# Feeding frenzy, not so much a frenzy any more



## Glowin_Navi (Apr 21, 2003)

Ive been wondering why my piranas dont seem to interested by live feeders lately, and i think i just realized today its because ive bstarted to feed them frozem jumbo shrimp. Before, when i first got my baby reds they would go after the feeders and rip em apart pretty quick. But lately they just chase it halfway across the tank and leave it alone. They do still eat feeders, they just take thier own sweet time. Not so entertaining. But when i throw in a shrimp they all go at it really quickly. I know this is probably more healthy, but not so entertaining when people over to see. How can i fix this?


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## RedShoal (May 3, 2003)

Starve them for a few days. They won't die; in the wild they might not eat for days at a time due to a lack of prey.


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

I give my pygos feeders once a week or so and they just rip the crap out of them. I dont even get to watch most of it because by the time i dump them in and close the top, all i get to see is a shower of scales. My friends do find it very entertaining though. I find it just a satisfying to feed shrimp or smelt and see 4 p's on one piece, fighting to get a sizable chunk.


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## Mr. Hannibal (Feb 21, 2003)

Agree, 3-4 days without food will do the miracle and won't be harmful!


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## Glowin_Navi (Apr 21, 2003)

Alright cool, ill try that. But are you really sure 3 days wont be too much? i mean i did try to starve my piranas one time, i fed them thursday nite, and didnt get back until friday nite, and when i came home all the piranas had nips out of thier fins, and my biggest was missing a chunk from his back! And that was before i added my little lobster, and pleco. Im afraid if i leave them for too long they will eaither eat the lobster (dont care about the useless pleco) or will hurt each other badly. 
And ya its really fun to watch them all go crazy after a piece of shrimp. Its just more fun watching a feeder squirm


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Glowin_Navi said:


> Ive been wondering why my piranas dont seem to interested by live feeders lately, and i think i just realized today its because ive bstarted to feed them frozem jumbo shrimp. Before, when i first got my baby reds they would go after the feeders and rip em apart pretty quick. But lately they just chase it halfway across the tank and leave it alone. They do still eat feeders, they just take thier own sweet time. Not so entertaining. But when i throw in a shrimp they all go at it really quickly. I know this is probably more healthy, but not so entertaining when people over to see. How can i fix this?


I have the same with my reds: I have one damn goldfish that has become a permanent member of the tank community, so it seems









But to be honest, I don't care that much about it (besides the fact that I don't want goldfish last in my tank longer than 25 seconds....): my reds are healthy and seem to be content, and that's what it's all about, imo









Don't starve them: just accept them for what they are :smile:


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## Glowin_Navi (Apr 21, 2003)

hehe a permanent member of your tank eh? It just dawned upon me why they wont chase the feeders. they realize, why the hell should i chase after a fish, when i can just wait for a shrimp to drop into the water and i can swim up to it and eait it however i want. I think im going to try to alternate, feeders for 2 days, then a shrimp, and so on. Luckily they havent completely stopped eating feeders, they just take thier own swet time to start chasing it.


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## thePACK (Jan 3, 2003)

really i feed my p's jumbo prawns and feeders here and there and they go crazy when i put them in ....give them a day as suggest maybe that will work ..


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## SnowCichlid (Jan 10, 2003)

feeders are not as important as the other foods anyways...but the above methods suggested will work


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## InSinUAsian (Jan 3, 2003)

When reds grow out of thier juvinile stage, I have noticed they lose their feeding frenzy-ness a little. This is on average, and not all. They are very cool when babies, but when they get around 4+ inches they loose thier young eagerness to savagely go after food. Perhaps this is why you have noticed a decline in frenzyness. Alot of people even go as far as saying that reds get a little more skiddish when it comes to food at about 4 inches and then come out of it again at about 8 inches. I dunno though, i sold my reds when they were about 6 inches. Got bored of them.

~Dj


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## Glowin_Navi (Apr 21, 2003)

Its not really that they arent as vicious, because as soon as one pirana goes after the feeder then it starts getting crazy. Its just that its taking longer these days for them to even start chasing the feeders. Once it starts its fun to watch. Oh well i can live with it, still sweet ass fish


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## InSinUAsian (Jan 3, 2003)

Glowin_Navi said:


> Once it starts its fun to watch. Oh well i can live with it, still sweet ass fish


 Yeah true. Reds are always more fun to watch when young. Maybe it has to do with competition at small sizes. Perhaps nature has conditioned them for the need to put on size when small and when anything can make a quick meal out of them. Perhaps when they reach a certain size, this need is deminished slightly and thus the decrease in the super aggresiveness in feeding. Just a thought.

~Dj


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## Glowin_Navi (Apr 21, 2003)

InSinUAsian said:


> Perhaps when they reach a certain size, this need is deminished slightly and thus the decrease in the super aggresiveness in feeding. Just a thought.
> 
> ~Dj


 makes sense


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## neverlistentome (May 11, 2003)

Totally agree with InSinUAsian.

Just to share my experiance, my red's have gotten lazier as they've grown. It seems that rather than franticly attack feeders, they lay in wait for an easy kill (like golfish wondering to close).

If you want to put on a show for friends - here's what I do. Net yourself a good size feeder (good enough size for each piranha to grab a hold of and fight over). Once you net it, just cut the fin portion of it's tail off and chuck it in.

The goldfish can't dart away fast enough and if you have a powerhead they're just straight fucked. They blow around out of control for about 2 seconds before the p's know it's a free lunch.

Sort of a pain, but it's better than telling your friends "No seriously, it's going to happen soon. Look Look, that one's gonna get it... oh sh*t, it got away."


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## Glowin_Navi (Apr 21, 2003)

neverlistentome said:


> Sort of a pain, but it's better than telling your friends "No seriously, it's going to happen soon. Look Look, that one's gonna get it... oh sh*t, it got away."


 lol, ya thats exactly what happens. Im sure that would work, but i dont know if i could bring myself to cutting the tail off the feeder.








But next time i got some bitches over ill do it, anything for the


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## rong666 (Mar 5, 2003)

imho,
just back off on the feeders for a month and feed them shrimp and pellets or beef heart.
mine have done the same thing in the past. i think they get bored of the same ol sh*t all the time.if you go a whole month without offering feeders,give them a day without food and then drop one in i bet you it would last about 5 seconds.
just my 2 cents and past experiences


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## Glowin_Navi (Apr 21, 2003)

i did think about doing that actually. I know feeders arent the healthiest thing to feed my p's, and thats why ive started to feed the shrimp more than the feeders. But if i stopped feeding the feeders then i would only be giving them the shrimp, im too lazy to go find beefheart, i found a couple huge bags of shrimp in the freezer so i didnt really have to do anything. Sometimes im too lazy to even go defrost a shrimp








But i think ill try that one of these days when im at the store ill ask about the beefheart.


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