# Not sure if my piranha is wanting to breed or is sick



## chomps (Jan 22, 2008)

One of my four red bellies has turned almost completely black and has been spending a lot of time off on its own instead of hangin out with the others. It is now resting on the bottom instead of hovering; it is still right side up, but it is resting on the ground. It does look a little ragged, though not too bad. This fish is still eating really well, infact maybe eating a little more than the others.

I have been told it may be due to being ready to breed and I was told I should post on this forum to see what you all thought.

Does anyone have any idea what could be going on. Please let me know. I am new to piranhas, so I don't know if this is usual, but it has deffinately gotten really dark to almost a black, while the others are much, much lighter.

You can't tell to much in these pics but the piranha is resting on the bottom and is almost leaning on the wall and has not moved but a couple on inches for quite a while.


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## Fry (Oct 9, 2005)

Ya..I think it wants to breed, and is trying to entice another to breed with it.


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## chomps (Jan 22, 2008)

My piranha has now moved into l alittle shelter and is just laying on the bottom, and leaning against the side, it is not even moving its fins. It is breathing, but that is the only movement I can see... I have never bred Piranhas before, but this looks like it is crawling in a hole to die. Is this normal with a piranha that is in heat, or whatever you call it when it happens to a fish? 
I have been reading a lot on the internet over the past couple of hours and the coloring and the battle scars make sence, but I am worried about the lack of movement, and the c\fact that it is the only fish paring off; no mate. I am concerned about the fish.. if this is normal please tell me, and if so what I should look for or expect. thank you.


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## Fry (Oct 9, 2005)

what size is the tank anyway?age of all fish in tank?The leaning part maybe due to leaning into the sun/light.It not moving around Is probably a good thing.It probably got put in its place.
I have 2 breeding pairs of reds.They have not bred in about 6 months, thank god,but their color is always really dark like yours.Here is a short video to give you an idea of what happens when it happens.breeding


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## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

Yea, what size tank do you have? How many fish do you have housed in the tank? Also, do you have room for your fish to dig their nests into? A picture of your whole setup would be excellent and would prove helpful in giving you the right advice.


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## CROSSHAIR223 (Jan 17, 2005)

Sounds and looks like he/she is trying to breed. I have 15 in my 125 and when others turn black before the rest they do the same thing you are mentioning. They isolate themselves and if anyone comes close they dart at them. A good sign to see if anyone else is getting ready to breed before they turn color and not all of them do but a good sign is if they have what looks like white skin on their sides right behind the gills.

Mine always have this when they breed, they chase each other and nip at each others sides which causes this. Not to be gross but it very much so resembles our excess skin if you soke it in water. When you're hands get all pruny and crap...that white color is really close to what you will see on the fish.

Don't worry though lol if you see it! cause it goes away.









After looking at that pic it looks like those are both females. I know I know....people say they are endorphic and you can't tell but I've been breeding a longgggggggggg time and if I had to make an educated guess I'd say those are both females and one is getting ready to breed. Just my 2-cents.


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## chomps (Jan 22, 2008)

Thanks guys, and Fry; that is an awesome vid, it helps a lot in what to look for. As for my set up. I just got the fish a week and a half ago from a friend who had to move and couldn't take them with him. He didn't know to much about caring for them so I am trying to improve thier situation. There are four 2 yr old 6 to 6.5 inch red bellies. I believe two are female and two are male, though I am just going off of what I have read on the forum and have no experiance identifying them. The tank is a 55 gallon, though as soon as I can afford it I will be upping that. It has some old ruin structures in the tank and I don't know If those are good or not cause I have read that you should keep hard substances out of the tank to reduce potential injury. I will attach a picture of the setup in a few minutes. I could use all the advise I can get on helping them, as well as things I can do to make their tank more suitable.


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## Fry (Oct 9, 2005)

holy cow!!!you better hope they don't start breeding in there.might be a funeral if it happens..If it does take out the eggs asap.
glad u liked the video.


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## chomps (Jan 22, 2008)

Thanks guys, and Fry; that is an awesome vid, it helps a lot in what to look for. As for my set up. I just got the fish a week and a half ago from a friend who had to move and couldn't take them with him. He didn't know to much about caring for them so I am trying to improve thier situation. There are four 2 yr old 6 to 6.5 inch red bellies. I believe two are female and two are male, though I am just going off of what I have read on the forum and have no experiance identifying them. The tank is a 55 gallon, though as soon as I can afford it I will be upping that. It has some old ruin structures in the tank and I don't know If those are good or not cause I have read that you should keep hard substances out of the tank to reduce potential injury. I will attach a picture of the setup in a few minutes. I could use all the advise I can get on helping them, as well as things I can do to make their tank more suitable.


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## chomps (Jan 22, 2008)

Here are some pics of my setup. I haven't posted pictures of it because I got it with the fish from my friend and I know they are probably pretty crammed in there. I am planning on doing some major upgrading. I could use advise on how to upgrade and also what to do about my current situation with a fish in heat.

There has been some funky things going on in the tank, nothing like in Fry's video (that I have seen anyway) but some fish brawls have been going on for sure.

I think that the solotary fish is blind in its right eye, and it is the one in heat.

Should I leave the structures in the tank, or should I remove them and put in plants and driftwood to minimize injury potontial?

HELP!


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## Fry (Oct 9, 2005)

I would have said take out the stuff but It does give some places to hide if they start fighting.Dont go with plastic plants if you were thinking that.The fish will eat them.Oh and the dark ones eye does look pretty messed up.


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## chomps (Jan 22, 2008)

Yeah, I won't do plastic. I think it looks bad anyway. I was going to wait until I got my bigger tank to set up with plants; but if I need to do that now to give them hidding places so I can romove the structures I will.


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## chomps (Jan 22, 2008)

So if she is trying to get another fish to breed with her, is it pretty unlikely that it will happen given my current setup, and would the male turn black too before he was ready to breed with her?


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## Fry (Oct 9, 2005)

The structures are better then plastic plants.I dunno.See what some other members think.make a poll!lol jk.nice redz!



Chomps said:


> So if she is trying to get another fish to breed with her, is it pretty unlikely that it will happen given my current setup, and would the male turn black too before he was ready to breed with her?


not likely,but possible,and yes both will darken.


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## chomps (Jan 22, 2008)

Ok, thanks for the info. I'll keep an eye on them and if one of the males starts darkening up I will have to deal with it then. I would LOVE to have the fish breed, but I am deffinately concerned with the size of my tank and the sure to come territorial fights that would come along with it. I hope if they do decide to spawn that all the fish will be ok. Any advice on what I should do if they take the next step?


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## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

I would take the decoration and put it right in the middle of the tank to kind of seperate both sides. Even if you keep it like that to provide them hiding places when to fight, it's not going to do much in stopping them from doing so because they're such large fish in such a small tank. So yea, seperate the tanks into halves with the deco, give them room to dig some nests, and once they establish the territories, they'll be good for a short while; you definately need to upgrade to a larger tank though, at least a 90 gallon for those 4 fish. If they do breed, eat the eggs, delicious caviar. hahaha. Just messing, you should get yourself a 10 gallon tank, a sponge filter, some bbs eggs, make yourself a hatchery for the bbs, heater, air pump for the sponge filter, and a seat to watch it all happen. But honestly, before spending the money on all that, you should really think about getting a bigger tank instead. Good luck and welcome to Pfury.


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## chomps (Jan 22, 2008)

Just a quick update. The aggression has died down in the tank quite a bit today and my female is more or less hanging out with the others again. She is still the black color but has been swimming around and not so territorial. I don't know how long it usually takes a fish to cool down and give up when wanting to breed, but I am thinking that I might not have any eggs after all.


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## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

Well, hopefully they'll breed for you one day. I'm predicting that if you move them into a 75 that they will breed for you...

Fortune Cookie states:

"Muuv eentu sevengty five, reds wuill brid pho yu!"

lol.


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## chomps (Jan 22, 2008)

StryfeMP said:


> Fortune Cookie states:
> 
> "Muuv eentu sevengty five, reds wuill brid pho yu!"
> 
> lol.


lol ... Sounds good to me!


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## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

hahahahaha I was lunchin' hard when I wrote that. lol


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## chomps (Jan 22, 2008)

Here is an update... two of my fish are now black and agression has picked up a ton. Keeping my fingers crossed!!


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## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

oOoO I'm getting excited...


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