# Red Bellies And Convicts



## jrye (Feb 2, 2013)

I have 4 ~7 inch red bellies who I have had for over a year. When I first got them they were 1.5 inches and I have had them on pellets for majority of their life, I use a mix of cichlid gold and massivore delite. I have also mixed talapia fillets soaked in Kent's zoe supplement into their diet and the occasional vegies. So one day I decided to give them a little treat and try feeding them some 1.5 inch convict cichlids. This was my first time using live feeder fish, although one time I tried feeding them live shrimp only to find the shrimp dead and completely intact the next morning. My brother told me just to put the convicts in my tank and don't acclimate them since it will make them easy pickings for the piranhas but I ignored this advice since I thought the convicts should at least get a fair chance to survive and maybe it would be beneficial to the piranhas by making them have to hunt and chase their prey.

Shortly after adding the convicts to the tank a few of the piranhas chased them but the cichlids were fast and quite good at evading the piranhas. I just assumed that they would be gone by the morning. Well now its a month later and all 4 of the convicts I added are still alive and my piranhas don't even bother to chase them. The cichlids will swim less than an inch away from the piranhas face and the rbps just act as if there is nothing there. I'm so confused now because I never imagined they would last this long after reading tons of threads about people feeding convicts to their pygos. I never had any intentions of giving my rbps any tank mates but here I am with 4 rbps and 4 convicts living peacefully together.

Has anyone ever had this happen to them? Is it possible for piranhas who have spent almost their entire lives on a diet of pellets to lose all interest in live prey?

I also have noticed that my rbps don't behave the same way as many others describe them. I always hear people say they are really timid but my rbps will just chill right in the front of the tank as if I'm not even there and they will approach me while feeding. The one issue with this is when I do water changes and tank maintenance the rbps seem to have little to no fear of me and will swim uncomfortably close to my hand which is making me seriously consider buying a chain-mail glove, last thing I need is a surprise trip to the ER. So I was wondering if this could be related to my rbps not going after the convicts? I just feel like this is just a lot of uncharacteristic behavior for this species and is making me think that there might be a connection between the two. So please if anyone has ever heard of such a thing let me know because I'm really confused, thanks.


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## Umadbro (Sep 2, 2013)

Just give it time. One day you will wake up to one less convict.

Piranhas aren't blood thirsty killers. They won't go out of their way to attack you while cleaning the tank. Right now they have full bellies but that won't always be enough and when that day come, one or more of those convicts are gonna get munched on.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Just gotta ask, are you sure your "red bellies" are piranhas?
It's not uncommon for the pacu to be confused with the red belly piranha.

The name "pacu" is even often cross-used between the large Brazilian _Colossoma macropomum_ and the smaller _Piaractus brachypomus_

Both are omnivorous, and would therefore have no interest in the shrimp or feeders you presented.


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## jrye (Feb 2, 2013)

Yes I'm 100% sure my Red Bellies are Piranhas and not Pacu. But just for good measure here is a picture:


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Yep, them are P. Nattereri alright... curious, if they're not eating raw shrimp or feeders, that ARE they eating?


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## jrye (Feb 2, 2013)

Yeah they eat pellets, fish fillets, and veggies. I have also tried not feeding them for a couple of days but I still have all four cichlids. I was also hoping that maybe the cichlids would pair up and become more standoffish which might entice the piranhas but no I just so happened to get 4 female convicts. Well if these guys make it to four inches without getting eaten I might just exchange them for an oscar and try the whole tank mate thing.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

That's insane that they'll eat pellets and especially veggies... but not shrimp or feeders... never heard of such a thing!


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## jrye (Feb 2, 2013)

Yeah I swear I have the strangest piranhas ever. Although I'm used to weird things like this happening with tanks in my house. I also had a 2.5 inch flying fox who killed 3 puffers but was completely fine with my mollies. I guess it really goes to show you how much behavior of an individual fish can truly vary within a species.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Have you checked parameters?

What's yer temp, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels?
That isn't crushed coral I see as substrate, is it?


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## jrye (Feb 2, 2013)

I frequently check my parameters and everything is in check as far as nitrate, nitrites, and ammonia levels go. I did have a few small ammonia spikes when my old filter broke and I had to change to a new one but that was a long time ago. As for temp it sits between 78-80. My pH is about 6.2 which is quite low but rbps prefer more acidic water and yes those are a few pieces of crushed coral but there is barely any in there and there is also a huge piece of driftwood in there.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

pH 6.2 is perfect.

Sounds like you're doing everything right.


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## amric (Jul 22, 2012)

You are not alone. I have 7 6-7" rbp's in a 135 gallon who live with a dozen mature giant danios (which I started using as dithers, but came to enjoy as well) and about 10 juvi black convicts. I started breeding the cons to feed to the rbp's, and once in a while they'll pick one off, but for the most part but they don't seem too interested. Maybe they're too small to bother with, or they play tough to catch by hiding in the rocks. Now if I drop a chunk of tilapia, large mouth bass, or shrimp (their staple diet) it will be gone before it hits the bottom of the tank. Likewise, I threw in an iridescent shark that had outgrown its home and it was gone in about 30 seconds, but they seem perfectly content to share their space with the cons and danios.

They're not overfed either - I only feed them once every 3 or 4 days, but they do snack on the NLS pellets I feed to the cons and danios.

Water parameters and temps are good, and they get frequent water changes!

Maybe they're related?


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Holy sh*t man... you gave me a start!

When I first saw your name, I thought our old buddy Armac had come back to join (haunt) us!


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## amric (Jul 22, 2012)

Sounds like you don't miss him. I'll try to behave!


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