# My Red Belly Piranhas Are Breeding Again - Need Advice



## wlemay (May 9, 2011)

As the title suggests, I have red belly piranha & they have began breeding. About 3 weeks ago they laid their first batch of eggs & unfortunately I only have a few fry that survived. This time it looks like they laid about 500-1000 eggs & they all are a nice orange color. I would really like to be able to raise a large number of fry but I just don't know much about how to care for them.

I was trying to feed the first batch of fry ground brine shrimp & crushed cichlid pellets, but seeing as I only have a few survivors, there must be something better I can give them. I am considering buying a 30 gallon tank off a buddy for they fry & filling it with water from the parent's tank - any suggestions on that: set up, gravel etc...?

Also I wanted to know when the optimal time to remove the fry / eggs from the parent tank is. Last time I removed the eggs about 24 hours after they were laid & put them in a floating breeder - is that the right thing to do? And what is the safest way to remove the eggs? last time I scooped them up along with some gravel using a net, I am wondering if maybe it would be better to use my gravel siphon.

Any advice from people with experience breeding piranha would be greatly appreciated, I really want to maximize the number of survivors so I can share them with friends and maybe sell a few.

Additional details - I currently have 3 piranha; they are about 6-7 inches long. I have them in a 60 gallon Hexagon tank with a under gravel kit cycling about 300GPH & a hang on filter that also cycles about 300GPH. I know its not the best to have piranha in a tall tank like that, but they seem to be healthy and doing well I keep the water well oxygenated and fairly clean.


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## banshee42096 (Apr 29, 2010)

go to the breeding section there is tons of imformation there.fry will eat baby brine shrimp (you hatch them yourself),hikari has a fry food also but i cant remember the name thats the 2 i used worked great.i personaly think the baby brine shrimpm is the best but thats my opinion.i siphon the eggs after they are laid 24hours is pushig it they already start to hatch by then i take them out soon as i find them.but other memebers wait until they hatch then siphon them out.do some research there is plenty of articles on this subject.good luck dont get discouraged you will possible loose a couple batches before you get it correct.


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## BRUNER247 (Jun 2, 2010)

Wait 2-3days until they hatch & wiggle into your sub. Siphon them out. Bare fry tank works best imo. Watch your fry after a week or so(depends on tank temp) the yokes will be used up this is when you want to feed bbs. Bbs that you hatch. Its simple to do & they take 24(roughly)hours to hatch. They'll eat bbs for about a month & then can be introduced to more & bigger foods.


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