# They're Eating Each Other Again



## MandyJ (Oct 23, 2007)

Hi all,

This is my first official post. I'm somewhat familiar with the site, and not new to fish or piranhas by any means, but I just officially joined today so bear with me while I figure out how everything works...

I've got a problem. I have a small shoal of juvenile red bellies in a well-maintained 210 gallon tank. No tankmates besides each other. Driftwood and plants for hiding. I feed them plenty, a variety of fresh seafood mostly. I started out with 6 when they were fairly small, about 2-3 inches. They were in a 55 gallon then and doing fine. I moved them to a bigger tank even while they were small because I intended to get a few more and have a nice shoal. By the time they'd reached 4 inches they were living in the 210. For months the 6 of them were happy and I was looking into buying some more. They had more than enough space and were getting along great. Now all of a sudden, within the past few months, they've been eating each other! It's not surprising; I know piranhas do that. But they've got plenty of space and food. I don't understand why they're doing this. They're a little over six inches now, I think. At least that was the last time I measured them. Any suggestions? Maybe I'm totally overlooking something...


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## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

Whats your water parameters? Temperature? Also, do you have any pictures of the fish?


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## Piranha_Rage (Sep 12, 2007)

Fish_Geek said:


> Hi all,
> 
> This is my first official post. I'm somewhat familiar with the site, and not new to fish or piranhas by any means, but I just officially joined today so bear with me while I figure out how everything works...
> 
> I've got a problem. I have a small shoal of juvenile red bellies in a well-maintained 210 gallon tank. No tankmates besides each other. Driftwood and plants for hiding. I feed them plenty, a variety of fresh seafood mostly. I started out with 6 when they were fairly small, about 2-3 inches. They were in a 55 gallon then and doing fine. I moved them to a bigger tank even while they were small because I intended to get a few more and have a nice shoal. By the time they'd reached 4 inches they were living in the 210. For months the 6 of them were happy and I was looking into buying some more. They had more than enough space and were getting along great. Now all of a sudden, within the past few months, they've been eating each other! It's not surprising; I know piranhas do that. But they've got plenty of space and food. I don't understand why they're doing this. They're a little over six inches now, I think. At least that was the last time I measured them. Any suggestions? Maybe I'm totally overlooking something...


Hey,

Im from Sweden and I am terrible on English so i hope you understand. I have 4 great piranhas about 12-15 cm. And I started to like having piranhas so I bought 12 small piranhas about 2-3 cm. And now they are 10 left. One piranha got bitten over the head when i was cleaning the aquarium I think he got bitten when the piranhas got stressed. And one piranha is gone so im pretty sure that the other piranhas ate him. And he was very very small. So i think it can depend on different sizes on the piranhas, stress, size of the aquarium, places to hide and if every piranhas have food. Im not a fish expert but I hope it helps you a bit.

Here is my 4 Piranhas.


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## Piranha_Mcfly (Jan 11, 2007)

It happens man. These guys can be really unpredictable. You may have a single hyper aggressive one that is taking out the other P's.


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

When you say eating each other...what exactly do you mean? 
A certain amount of aggression in a tank is to be expected...and it is more territorial based then food based imo...so feeding more wont do much. I think one way to reduce aggression would be to take out the driftwood and plants....which will remove the territories. They might fight for a bit...to establish a hierarchy in the tank...but it should subside in a few days.

Im still not convinced that you need to do anything...but if it is very bad...you might start by taking out anything that could be used as a territory and defended.


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## RallyNovaRon (May 9, 2007)

Like stated befor. check your water becouse mine were doing this to and i found out that my nitrates were way up. Change the water and all better.


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## TheWayThingsR (Jan 4, 2007)

Should also remember that piranhas are more aggressive and even cannibalistic at the juvenile stage than any other time.


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## redbellyman21 (Jun 27, 2004)

Gross Gurke is correct, try removing the decor, and also check the temperature, if above 78, u have a problem, also check the temp fluctuation, like from night to day if it might be different from room temp


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

are any dead or just fin nipps or flesh wounds?


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

Grosse Gurke said:


> When you say eating each other...what exactly do you mean?
> *A certain amount of aggression in a tank is to be expected...and it is more territorial based then food based imo...so feeding more wont do much.* I think one way to reduce aggression would be to take out the driftwood and plants....which will remove the territories. They might fight for a bit...to establish a hierarchy in the tank...but it should subside in a few days.
> 
> Im still not convinced that you need to do anything...but if it is very bad...you might start by taking out anything that could be used as a territory and defended.


Agreed ^^

Several good points up there.


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## MandyJ (Oct 23, 2007)

Ooh thank you for the fast answers! Yes, you're right. I didn't make myself very clear on one thing. It's way beyond the normal nips and bites. They're literally eating each other. I have three left.

The temp is in the high 70s at the moment. The tank just had a fresh change and we tested the water yesterday. All the parameters are normal. Nothing that would be stressing them out. I'll test it again tomorrow when I stop in the pet store, since I'm too poor to buy my own test supplies lately.

I'll lower the temp and see how that goes. Maybe that's the problem. They only started getting really aggressive recently like I said, and the only thing that's changed is we put heaters in the tank. Before it was just at room temperature. I didn't think of that; I don't know why it didn't occur to me. Okay I'll try that. I'm hesitant to take the driftwood out just because it'll be such a pain. The one piece is huge and very heavy, took FOREVER to soak it. But if it ends up being necessary in the end, I guess we have no choice. The territory thing makes a lot of sense. I've given people the same advice about their cichlids. I just hope lowering the temp is enough and it doesn't come to taking the driftwood out.

I'll try to get some pics too when I get my camera working. It's been having a rough time lately. Thanks, guys. I'll keep you updated.


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## moron (May 26, 2006)

When you're experiencing aggression problems with piranhas there are several things to do..1, rearrange your tank so the piranhas territories would change. 2, lower the temperature, and 3,t make sure all piranhas are receiving equal amounts of food. Like GG said, you are expected to get aggression. Even if your parameters are right, and everything is stable, this could be a normal scenario, specially with keeping piranhas..they're very unpredictable.

S


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