the question bro.







...."Don't want them to get eaten, even tho I figure its inevitable".......


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## TJcali (Mar 27, 2009)

I've also been wanting to try this but man we know whats going to happen but hey if you put alot of plants and cover maybe it will work


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## shoal king (Oct 27, 2006)

any type of small fast tetra... or maybe giant danios... whatever you can find for cheap cause they will be eaten 
i have had a few red tail black sharks last a few months


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## the keeper (Jan 16, 2010)

see thats the whole thing, at the end they get eaten! thats why their piranha, if you want to buy fish and wast your money go ahead, but eventually(if not right away)they will get eaten.i mean come on people you bought piranha, if you want to cohabit fish, DONT BUY PIRANHA!


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## T-wag (May 21, 2009)

the keeper said:


> see thats the whole thing, at the end they get eaten! thats why their piranha, if you want to buy fish and wast your money go ahead, but eventually(if not right away)they will get eaten.i mean come on people you bought piranha, if you want to cohabit fish, DONT BUY PIRANHA!


lol very offensive.....IMO i any small and fast....if u want other living fish in ur tank get some snails, mayb a pleco (they sh*t more than they eat), but mind you that if ur fish are not adults chances are they will catch the small fish....usally only big piranhas do well with tetras and such...but i mean if you have the money and u want to cohab some nice some colorful fish then try a bunch of tetras i mean there not that expensive and its worth a try right?


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## Uncle Jesse (Feb 18, 2007)

Zebra danios I had one in with mine for 2 years. Those things are very fast. And they are like 2 bucks.


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## mose (Oct 12, 2009)

well i had a crayfish in my tank for 2 weeks before they killed it.

i think you're going to be fighting a losing battle though, with anything. my biggest red belly just got killed by the rest of my shoal tonight. so it really doesn't matter, whatever you put in will probably die.


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## CuzIsaidSo (Oct 13, 2009)

I've had 3 cory catfish and 2 raphael catfish in my tank for 6 months now and never seen a fin nipped. They stay out of the way and the cory's are very active and clean the substrate constantly. In that same time I've gone through about 30 neon tetras. So if your gonna have fish in there just get cheap ones that are easily replaceable.


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## T-wag (May 21, 2009)

brian519 said:


> I've had 3 cory catfish and 2 raphael catfish in my tank for 6 months now and never seen a fin nipped. They stay out of the way and the cory's are very active and clean the substrate constantly. In that same time I've gone through about 30 neon tetras. So if your gonna have fish in there just get cheap ones that are easily replaceable.


i agree....with my reds iv had a pleco in there since day one till the day i sold all my reds....at first the pleco was bigger but then the reds out grew him and i sold my reds and the pleco to the lfs all one bucket.....but my rhom has ate every thing iv thrown in there


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## notaverage (Sep 10, 2005)

Just for the hell of it every 3-4 months I put one of my trop fishes or another that I've had for a while in with my mac.
Forget it man....it may take 1second to 1 hours but whatever fish is in there is dinner.
Neon or giant danio...those colombian tetras..HEll no they wouldn't last they aren't that fast.


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## wlecount (Jan 22, 2006)

I had about 5 giant danios that lasted 3 years with my baby red's until they were well 3 years old. Stupid mistake killed the red's but the 3 of the danios made it. Now they did kill their fair share of other fish. When they are little and agile they are more likely to eat anything in the tank.


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## ju5tin95 (Nov 25, 2008)

piranhas have no friends


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## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

the keeper said:


> see thats the whole thing, at the end they get eaten! thats why their piranha, if you want to buy fish and wast your money go ahead, but eventually(if not right away)they will get eaten.i mean come on people you bought piranha, if you want to cohabit fish, DONT BUY PIRANHA!


Agreed!

But, there is a flipside here. Our piranhas, in our tanks, DO NOT want to cohabitate with anything! They don't even like being witht their own kind much less being with anything else. Even feeder goldfish, uneaten, can stress a piranha out. Not to mention the people that think convicts make a great tankmate and or food...GRRR!







Piranhas are spazzes and their psychis is delicate! Treat as such!


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## the keeper (Jan 16, 2010)

agreed!


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## Soul Assassin (Nov 21, 2006)

SERRAPYGO said:


> see thats the whole thing, at the end they get eaten! thats why their piranha, if you want to buy fish and wast your money go ahead, but eventually(if not right away)they will get eaten.i mean come on people you bought piranha, if you want to cohabit fish, DONT BUY PIRANHA!


Agreed!

But, there is a flipside here. Our piranhas, in our tanks, DO NOT want to cohabitate with anything! They don't even like being witht their own kind much less being with anything else. Even feeder goldfish, uneaten, can stress a piranha out. Not to mention the people that think convicts make a great tankmate and or food...GRRR!







Piranhas are spazzes and their psychis is delicate! Treat as such!








[/quote]

Never looked at it that way, good input.

I think small tetras will only work with 10" + Ps, when they dont bother to chase them


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

I tried Neon Tetra's about a month ago thinking the Red's wouldn't bother them (most of mine are 7"-8" long). No dice. Put a dozen of them in there at night, they were gone the next morning.


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

i had luck with bucktooth tetras (exodons) didnt loose any at all


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## bigshawn (Dec 29, 2005)

I've always wanted to try exodons, did you get them with your shoal or put them in later? do they mess with the reds (fin nips ect...)?


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

i had no issues adding the exodons in with the pygos, no fin nips etc.


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## bigshawn (Dec 29, 2005)

assclown said:


> i had no issues adding the exodons in with the pygos, no fin nips etc.


Thank you


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## sprfunk (Dec 22, 2005)

Giant danios worked for me (by work I mean lasted longer then 6 months) with pygos only. I don't think that it stresses P's in the least. Convicts could.


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

There's a generic term for fish cohabiting with pygos. It's "eventual feeders".


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## Buckman (Jan 10, 2007)

certain fish will last longer, but eventually they all die.


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

i disagree with most post about cohabing with piranhas...heres why

you may get a fish like my biggest rhom who is tollerant of the other fish in the tank with him
(list: 3 tinfoil barbs / 4 convicts / 1 pleco) he picks on the pleco more than any other of them,
why you may ask, well that is his to answer...........WE ARE NOT FISH, we have had fish in the 
past and see what they do, but no one is certain what a fish will do that fish.

my 10 blue rhom hates anything in his tank and is still trying to catch the remaining convict
in there but good luck. i hate stigmas that people put on this hobby....if you want to try another
fish in YOUR tank, then so be it...just understand your fish and his personality and go from there.

you may loose a fish of two but as long as you know the risks, happy hobying my friends


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## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

assclown said:


> i disagree with most post about cohabing with piranhas...heres why
> 
> you may get a fish like my biggest rhom who is tollerant of the other fish in the tank with him
> (list: 3 tinfoil barbs / 4 convicts / 1 pleco) he picks on the pleco more than any other of them,
> ...





> my 10 blue rhom hates anything in his tank and is still trying to catch the remaining convict
> in there but good luck.


So, if he "hates anything in his tank"...by your own admission, why do you keep other fish in there? My guess is...it's for your own personal amusement and the rhom's well being is secondary, am I wrong?



> WE ARE NOT FISH, we have had fish in the
> past and see what they do, but no one is certain what a fish will do that fish.


Uuuh...pretty certain!, when it's a PIRANHA! We're not talking betta or fancy tailed guppy, here!


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

assclown said:


> i disagree with most post about cohabing with piranhas...heres why
> 
> you may get a fish like my biggest rhom who is tollerant of the other fish in the tank with him
> (list: 3 tinfoil barbs / 4 convicts / 1 pleco) he picks on the pleco more than any other of them,
> ...


The original poster specifically asked about cohabiting with PYGOS. I've seen small fish kept with rhoms before, sometimes they just don't see them as food due to size difference or don't want to expend the energy to catch something that small. I've never seen any fish live long term with a group of pygos. Even fish of a similar body type eventually become prey items.


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## the keeper (Jan 16, 2010)

i dont have any pygos, but all my other p's, live a solitary life. good luck to you cohabitors.


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

SERRAPYGO said:


> i disagree with most post about cohabing with piranhas...heres why
> 
> you may get a fish like my biggest rhom who is tollerant of the other fish in the tank with him
> (list: 3 tinfoil barbs / 4 convicts / 1 pleco) he picks on the pleco more than any other of them,
> ...





> my 10 blue rhom hates anything in his tank and is still trying to catch the remaining convict
> in there but good luck.


So, if he "hates anything in his tank"...by your own admission, why do you keep other fish in there? My guess is...it's for your own personal amusement and the rhom's well being is secondary, am I wrong?



> WE ARE NOT FISH, we have had fish in the
> past and see what they do, but no one is certain what a fish will do that fish.


Uuuh...pretty certain!, when it's a PIRANHA! We're not talking betta or fancy tailed guppy, here!








[/quote]
Yes you are wrong, as my post stated I have 2 rhoms, my bigger blue doesn't mind other fish (so far) and my other rhom is the least tolerant towards tank mates. No it isn't for my amusement, the remaining convict that in the smaller rhoms tank was ment for food but has stayed alive for a while now.

My 240g has the other rhoms and barbs in it, so far so good but I don't plan on them being in there forever


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

Bawb2u said:


> i disagree with most post about cohabing with piranhas...heres why
> 
> you may get a fish like my biggest rhom who is tollerant of the other fish in the tank with him
> (list: 3 tinfoil barbs / 4 convicts / 1 pleco) he picks on the pleco more than any other of them,
> ...


The original poster specifically asked about cohabiting with PYGOS. I've seen small fish kept with rhoms before, sometimes they just don't see them as food due to size difference or don't want to expend the energy to catch something that small. I've never seen any fish live long term with a group of pygos. Even fish of a similar body type eventually become prey items.
[/quote]
and yet again as posted even with a picture i replied to a "cohab" with pygos, top of page 2


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## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

> Yes you are wrong, as my post stated I have 2 rhoms, my bigger blue doesn't mind other fish (so far) and my other rhom is the least tolerant towards tank mates. No it isn't for my amusement, the remaining convict that in the smaller rhoms tank was ment for food but has stayed alive for a while now.
> 
> My 240g has the other rhoms and barbs in it, so far so good but I don't plan on them being in there forever





> my 10 blue rhom hates anything in his tank and is still trying to catch the remaining convict


Assclown, I'm focusing on this comment specifically. You siad he "hates" (now changed to least tolerant) tankmates. With a plethora of food options to choose from...why convicts? Why tankmates at all for this fish if he hates them? Ever wondered why that convict has stayed alive for quite awhile?


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

well if we must continue, i bought several convicts for food for my bigger rhom who is in
a 240g because it was not eating anything i was offering, the convicts then started to breed,
i took out the females and had 6 left....i tossed 2 into my smaller rhoms tank and he picked
off 1 and there is still 1 left in the smaller rhoms tank, he can not get it to eat....he is very
skilled at hiding.......the smaller rhom is intolerant of the convict.

now on to the bigger rhom.....he still has 4 convicts in there and he IS tollerant of the convicts,
i am refering to 2 fish, not 1........

my big rhom......tolerant 
my small rhom.....not so tolerant

so i think you were putting 2 stories into one...........








and another thing, if you were at my house and saw my fish, my main focus ARE my fish IE rhoms and pygos,
the convicts were ment as food, am i going to add more fish and have a community tank.....








NO.....but why disturb my smaller rhom for one fish which i know he will get eventually?


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## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

assclown said:


> well if we must continue, i bought several convicts for food for my bigger rhom who is in
> a 240g because it was not eating anything i was offering, the convicts then started to breed,
> i took out the females and had 6 left....i tossed 2 into my smaller rhoms tank and he picked
> off 1 and there is still 1 left in the smaller rhoms tank, he can not get it to eat....he is very
> ...


I don't mean to hammer on ya. You've been around awhile and I know you have a handle on your fish. But, I'm seeing a growing trend on these forums (mostly newbs), lately of keeping convicts with piranhas. Convicts are smart, tough ass little shits that can make piranhas uncomfortable or even turn the tables on them. On one recent thread, someone was even keeping cons with a four to five inch manuelli and wondered why it was so reclusive...







I also wonder why anyone would risk disease. "Ick" is easy to cure with a cichlid but a little tricky and risky with piranhas.

Overall, I feel we (hobbyists) have an obligation to keep our pets as healthy, safe, and happy as possible and I just don't see adding their #1 enemy to their home fitting that scenario. But...that's me, I guess.


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