# How to make piranhas less skittish



## FeederFish33 (Jan 22, 2003)

What are the best way to make piranhas less skittish. This post is mainly directed at red bellies. Post your ideas here.


----------



## Alexraptor (Jan 30, 2003)

Well ive only got one P thats skittish but others tell me:
A nice big aquarium, at least 3 piranhas together.

But if u have a single one like me i would suggest.
A big aquarium(gonna get one soon)
and lots of plants or places where he can hide.


----------



## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

- place tank in high traffic area, and spend time in front of the tank, enabling the fish to get used to your presence.
- condition their feeding habits: if you always feed your fish from the same brightly colored cup or plate, they'll start to associate that cup with feeding time, and will come up front to feed. In general: make them associate a certain item with feeding.
- get a shoal of at least 6 fish, and the more, the merrier...








- use dimmed lights (or only natural sunlight).
- up the water temperature to about 82 degrees.
- provide enough hiding places: seems odd, but the more secure they feel, the bolder they'll get in the long run.
- opposed to the previous: take out all tank scenery, to force the fish to get used to human presence (personally, I would never do this, but it works...)

- feeding a strictly live animal diet might increase agression as well, though I would not recommend it.

Well, try these first, and get back if it fails :







:


----------



## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

My pygos have never really been skittish in the sense that they would freak out when I approached the tank or when the lights came on, but they started hiding in the plants and not coming out in the open much. This was strange because they have always been out and about. While I was cleaning gravel and doing a water change I said f#ck this and decided to rearrange their tank. I moved driftwood, plants and rocks around and now they are all over the tank again, not hiding at all and spending much more time swimming in the power head current.
I think they got a little too comfortable and needed to be shaken up a bit. Dont know if this helps but it worked for me.


----------



## Sir Nathan XXI (Jan 29, 2003)

lessen your lighting
add more decorations
have at least 5 fish
have a bigger tank
spend alot of time near the tank so they get used to seeing people
keep them well fed
tank temp of 82


----------



## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Usually, my reds don't give a damn about one or more persons sitting or walking around the tank. They just do their piranha-stuff and don't even seem to notice they're being watched.

But every once in a while, they're skittish throughout the entire day, and dart through the tank without appearant reason, smashing around pieces of scenery and redecorating the entire tank :veryangry: And the next day, everything's cool again...
This behaviour is really starting to piss me off, because I keep repairing the damage their hooliganism causes.
Again, normally they aren't shy or easy to scare at all, only occasionally, but for an entire day....

Has anyone an explanation for this, and knows what to do about it?


----------



## JEARBEAR (Jan 30, 2003)

Stick your hand in there and let him bite a couple of your fingers off, Then see how skittish he is then.


----------



## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

JEARBEAR said:


> Stick your hand in there and let him bite a couple of your fingers off, Then see how skittish he is then.


That's a great idea, I'll try that!








If you never hear from me again, it worked, and I don't have any fingers left to post







:laughlong:


----------



## JEARBEAR (Jan 30, 2003)

Judazzz said:


> JEARBEAR said:
> 
> 
> > Stick your hand in there and let him bite a couple of your fingers off, Then see how skittish he is then.
> ...


Well you guys said everything else I can think of so this is only thing else I thought of. hey it mite work


----------



## SnowCichlid. (Jan 10, 2003)

Well you guys pretty much covered it all:
but you could also try this:
add some DITHER fish







... similar sized tetras usually are more compatible


----------



## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

You can certainly try all the suggestions above but, I've siad this to many many piranha owners asking the same question.
Accept them for what they are. :nod:


----------



## Petzl88 (Feb 5, 2003)

I agree with all the above said. Try to recreate their enviornment as much as possible, cover, not too much light, but accept them for what they are. Amen!


----------



## Petzl88 (Feb 5, 2003)

"But every once in a while, they're skittish throughout the entire day, and dart through the tank without appearant reason, smashing around pieces of scenery and redecorating the entire tank And the next day, everything's cool again...
This behaviour is really starting to piss me off, because I keep repairing the damage their hooliganism causes.
Again, normally they aren't shy or easy to scare at all, only occasionally, but for an entire day....

Has anyone an explanation for this, and knows what to do about it?" - Jonas

Keep track of the days that this happens. Once you look at the stats, you will see that they most likely have this behavior on Mondays because they are sad and stressed that the weekend is over.


----------



## SnowCichlid. (Jan 10, 2003)

Petzl88 said:


> "But every once in a while, they're skittish throughout the entire day, and dart through the tank without appearant reason, smashing around pieces of scenery and redecorating the entire tank And the next day, everything's cool again...
> This behaviour is really starting to piss me off, because I keep repairing the damage their hooliganism causes.
> Again, normally they aren't shy or easy to scare at all, only occasionally, but for an entire day....
> 
> ...


It is possible that water parameters may have changed ... but usually this thats not the case... you will find that every fish can have "mood swings" this is a scenario where it will act differently than its normal behavior. You should not have anything to worry about. Just think of them as yourself... I am sure there are days when you are cheery and happy, and then there are those other days ....


----------



## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

SnowCichlid said:


> Petzl88 said:
> 
> 
> > "But every once in a while, they're skittish throughout the entire day, and dart through the tank without appearant reason, smashing around pieces of scenery and redecorating the entire tank And the next day, everything's cool again...
> ...


Lol,
thanks guys, but I think I've found the cause: some of my p's are just having their period at those moments








When those fish start to dart around, the rest follows quickly, and within a couple of seconds all my little rascals are going bananas :laughlong:

Petzl88: you're theory about end-of-weekend stress only applies to me, not to my reds... 

No seriously, though, SnowCichlid, you may have hit the nail on the head! They are usually behaving that way in the weekends, and monday is my water change day. After I changed water yesterday, they regained their usual f*ck-you attitude within minutes


----------

