# What To Feed 5 Big Red Bellies



## b-unit34 (Apr 1, 2005)

I have 5 rbp's. All of them are around 6-8 inches. How often should i feed them? Are pinkeys good for them at all cause there 69 cents a piece at my LFS. I no feeders can carry parasites but if i left them in a tank for 1 week and watch for disease will they be ok to feed after that? What about a small live feeder mouse i can get those at about $2 dollars.

Someone shed some light on this unspoken grail
lol Burnin


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## memento (Jun 3, 2009)

How about first reading something yourself, and ask questions later ?
Start HERE...


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## Sanjo Eel (Aug 21, 2008)

I feed my 5 big reds "New Life Spectrum" Large Floating Carnivore Pellets as a staple, with the occasional treat of some previously frozen shrimp or fish. A few times a year they get a few live fish to chase.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

-pellets
-shrimp
-talapia
-smelt
-scallops ....

I would feed various seafods soaked in something like vitachem or Zoe. I would also avoid feeders and mice as feeders can cause disease and parisites that could be internal and mammilian meat isnt the best thing for a fish to eat as its harder to digest. Once in a while, mayby, but i deffinitly wouldnt use it as their staple diet.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Cluster gave you a good answer about "what..." so the only thing remaining of your question was the "how often."

That's entirely up to you.
Some people feed their pygo group weekly, some feed every other day, some daily... I personally prefer to feed very small amounts a few/several times per day.

The reason I do this is so that they associate my presence with food.
Ever since I've started doing this, they have all but completely lost any skittishness, and act more like oscars than piranhas when I enter the room.


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## BRUNER247 (Jun 2, 2010)

Nightcrawlers is a great food, as is beefheart. Idk why some members are scared of feeding beefheart its been proven that discus have the emzines to break red meat down, if discus have this, it only makes sense that piranha have this also. 100's of top discus breeders in Europe, n Asia feed it as a main staple so rotating it in with other foods is fine IMO. I say research n make your own decision. I myself feed beefheart once a week n my fish love it. More variety the better I think.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

Moved to Feeding and Nutrition


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## Sanjo Eel (Aug 21, 2008)

Piranha_man said:


> ... I personally prefer to feed very small amounts a few/several times per day.
> 
> The reason I do this is so that they associate my presence with food.
> Ever since I've started doing this, they have all but completely lost any skittishness, and act more like oscars than piranhas when I enter the room.


I agree. I even shake the can of pellets and they know that sound and come to the front of the glass right away. I think they trust me about as much as a red belly can trust anything LOL


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## Sanjo Eel (Aug 21, 2008)

BRUNER247 said:


> Nightcrawlers is a great food, as is beefheart. Idk why some members are scared of feeding beefheart its been proven that discus have the emzines to break red meat down, if discus have this, it only makes sense that piranha have this also. 100's of top discus breeders in Europe, n Asia feed it as a main staple so rotating it in with other foods is fine IMO. I say research n make your own decision. I myself feed beefheart once a week n my fish love it. More variety the better I think.


They can digest it just fine, they are the king of the Amazon scavengers, but in the wild their main diet is fish based so it's not good as a staple. IDK why anyone would be afraid to feed it though. I had some beefheart grilled rare and it was freaking delicious. I can see why the p's love it LOL!


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