# What Do You Guys Think? Am I Missing Something Here?



## Ahmed

I had 15 juvies at 1 inch, now I have 11 left at 3 inches.

What could be cause of cannibalism?

I feed them frozen shrimps, squid, fish, octopus, clams and beef heart twice a day.

Water temp is at 30 degrees celsius! Is that too warm for them? I cannot get hold of a chiller!
I have no substrate, bare tank with two canister filters pumping over 5000 liters an hour.

I syphon daily to make sure no left over food or waste sits on the bottom.

I do 30% water change weekly.

These are my parameters!


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## Da' Manster!

numbers and charts look fine to me...all parameters are within the "acceptable and good" range...Once again, cannibalism usually doesn't have to do with hunger...so in other words, it doesn't matter how often you feed them...this issue probably has to do with territorial boundaries and establishing territories...this is mainly the reason why pygo shoals experience casualties.


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## Ahmed

I agree, they are constantly nipping and fighting. A am trying very hard not to add decor to the tank. I am happy with how energized they are, they eat outta my hands no problem. A few even breach when going for food which is kinda cool!

I have installed a Vortech MP60 powerhead which I turn on once a day for 2 hours. They get very aggressive during that time. I didn't know current made them more territorial!

I just don't wanna lose any more, I love my P's man!


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## Demon Darko

Cannibalism is quite common for reds that size.

Cannibalism is quite common for reds that size.


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## scent troll

cannibalism. it happens against all precautions and under the best supervision sometimes. its nature. sometimes you can control it. your post was really detailed and every looks and sounds just fine my man! so thats nothing to worry about. it will eventually calm down. but juvie piranhas are highly canibalistic. its the nature of such a predatory fish. its actually one of natures ways of keeping this alpha preds numbers in check.

good luck man


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## Marshall1391

the temperature is pretty high though, when mine was raising above 29 to 31, mine where getting a bit more aggressive towards each other..


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## Da' Manster!

I didn't realize that 30 degrees Celsius was 86 on the Fahrenheit scale!...







...yes, you need to lower the temp, Ahmed...down to 27 degrees C which is roughly 80 degrees F.


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## Ahmed

Oh boy I was hoping the warm temps were not the reason... I can't get hold of a chiller! I have central aircon in my house but I don't wanna turn that on just for the tank, the electricity bill will sky rocket on me.

Any ideas on a chiller system that isn't directly applicable to fish tanks or those sold at LFS's? If I approach pool or water tank companies, do you think they might have something for a 160 gallon application?


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## Da' Manster!

well, if you want to save some money you can always go old school style and throw some ice cubes in!...


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## RayW

hey all... just a thought here... kinda like what dragsters use to cool fuel, or what home brewers use to chill wort, or how a thumper works in a still... how about some kinda inline chiller? here me out... I have copper flex pipe that is coiled up that I put in the pot of 200 degree wort... then i run cold water thru the copper and it chills the wort to 80deg in like 6min.

you could buy a small cooler... even maybe one of those half gallon or whole gallon beverage coolers... cut holes...run your filter return line through it...caulk it... then add ice... of course there would be other more efficient designs but this was given just so you would get what I am talking about.the ice would last longer than just dumping it in the tank... and would cool the water more slowly but still provide some chilling....

Downside... need some good DIY skills to do it...


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## scent troll

^ damn cool idea and i dont see any reason that wouldnt work. the most low tech method is to keep your tanks lid open to allow for evapotation and have a fan blowing across the waters surface if you dont need to take the temperature down a massive amount. this will stabilize things enough to lower your tank 2 or 3 degrees easily. the down side is youll be needing to add half buckets of water every few days to make up for the accelerated evaporation


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## Ahmed

Thanks guys, my tank lid is always open and adding the Vortech MP60 really helped in bringing the temps down to around 28. So what I did was put about 6 large water bottles (2 litres) in the freezer and just chuck them in there every day around midday.

My only problem is these little bastards nip at the bottles and put holes in them. I have no idea how they do that but I guess it's just plastic and these guys go for the curved edges and manage to bite little bits off the bottles!!!!

It's easier raising my toddlers than these guys!!!


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## Ægir

Try adding a fan, blowing across the top of your tank... even a 3.5" 12v computer fan can do some work. I feel bad when my FW tank hits 82

Evaporation is about the most efficient method of cooling... downside is topping off your tanks.


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