# BALANCED DIET FOR PIRANHAS



## LEO SOL (Mar 2, 2006)

HELLO 
Im going to buy 3 baby red belly piranhas but I would like to know if there is a recipe to prepair the food for the piranhas, I have thought about feed the piranhas with dough for discus an oscars, but what do you think, i belive that the only problem is tath the dough containas heart and liver as principal ingredients, but also contains withe fish and sea food this is the doguh:

Papilla predominantemente carnívora

1 Lechuga
2 Zanahorias 
2 dientes de ajo 
1/2 cebolla pelada
100g de harina de soja o de "Nestúm"
100g de harina de pescado
2 huevas de pescado
1kl. de corazón o hígado de vacuno
1 taza de algún marisco (preferible gambas, o el que esté más barato)
1 huevo duro y entero
4 cápsulas de algún complejo de vitaminas, fundamentalmente B, C y E
2 cápsulas de espirulina

Predominantly carnivorous Papilla
1 Lettuce 
2 Carrots 
2 teeth of garlic 1/2 bare onion 
100g of flour of soybean or "Nestúm" 100g of flour of 
2 fish huevas of fish 
1kl. of heart or bovine liver 
1 cup of some seafood (preferable prawns, or the one that is cheaper) 
1 hard and whole egg 
4 capsules of some vitamin complex, fundamentally B, C and E 
2 capsules of espirulina

Also I have thought about a balanced diet based on white fish:

950 gr of withe fish (all the fish)
25 gr of slice meat
25 gr of friut and vegetables
capsules of somo vitamin complex

But i want to know whats that you think obout this.

Postscript: I am Mexican and im i am not so good at writing in english, please tell me if that is a problem.

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

Hello and Welcome

I wouldn't use mammal meat or organ meat
I don't think p's need too much vegetables either


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## LEO SOL (Mar 2, 2006)

HELLO AND THANKS
So, do you think that is enough with only feed them with whole frozeen fish, I have more questions. I a have realize about some thing interesting, a lot of peple thath have piranhas also keep plecostomus in they same aquarium,they say that the onli thing that they do is to introduce all the fishes at the same time and since there are really small, but i should feed the plecostomus or is enough with the scraps thath te piranhas leave in the aquarium.
My last question is how can I know thath my piranhas are pleaseds.
THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION.


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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

Hey Leo....

I would suggest mostly frozen seafood or fresh seafood...........whitefish fillet( like catfish nugget, talipia) shrimp, scallops, silversides......good vareity there, also through in some beefheart or protein occasionally, and this is a good diet.

With the plecos its hit and miss, regardless of when intrioduced, they may do good for 1 day on up to two years then one day just get munched, its luck of the draw, I would get a much larger pleco if you want to do this.....good luck buddy...


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

LEO SOL said:


> HELLO AND THANKS
> So, do you think that is enough with only feed them with whole frozeen fish, I have more questions. I a have realize about some thing interesting, a lot of peple thath have piranhas also keep plecostomus in they same aquarium,they say that the onli thing that they do is to introduce all the fishes at the same time and since there are really small, but i should feed the plecostomus or is enough with the scraps thath te piranhas leave in the aquarium.
> My last question is how can I know thath my piranhas are pleaseds.
> THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION.


If you get a pleco you should feed it some algae tabs and some fresh vegetables every now and then

The most obvious thing to check if a red belly piranha is happy is the coloration (although it's normal they will turn pale at night)


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## LEO SOL (Mar 2, 2006)

HELLO 
In conclusion thebest way to feed my piranhas is with sea food and whole fish, but also i can feed them with tubifex, colex, bloodworms and live fishes.


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

sure, but when you feed bloodworms and tubifex etc. make sure it's actually eaten, because piranhas only eat it when their small (some don't want it at all). But it will mess up the water if not eaten because it's very hard to remove these small things.

When you use live fish, get some healthy fish and avoid goldfish


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## LEO SOL (Mar 2, 2006)

AGAIN THNKS YOU
But there is something else that I dont know, should the froozen whole fish be raw or cooked, and I can cook the fish before freeze it?


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

always feed uncooked food because cooking will remove some of the vitamins


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## LEO SOL (Mar 2, 2006)

ORIGHT
But could you tell some fish species than I can use to feed my piranhas, aside tilapia and catfish, I read that the white flesed fresh water species are a great food to feed piranhas, is that true?


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

white fish are best. these are low in fat and don't make the water as dirty as pink and red fish meat

if you can feed some whole fish, this is great also, for example smelt


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## LEO SOL (Mar 2, 2006)

HELLO
I have a new question anda a litle problem, yesterday I went tothe market to buy the food for my piranhas I bought 500 gr of catfish and 1 kg of tilapia, but I realized about they have anything inside, that I am traying to say is that have no intrern organs, so is rhat a problem?, What should I do?. My other question is, what abaut the problems with the tiamina in the fishes I read that there is an enzyme that destroy the vitamin B1 What can I do to avoid this problem with the fish meat tha I use to beed my piranhas.
My last questio is, How can I feed a red pacu?, Is posible to feed a pacu with the same things that I use to feed piranhas or I feed a pacu with food for vegetarian fishes?


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

LEO SOL said:


> HELLO
> I have a new question anda a litle problem, yesterday I went tothe market to buy the food for my piranhas I bought 500 gr of catfish and 1 kg of tilapia, but I realized about they have anything inside, that I am traying to say is that have no intrern organs, so is rhat a problem?, What should I do?. My other question is, what abaut the problems with the tiamina in the fishes I read that there is an enzyme that destroy the vitamin B1 What can I do to avoid this problem with the fish meat tha I use to beed my piranhas.
> My last questio is, How can I feed a red pacu?, Is posible to feed a pacu with the same things that I use to feed piranhas or I feed a pacu with food for vegetarian fishes?


it's no problem if the fish has been cleaned. But feeding whole fish (small smelts are great for that) is a good addition to their diet.

about the thiaminase. This is mainly found in carp-like fish (e.g. goldfish), but probably also other fish. It's quite hard to tell what fish contains it and what other fish doesn't. My advise is: make sure you give a good varried diet (including fish, mussels, squid, shrimp, etc...) and avoid goldfish and other fish famous for containing thiaminase


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## LEO SOL (Mar 2, 2006)

HELLO
Thanks you for the answers, but could you suggest me a good way to feed red pacus, can I feed them with the same things that I use to feed piranhas.


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

no idea for the pacu's ,but I suggest to post a new topic in the 'general discussion' forum instead of the piranha forums. There you will get a lot more answers about pacu:
Tank Busters and Bottom Dwellers


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## LEO SOL (Mar 2, 2006)

THANKS
But I have decide to only buy six baby redbilled piranhas (less tha 10cm) , I am going to put them in a 256 liters tank and I am going to build a 500 liters and by the 2008 or 2007 I will build a 900 liters tank, what do you think, 
GOD BYE

postscript: 1 GALON= 4 LITERS


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

6 small reds will be fine in a 256 l tank for a couple of months

in a 500 l they will be fine for life

900 l ? that soudns like a nice big tank


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## LEO SOL (Mar 2, 2006)

HELLO, AND THANKS FOR ALL YOUR COMENTARIES
I am going to buy the piranhas the next 23rd of march. Now I know ho to feed them thanks to you, but What kind (brand and name) of pellests should I use to feed the piranhas? to give them a more varied diet.
GOOD BYE.


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

I think most people here use cichlid pellets


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## LEO SOL (Mar 2, 2006)

HELLO 
Si if the piranhas can eat cichild pellet, also they can be feeded with with dough for cichilds.
THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

I'm not sure I understand what exactly this dough is, but I would only feed pellets or this dough for some extra variation once every now and then, but never as their staple diet.

how do you get all the ingredients to stick together ?


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## LEO SOL (Mar 2, 2006)

HELLO
What do not understand Is how did I mix all the ingredients?, the only thing that I do is to blend all the ingredientes and add colegen powder to make thath the dough get more consistency.

PD: Excuse me, my english is not perfect


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

I didn't understand how you kept everything together (I've heard about using gelatine before), but now I see

I'm not a native English speaker either, so don't worry you're not the only one


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## LEO SOL (Mar 2, 2006)

ORIGHT
Thats te most importan part the insipid gelatin. I have a new question How many liters did a piranha need to reach its maximun size?
GOD BYE


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

I would say 80 l (for life). It's just a rule of thumb though.


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## LEO SOL (Mar 2, 2006)

THANKS
But If I wanna breed


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

I haven't tried it myself (my fish are a bit too young still), but I think 80l per fish will be fine. Good water quality (lot's of maintenance) is even more important I guess.


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## LEO SOL (Mar 2, 2006)

THANKS


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