# How Many Pirahnas Can I Fit in a 12G Eclipse?



## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

I was thinking about putting two of them in there

What do you think?


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## CKY (Apr 14, 2003)

A 12 gallon. You can't even fit one piranha in there. Maybe a dime sized one for like a few weeks. But you're gonna need a way bigger tank. At least 20 gallons for 1 piranha.


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

CKY said:


> A 12 gallon. You can't even fit one piranha in there. Maybe a dime sized one for like a few weeks. But you're gonna need a way bigger tank. At least 20 gallons for 1 piranha.


 Maybe I'll just put one in there then and see what happens

What else could I throw in there with the one pirahna that it wont eat?


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## oldmanweezer (Apr 1, 2003)

In a 12 gallon tank you might want to thin kabout getting fish other than piranhas. there are a ton of different kinds of fish out there that would do much better in a small space like that. try some tetras or something like that.


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

None. I have a 4 inch Spilo CF and 2 inch rhom in 10 gallons right now but it is just a holding tank until I set up my 55 with a divider. You can put a small piranha in there for a short time and it should only be viewed as a temporary solution.


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

Xenon said:


> None. I have a 4 inch Spilo CF and 2 inch rhom in 10 gallons right now but it is just a holding tank until I set up my 55 with a divider. You can put a small piranha in there for a short time and it should only be viewed as a temporary solution.


 I am getting baby pirahnas

Maybe I'll just get one and get my $10 back for the other one


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

SonicDark said:


> Maybe I'll just get one and get my $10 back for the other one


 The babies will grow man.


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## Young Gotti (Jan 29, 2003)

Unless u have a bigger tank then don't even bother getting the Red. It'll grow out of that in like a month.


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

I know nothing about fish but I've heard people say that it wont outgrow its environment

I already setup the tank and all that so i'm just gonna get 1 and try it out, hopefully it doesnt get too big


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## mdemers883 (Jan 9, 2003)

> that it wont outgrow its environment


that's a myth. You will HAVE to upgrade if you want to keep 1 piranha in that tank.

Mark


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

mdemers883 said:


> > that it wont outgrow its environment
> 
> 
> that's a myth. You will HAVE to upgrade if you want to keep 1 piranha in that tank.
> ...


 Or else what?

It will just die?


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## RAZORTEETH (Feb 6, 2003)

talk about stressing a fish out no way u should put a piranha in a 12 gallon tank i dont care what size u get hell thats like me putting my oscar in a 5 gallon or a betta vase







dont make the fish suffer man


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## icepick36m (Feb 19, 2003)

You should look at a bigger tank for sure if you want to keep piranhas...good luck.


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## memen (Mar 14, 2003)

NONE PIRANHAS IN 12 gallon, and 30 gallon too, 50 gallon is the minimum to keep piranha at life !!!! (pygocentrus species )


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

Thanks for the advice guys

I don't mean to be heartless or cruel so I'll just try out the baby and once it gets bigger I'll save up for a bigger tank

Maybe get a 30 gallon tank or something


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## InSinUAsian (Jan 3, 2003)

SonicDark said:


> I don't mean to be heartless or cruel so I'll just try out the baby and once it gets bigger I'll save up for a bigger tank


 With P's you are talking about a matter of about 2 months at most before it out grows a 12.

~Dj


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

InSinUAsian said:


> SonicDark said:
> 
> 
> > I don't mean to be heartless or cruel so I'll just try out the baby and once it gets bigger I'll save up for a bigger tank
> ...


 Where are you people putting a 120 gallon tank?

I mean I can't imagine a tank 10X bigger than my current one in any room in my house

This is more of a hobby for me and I know some of you have places specifically designed for a tank but I dunno

I doubt the shop is going to let me return this tank


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## InSinUAsian (Jan 3, 2003)

A 120 is not that big. Its only 60x18x20 or 24. It doest really take up that much room. As for your LFS taking the tank back, good luck with it. You should have come here with Q's first. This board can pretty much answer any P question thrown out.

If you are thinking about getting a different tank, I would recomend at least a 20L for a selet few serras that will be kept there for life. A 40 will pretty much house any solitary P for a good while, most even for life. IF you are thinking about a small school of 3, then I would say a 55 is BARE minimum. If you can go larger, that is always better.

~Dj


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

I'll let you guys know how it works out with the 12 gallon tank

They are just going to have to realize that the 12 gallon is their home and they cant grow very big or they are screwed


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## Croz (Jan 29, 2003)

hahaha then they will say ok time to eat each other and die. or just have misserable lives where they are stressed all day.


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## DiXoN (Jan 31, 2003)

the thing is they will grow and very fast and by the sounds of it will be screwed .
red belly p's which you sound as if you are getting can grow an inch a month and will not stop growing just because the tank is small .
if you think about it if you had the chioce to live in a full house and never leave or 1 room which would you prefer ,and it wont stop you growing living only in 1 room.
dixon


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## SnowCichlid (Jan 10, 2003)

with a 12G you could keep one P in there but it wouldnt really be too pretty, may I suggest some other fish for you.
How about some dwarf cichlids of your preference, or maybe some dwarf puffers, exodeans...


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## Croz (Jan 29, 2003)

yea really , just not piranhas it would be cruel if htey were in there more than a month.


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## thePACK (Jan 3, 2003)

InSinUAsian said:


> A 120 is not that big. Its only 60x18x20 or 24. It doest really take up that much room. As for your LFS taking the tank back, good luck with it. You should have come here with Q's first. This board can pretty much answer any P question thrown out.
> 
> If you are thinking about getting a different tank, I would recomend at least a 20L for a selet few serras that will be kept there for life. A 40 will pretty much house any solitary P for a good while, most even for life. IF you are thinking about a small school of 3, then I would say a 55 is BARE minimum. If you can go larger, that is always better.
> 
> ~Dj


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## Deathwish (May 1, 2003)

I've got a school of about 5 pirahnas in my 20 gallon and I'm fine

you'll be fine

sit back and enjoy the show.


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## o snap its eric (Feb 19, 2003)

you can pick from a rhom,spilo, and 3-4 reds for a month or two max. i have kept all those before in a 10g for a period of time. but if you want them to be real happy, you need a larger tank.


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## marscounty (Feb 14, 2003)

5 p's in a 20 is so sad! Unless they are like micro's. I agree with everyone's post so far. No one should put a fish through stress like that man. If you want a certain specie of fish, at least do some research. Then buy what is necessary to care for the animal properly. It's like those people we all see in any LFS. They buy a P or an oscar or something, and put in a tiny tank. 2 months later they want to get rid of the fish cuz they don't like it. I saw like a 12 inch oscar with almost all of his lips bitten off. Only because the owner didn't care what size tank he was in with other fish. People, look after your animals, please.


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## rosecityrhom (Feb 3, 2003)

Don't even think about the 12 gallon. That would be offly cruel to impose such restrictive quarters on any fish that can grow beyond 4 inches total length and a red belly most certainly qualifies. Wait till you get a bigger tank. Hell a 20 gallon tank is only 30 bucks and a 55 is only around 100 dollars.


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## thoroughbred (Mar 14, 2003)

Deathwish said:


> I've got a school of about 5 pirahnas in my 20 gallon and I'm fine
> 
> you'll be fine
> 
> sit back and enjoy the show.


 ur fine now but u wont be 5 in a 20 gallon is bad news thats a short time thing real short time!!!!!!! 12 gallon is not good for p u will stress it out and it will not be happy and die period!!!! hope u get another tank good luck


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## thoroughbred (Mar 14, 2003)

marscounty said:


> 5 p's in a 20 is so sad! Unless they are like micro's. I agree with everyone's post so far. No one should put a fish through stress like that man. If you want a certain specie of fish, at least do some research. Then buy what is necessary to care for the animal properly. It's like those people we all see in any LFS. They buy a P or an oscar or something, and put in a tiny tank. 2 months later they want to get rid of the fish cuz they don't like it. I saw like a 12 inch oscar with almost all of his lips bitten off. Only because the owner didn't care what size tank he was in with other fish. People, look after your animals, please.


 spoken like a p owner


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## Deathwish (May 1, 2003)

I dont care, the fish dont have souls, and the fish dont have feelings

they're lucky they get to live in my room and they're lucky I feed them so much (I like seeing the scales of the dead fish float to the bottom).

If they start to get stressed or worried i'll put them in a bucket outside the pet store with some extra zip lock bags and give them away like puppies.


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

Well I dumped two of them in there and they seem to be doing good...one keeps swimming around while the other is hiding in the back left corner of the tank

Death said he had 5 in a 20 which makes me feel a lot better!!!! Thanks for the advice!!!


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

SonicDark said:


> Death said he had 5 in a 20 which makes me feel a lot better!!!! Thanks for the advice!!!


 Why would you even ask the question if you were only looking for validation? Did you not hear the other 20 people that told you it was not a good idea? Why you would choose to listen to someone who does not care about the welfare of his fish is beyond me.


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## mdemers883 (Jan 9, 2003)

Just give up guys, we all gave him advice and he was hellbent at not listening to it. We told him that tank was too small for even 1 p, so he buys 2 of them, and deathwish is obviously about as cool as a boner in sweatpants so I'm not even going to acknowledge him as a real person. The simple fact is that some people shouldn't be allowed to own fish.

Mark


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## RAZORTEETH (Feb 6, 2003)

u know i like when people come here and ask for advice then do the total opposite of what we are trying to help them with. i'd say good luck to u but knowing you are gonna lose your p's maybe then u will listen.







u have no idea of what kind of stress u just imposed on them.


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

What I have decided to do is keep them in the 12 gallon tank for 2-3 weeks and then move the two of them into a 30 gallon tank

That is about the biggest that I can realistically hold

Is 30 gallons still too small?


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## mdemers883 (Jan 9, 2003)

For 2 p's yes it is. What is worse is that 2 p's is a bad number due to the fact that they will fight a lot and one will probably die. Hope you are seeing a trend here in why you should ask questions and listen to the advice that people give you. The reason they give you the answers that they do is because they have experience, and when they tell you something won't work it is probably because someone has probably already found out the hard way.


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

If you want to know the truth about this situation you have created, I will tell you. 2 piranhas are not a good number because one will be more aggressive and only have one to displace this aggression on. So 3 is the minimum number you should keep in a shoal. 3 will be ok in a 30 gallon for about 6 months to a year and then they will need to be moved into a larger tank. A 55 is a good size for 3 reds for the life of the fish. 
A better idea for you would be to take back the 2 reds, get a gold spilo, and then upgrade to the 30 gallon, he will be very happy there. A gold spilo is a great piranha, very aggressive with wonderful color. This is what you should do if you are interested in the health of your fish.


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## RAZORTEETH (Feb 6, 2003)

yep look through this board carefully it specifically tells u the rules of fish per gallon your 30 gallon one p 20 gallons per piranha listen to these guys on this board they know what they are talking about i studied what all of them had to say and i have not had one problem yet so i say again listen to them


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## thoroughbred (Mar 14, 2003)

grosse gurke said:


> If you want to know the truth about this situation you have created, I will tell you. 2 piranhas are not a good number because one will be more aggressive and only have one to displace this aggression on. So 3 is the minimum number you should keep in a shoal. 3 will be ok in a 30 gallon for about 6 months to a year and then they will need to be moved into a larger tank. A 55 is a good size for 3 reds for the life of the fish.
> A better idea for you would be to take back the 2 reds, get a gold spilo, and then upgrade to the 30 gallon, he will be very happy there. A gold spilo is a great piranha, very aggressive with wonderful color. This is what you should do if you are interested in the health of your fish.


 spoken like the old fart u are!!!!!!!!!







j/k he's absolutely right get 1 rhom or spilo cf and he'll be fine for life


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## plonker_from_mars (May 1, 2003)

are you mad!!!, 2 piranhas in a 12gallon??, hell thats only good for a goldfish, if you must have some kool fish get 5 pygmy puffers and take them piranhas back as soon as possible, they will fight one will die and then other one will die from such a small and it get over polluted and die, and the they wont out grow there tank thing, that only counts for goldfish as they have nerves that tell them to stop growing


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## SnowCichlid (Jan 10, 2003)

Hey if you set it up right 2 reds in a 30G could do... its not ideal, but alot better than a 12G
you just want to get some input and do things most economical and have the best at the same time right?
I understand ya... Maybe you would like to get yourself some exodeans... you can get a large number of them (small shoal) in that 30G and they are like miny piranhas, they will tear apart a feeder and for the tank size give you the viewer alot more satisfaction
Good Luck


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## dead golfish (Apr 24, 2003)

you are a true moron man you think that just because one person has five in a 20 it's alrite listen to everyone else what they have to say

do you really want to listen to a guy who says fish have no soles or feelings and he will just give them away in a bucket man thats just being ignorant and arrogant


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

SnowCichlid said:


> Hey if you set it up right 2 reds in a 30G could do... its not ideal, but alot better than a 12G
> you just want to get some input and do things most economical and have the best at the same time right?
> I understand ya... Maybe you would like to get yourself some exodeans... you can get a large number of them (small shoal) in that 30G and they are like miny piranhas, they will tear apart a feeder and for the tank size give you the viewer alot more satisfaction
> Good Luck


 Thank you for the honest answer

I'll move them into a 30 gallon tank as soon as i can

Jeff


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## Winkyee (Feb 17, 2003)

SonicDark said:


> mdemers883 said:
> 
> 
> > > that it wont outgrow its environment
> ...


Listen to what these guys are saying They know what they are talking about . I'll just suggest this. It's obvious to me from your comment 
"Or else what?It will just die?"







that even if you were to receive the gift of a 120 gallon fully cycled equipped tank , that you would have no fish within a year, Likely you will have bought a Miniature crocodilian because "some guy " told you would only get to 15 inches MAXIMUM, and eat Frosted Flakes never bite you and is fine for your little brother to play with in the sandbox.

Throw a couple goldfish in the 12 gallon and if in 6 months they are still alive ,buy a bigger tank and get some piranha.
While you're waiting , Keep visiting P-Fury .


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## JAWZ (Apr 16, 2003)

I think this is quite possibly one of the dumbest things i've ever heard of (aquatically speaking) I have 1 rhom in a 37g and i don't think THATs enough, and rhoms grow slower than reds, this guy is crazy!!!!


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## o snap its eric (Feb 19, 2003)

dude, you dig yourself a hole there. a very bad way to start. first impressions ae everything. as for P's in a 30g.... no way unless you getting a serra speices. until you get a 50+gallon tank you can start stuffing and experimenting. me on the other hand got a 60g (still considered small tank) and im trying all sorts of things. i had 2 breeding reds w/ a cariba in ther that lived fine. as of right now i have 11 RBs in my tank and shoaling like monsters. as of next week imma try and shoal cariba and after that its going to be terns. so with al the experimenting going on my best advice for you is to get a serra speices. pygos need the room because they grow like weeds. when i had 1" reds they grew a full inch in 2 weeks. it was so amazing. so yeah get a serra p if you want piranhas. otherwise i would go with a cichlid like a red devil which i think has more personality. my red devil i have is attacking me through the glass. i only has him for a month. in the first 2 weeks he was already attacking me through the glass. a piranha may take forever for them to do the same.


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## o snap its eric (Feb 19, 2003)

if your looking for a vaildation to your do-ings then yes i have ad 5 Ps in a 10g before. i had them for a month then upgraded them. BUT MAKE SURE YOU UPGRADE!!!!


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## Glowin_Navi (Apr 21, 2003)

mdemers883 said:


> deathwish is obviously about as cool as a boner in sweatpants


 HAHAHAH i havent even read the other posts, but this just makes my day















a boner in sweatpants, haha im gonna hafta use that one


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## khuzhong (Apr 11, 2003)

PHUAHHAHA... not too good dude... save $20 a week and get yurself a 100 gallon... listen to those pros.. 12gallon will fit my pleco and my 2 convicts.


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## garybusey (Mar 19, 2003)

Yeah, I'd listen to them. It's you call, you fish WILL die if you don't move them. You could MAYBE fit 2 reds in your 30g for a while. THATS IT. AS for your 12G thing, why'd you buy that? That tanks sucks! What a waste of money! If had looked into it you could have got a MUCH bigger tank for the same price. Those Eclipse units are far overpriced.


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

Well they are still alive and tickin in the 12 gallon right now. I may have a friend who is going to buy the 12 gallon and I'll just dump them in a 30. They are about the size of a quarter right now and haven't even chowed down on the guppies that I have in there but they were eating a little dried bloodworm


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Sonic, 
If you read through this thread you have all the answers to this question you need. I hope you take the time to learn how to care for the fish have choosen to keep, they are truly amazing. 
At that size, you need to read up on what to feed them and how often they should be fed. 
Good luck with your new fish and welcome to the site.


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## thoroughbred (Mar 14, 2003)

grosse gurke said:


> Sonic,
> If you read through this thread you have all the answers to this question you need. I hope you take the time to learn how to care for the fish have choosen to keep, they are truly amazing.
> At that size, you need to read up on what to feed them and how often they should be fed.
> Good luck with your new fish and welcome to the site.


 UR SO SWEET LOL CAN I HAVE A HUG


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## Sir Nathan XXI (Jan 29, 2003)

I havent read this post but when I first saw it my original response was -1 piranhas, thats negative one, or less than zero


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

grosse gurke said:


> Sonic,
> If you read through this thread you have all the answers to this question you need. I hope you take the time to learn how to care for the fish have choosen to keep, they are truly amazing.
> At that size, you need to read up on what to feed them and how often they should be fed.
> Good luck with your new fish and welcome to the site.


 Do you have a link where I can get some info on feeding, etc?


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## CoolD (Apr 16, 2003)

I have a link where you can shut the hell up.
Sonic go away, reading your posts are making me stupider by the second.


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

CoolD said:


> I have a link where you can shut the hell up.
> Sonic go away, reading your posts are making me stupider by the second.


 Hahahaha

My goal was not to be a dick about it, I honestly didn't know any better

I have people all around me telling me that they would be fine in a 12 gallon so I buy it and use it and then I come on the board and see the problems of doing so

3 different pet stores here near Los Angeles all tell me the same thing, 12 gallons for 2 is more than enough


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## CoolD (Apr 16, 2003)

well i dont have a link and ive never had my p's when they were a quarter size, but i do know you can feed them a variety of food.
Brine shrimp, beefheart, krill, guppies, earth worms (washed beforeyou put them in), maybe even try flake or pellets when they are that young so they might eat it when they get older too.


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## RAZORTEETH (Feb 6, 2003)

u should of studied up on these fish before purchasing them for a 12 gallon hope u like seeing dead fish cause that's exactly what your gonna get and tell them morons at the lfs that u want to purchase a 5 gallon for a tiger oscar since there so smart


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Look people, there is not need to continue to bash Sonic. He went into this like many others do, without the knowledge needed to properly care for piranhas. He is now making an effort to learn. There are many people on this board that have made the same mistake he has, relying on the information received at a LFS.

Look in the feeding section for suggestions on proper feeding for young reds.

_EDIT: Xenon - Please refrain from flaming newbies like this in the future. Sonic I apologize for the disrespect that was shown to you in this thread. Please feel free to ask more questions and learn with all of us._


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