# diet for my baby red bellies



## cameron34 (Jun 17, 2006)

I was just wondering what the best diet for fast, good growth for my baby red bellies would be? I've grown baby piranhas before with blood worms and flakes(mostly blood worms), but I just wanted to know if there are better diet options. Keep in mind my piranhas are only about 3/4 in. maybe! Thanks


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

It sounds like you are feeding them some really good foods already. Bloodworms are very good for them, as well as tropical fish flakes. Earthworms are also a great choice! They are low in fat and full of protein. Since your reds are still really small, you can cut the worm into tiny pieces. Yeah, it's gross, but well worth it in my opinion. They will gobble them right up!








~Taylor~


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

whole fish or fish fillet, krill, mussels

oh and


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## moron (May 26, 2006)

frozen fish fillets...blood worms..rosy reds


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

piranha dude said:


> frozen fish fillets...blood worms..rosy reds


Scratch the rosey reds off the list. They can contain diseases and parasites if they are not quarantined for at least 3 weeks. They are a member of the cyprinid family, so they contain a growth inhibiting hormone known as thiaminase. They could potentially stunt the growth of your red bellied piranha. 
Goldfish are another big "no-no"-basically anything in the cyprinid (carp like) family.








~Taylor~


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## bjmarche (Jun 30, 2005)

I vote earthworms.
Worked for my baby rbp's.


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## the_w8 (Jul 28, 2003)

earth worms.....bits of shrimp, fish fillet....I like to feed those baby freeze dried shrimp....when my p's were smaller they loved those.


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## Snake_Eyes (Jun 14, 2006)

I used to feed mine small chunks of round steak, fish that you can purchase at the grocery store, tilapia I think, ghost shrimp, guppy's.


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## boontje (Mar 27, 2005)

Snake_Eyes said:


> I used to feed mine small chunks of round steak, fish that you can purchase at the grocery store, tilapia I think, ghost shrimp, guppy's.


steak is pretty bad as it's not well digested and especially young p's have problems with this


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## sprfunk (Dec 22, 2005)

Yea worms are great. Bloodworms too.


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## Snake_Eyes (Jun 14, 2006)

boontje said:


> I used to feed mine small chunks of round steak, fish that you can purchase at the grocery store, tilapia I think, ghost shrimp, guppy's.


steak is pretty bad as it's not well digested and especially young p's have problems with this
[/quote]
Really? Oh well now I know what not to feed mine (when I get around to getting another one that is). Thanks you learn something new everyday.


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## sprfunk (Dec 22, 2005)

Funny how much knowledge is in this place hu? That kinda meat would shorten there life. I use it for a snack.


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## Mr. Hannibal (Feb 21, 2003)

taylorhedrich said:


> frozen fish fillets...blood worms..rosy reds


Scratch the rosey reds off the list. They can contain diseases and parasites if they are not quarantined for at least 3 weeks. They are a member of the cyprinid family, so they contain a growth inhibiting hormone known as thiaminase. They could potentially stunt the growth of your red bellied piranha. 
Goldfish are another big "no-no"-basically anything in the cyprinid (carp like) family.








~Taylor~
[/quote]

Certainly goldfish (and other fish from Cyprinid family) are suppose to contain growth-inhibiting hormones (Thiaminase/Vitamine B1 inhibitors) so it's not healthy to your Ps... in general you should remember to use "clean" feeders (after quarantine)... and keep in mind the varied the diet the better so you should feed your Ps different kinds of fish fillets (white meat) and shrimp, and beefhearth and feeders occasionally... for baby Ps i'd recommend fish flakes and bloodworms...







!


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## JustinRice (Feb 24, 2005)

I Recommend a Variety of everything said. Mostly white meat though!


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## bigJohnson (Jun 5, 2006)

i fed my baby reds bloodworms, krill, brines shrimp and catfish. shrimp is also supposed to help bring out their color


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## rocker (Aug 12, 2005)

my diet for my small RBP is anything i would feed my larger p's but in bite sized pieces.


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## bLuShiZzLe (Apr 13, 2005)

i have 8 1inch RBP and i was wondering if market shrimp is ok?


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

bLuShiZzLe said:


> i have 8 1inch RBP and i was wondering if market shrimp is ok?


Yes, that is fine. You might want to start feeding them shrimp when they are a little older however, say around 2". Or you could always cut some shrimp up in small chunks....but there are too many goodies to feed them while they are young such as flakes and bloodworms.








~Taylor~


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## piranha1991 (Sep 17, 2005)

i like live food once a month as a treat but mostly blood worms chicild pellets ghost shrimp and chunk of beef heart is my p's diet


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## Trigga (Jul 1, 2006)

Squid is great if you can get it take pieces with skin and rinse it out a little and throw chunks in there they like it more than beefheart.


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## NickNick (Apr 18, 2006)

yeah im trying ot get into feeding other things , failed with the blood worms , all mine seem to eat is the shrimp and bloodworms, all i feed is shrimp though


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