# Piranhas Turning black



## Domelotta

I have had kept four piranhas together for about a year. They used to be in separate tanks, ages ranging from 2 years to 1 1/2 years, but I decided to move them together and got along awsome in the newer one. Today I came home and went upstairs to check on them as usual, but 3 of them looked really funky. They still had their red belly but they were dark beyond belief. I thought maybe they were stressed but they seemed to be moving around fine. I left the room to show my sister and when I returned only one was still black. Did I maybe ruin the mood? Why would three be dark if they were going to breed? (threesome? lol) I don't have any experience in this area so any advice would help. O yea and there haven't really been any other signs of breeding, just color.


----------



## l2ob

Breeding could be possible. WHen the fish turn pale they are stressed, so being dark they are in a good mood!

If you want to try a stab at breeding them.

What you can do is do a large feeding and once they have eaten. Do a 50% water change or close to that and fill it up with water that is colder than the water in the tank. This will replicate "rainfall" in the amazon.

If they want to mate , a pair will go off and start "playing with each other" pushing each other around, turning very dark, and purple.

GOod luck!


----------



## Domelotta

Ok so when they are dark they are good mood? sweet. Ok well i tried to do the feeding thing first but only three of them ate. The second largest one didnt even take a bite of food. It is also very much darker than the other ones. I think the water change thing trigggered their color change i guess. I replaced about 40% of the water when I got back from vacation a few days ago to make up for the time I didnt get to clean their tank. The temperature ended up dropping a bit like 2-3 degrees from 80 for a day or two and now is at 78 constantly. I woke up this morning as well and my tank seemed a bit turned upside down, like the substrate moved all around and a plant was floating.
Hopefully its breedin time.


----------



## jayjulesjohn

l2ob said:


> Breeding could be possible. WHen the fish turn pale they are stressed, so being dark they are in a good mood!
> 
> If you want to try a stab at breeding them.
> 
> What you can do is do a large feeding and once they have eaten. Do a 50% water change or close to that and fill it up with water that is colder than the water in the tank. This will replicate "rainfall" in the amazon.
> 
> If they want to mate , a pair will go off and start "playing with each other" pushing each other around, turning very dark, and purple.
> 
> GOod luck!


kewl..nice tip


----------



## CLUSTER ONE

Being abit black is normal for them throught different times of day. If they were in breeding mode they would be solid black more or less.

Read this link on breeding. It also shows a pic of a pair while mating:

Visit My Website

The mating colours pics are under the heading "sexual dimorphism- Male or female"


----------



## Domelotta

So it looked at the pics from the website and those ps are pretty darn dark. The thing with mine happened again. Three are dark and one is normal. The darkest one is abot 3/4 as dark as the ones in the pic. The other two are about 1/2 as dark. When I come up to them their darkness goes away though. When I leave it returns. Another thing is that my substrate is really light and my lights are as well. They are usually very illuminated all the time and have always been really light in color and had super bright red bellys.

I put a towel around the tank just in case if they are breeding. ???good move??? I just figure give them some privacy so they aren't so scared. The one other thing I noted when I saw them today ( I see them in the morning for about two hours ) is that they are definately more beat up. They usually don't have fin nips at all and get along very well as far as ps go, but they are definately having little fights when I am gone according to the superfringy tails and scrapes on their bodies. Is this what they do when about to breed?


----------



## CLUSTER ONE

Domelotta said:


> So it looked at the pics from the website and those ps are pretty darn dark. The thing with mine happened again. Three are dark and one is normal. The darkest one is abot 3/4 as dark as the ones in the pic. The other two are about 1/2 as dark. When I come up to them their darkness goes away though. When I leave it returns. Another thing is that my substrate is really light and my lights are as well. They are usually very illuminated all the time and have always been really light in color and had super bright red bellys. *I think in your case it just has to do with time of day, stress and other factors that can make them darker then the usually are. If you hear the darken when breeding it is easy to get this darkening confused with the colour changes throught the day. The only way to really tell is to compare pictures or have the experieance to know the difference.*
> 
> I put a towel around the tank just in case if they are breeding. ???good move???*Generally i would say thats a good move since it would provide privacy for them, but i dotn think yours are breeding so it is unnessisary.* I just figure give them some privacy so they aren't so scared. The one other thing I noted when I saw them today ( I see them in the morning for about two hours ) is that they are definately more beat up. *Could be breeding but could also be normal territorila disputes*They usually don't have fin nips at all and get along very well as far as ps go, but they are definately having little fights when I am gone according to the superfringy tails and scrapes on their bodies. Is this what they do when about to breed?


It could possibly be breeding or pre breeding signs, but i think normal colour changes are more likly.
other breedign sings include pairing up, digging a nest, circling a nest , increased agression and defending nesting area...


----------



## Domelotta

Thanks for all the advice and info. It really helped.


----------



## CLUSTER ONE

no problem just search on google or through forums and you can find plenty of info that could help you to breed them, but it still seems they will breed for the first time when they are ready.


----------

