# Best Food To Stock The Tank With??



## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

I have 3 Ps and want to stock the tank...I've been popping in 21 large goldfish but they go through those in less than a week so I need to find something that I can put in there for 2 weeks or so without having to touch the tank, only for the bi-monthly cleaning and re-stocking.

Any suggestions other than dumping in 42 or so goldfish in there? Yah I know the tank gets dirty faster but I clean the tank every 2 weeks so thats good enough. I dont want to pamper them with more haha


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## Caesar3283 (Jun 18, 2003)

Hmm.....I was wondering the same thing. I'm going on vacation for 8 days in mid August so I was thinking about tossing a bunch of gold fish in my tank. How big is your tank by the way? And how big are your P's?


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

Caesar3283 said:


> Hmm.....I was wondering the same thing. I'm going on vacation for 8 days in mid August so I was thinking about tossing a bunch of gold fish in my tank. How big is your tank by the way? And how big are your P's?


 They are probably 3.5" or so I would guess

I have 3 of them in a 40 gallon


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## o snap its eric (Feb 19, 2003)

SonicDark said:


> I have 3 Ps and want to stock the tank...I've been popping in 21 large goldfish but they go through those in less than a week so I need to find something that I can put in there for 2 weeks or so without having to touch the tank, only for the bi-monthly cleaning and re-stocking.
> 
> Any suggestions other than dumping in 42 or so goldfish in there? Yah I know the tank gets dirty faster but I clean the tank every 2 weeks so thats good enough. I dont want to pamper them with more haha


 Im sorry but if your thinking you can get away with something like that in your tank you might as well throw away your fish. No matter how much you fit in that tank with feeders they will kill and may or may not eat it reguardless. Throwing in 21 feeders in the first place is a no no for me. Doing a bi monthly water change is a diffinitly a no no. The amout of waste from the feeders and the mess they make from the piranhas and the feeders duing the feeding will certainly do stress or death to your fish if you wish to do bi monthly water changes.

If you want something that may last try a cichlid that is fast and will fight back like a convict or a red devil. Otherwise, dont throw in a bunch of feeders and doing bi weekly changes. 1. is irresonisble 2. you can kill your fish faster than you think due to unseen feeder parasite. I strongly suggest you take care of your fish more and find a better solution. Lastly, i had luck with beefheart. If you feed them a lot of beefheart they tend to digest it slower and keep the water temp to 78.


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## iLLwiLL (Jun 13, 2003)

whats the point in only doing maintenence or feeding twice a month? thats half the fun of keeping piranhas.  I feed mine some beefheart and a big shrimp every night, whatever is not eaten in 20 mins gets removed. I change 25% of the water 2x/week (thank you python!) and vaccume the gravel 1x/week (as part of a water change).

if your going on vacation, thats one thing . . . but not taking care of your fish on a steady basis just sucks. if your looking for lower maintence fish, setup a community tank in that 40 gal, and give the piranhas to someone who will take care of them.

just my $0.02

~Will.


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## USAFbOOst (Jul 16, 2003)

You should feed your fish a variety of foods. I feed my P's beefheart, krill, bloodworms, fillets, and the OCCASIONAL feeder. I have them trained to come to the top and eat out of my fingers too. P's are AWESOME fish and to see them being neglected by someone who's lazy and irresponsible sucks.








I'll buy your fish off you for $50.


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## Caesar3283 (Jun 18, 2003)

Yeh, I feed mine 2-3 times a day...either with beefheart, shrimp, fish fillet, or the occasional feeder. Also, I do a 15% water change every week with the gravel vac.

I was just looking for a solution to me going on vacation. Hey, o snap its eric, you mentioned using a cichlid......my P's are only 2.5".....do you think a cichlid could kill them.....or especially if there were 2-3 cichlids in the tank while I was gone?


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## o snap its eric (Feb 19, 2003)

Yeah a cichlid can kill your piranhas. Try adding a small Convict. That is your best bet if you want a cichlid in your tank.


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

Look its generally agreed most people here take better care of their fish than art galleries of Monet paintings

How did you get your Ps to eat out of your hand?

They gobble up the 21 feeder fish in less than a week and are growing big fast so whats the problem? I also feed them shrimp and blood worms so its not like I'm starving them to death

These are not fish that you baby, they should be able to take a lickin and keep on tickin. I dont want some pantsy pirahna that doesn't rip stuff up. They are ugly fish and the main thing that they got going for them is their killing ability

I pamper my fish enough, its not like I converted my jacuzzi into a tank and dumped them in there


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## o snap its eric (Feb 19, 2003)

SonicDark said:


> Look its generally agreed most people here take better care of their fish than art galleries of Monet paintings
> 
> How did you get your Ps to eat out of your hand?
> 
> ...


 Ask yourself these question:

1. are you keeping the fish for the fish or just for the name?
2.Do you care about your piranha's welfare
3.If you were those fish that you keep, would you be happy in those conditions?

Im sorry to bust your bubble but a constant feeding of feeders are not going to make your fish more "agressive." I never feed my fish feeders unless its the very first day i got them or just got sport which then i feed them those damn expensive diesease free pond Koi. I have gotten my rhom to be hand fed and my ex caribe shoal to eat and hunt down a large rat all without the use of feeders to make them more "agressive." If you want to make your fish more "agressive" then i would go about a different way rather than feeding the deadly feeders. I am so against feeding feeders that i would rather not buy a cheap priced piranha or any other fish knowing it will only eat feeders.

As for you thinking we treat our fish like our babies you have to KNOW that your the only one thing alive and the world does not revole around you! You have taking the responsibility to care for you fish and their lives are in your hand in which this makes you in a way their god. Its like a mother giving birth to a child, you have to take responsibility because you made the decsision to have and make a baby just like you made the desicsion to buy and keep piranhas. Mistreating anything alive or neglecting in any way that would jepordize their health and not caring but as long as you are fine makes you spoiled brat. This post is not a flame in any way but i would like to shed some light into your world about taking responsibilites. Im sure you have many more responsiblity but if you can not provide at least clean water for your fish and feed them healthy then i suggest you take a break from this hobby until you have more time.

I would also like to point out that feeding them beefheart and shrimp will cost you a lot less and feeding them feeders so much. No matter what you do to make them "agressive" your fish will be not liek wild piranha simply because you have taken their natural habitat away and you cant simulate it.

Growing fast does not mean they are growing healthy.

In order to have your fish be able to get hand fed you need clean water and a knowing that when you feed them they are not going to be threaten

Are you keeping piranhas to show off to your friends or keeping them for the name or keeping them because you like the fish? Piranhas to me are not ugly. Since you do see it ugly im wondering if you really into this hobby and maybe you should find yourself a new one or keep a new fish. A true fish hobbyist will keep a fish for their looks and fascination. Keep that in mind. As like many of us fellow hobbyist we started keeping piranhas for the name but later evolved into keepin the fish for the facination and looks.

eric


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## USAFbOOst (Jul 16, 2003)

SonicDark said:


> Look its generally agreed most people here take better care of their fish than art galleries of Monet paintings
> 
> How did you get your Ps to eat out of your hand?
> 
> ...


 You're a freakin moron.







P's are not ugly fish. If you think they are ugly then why the hell did you buy them. Yes I baby my fish maybe a little more than I should but I find it enjoyable. Even with all this "pampering" my fish will still tear apart anything i put in the tank, not to mention my fingers. Like I said before, I'll buy your "ugly" piranha's off of you for $50 and you can go buy yourself some pretty little beta's that will fight each other.


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## Caesar3283 (Jun 18, 2003)

I think piranhas are awesome looking fish....that's one of the reasons I bought mine. I couldn't find any other fish that I thought looked tight enough for me to keep except for the P's


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## garybusey (Mar 19, 2003)

USAFbOOst said:


> SonicDark said:
> 
> 
> > Look its generally agreed most people here take better care of their fish than art galleries of Monet paintings
> ...


 Freakin right... Piranha haters are NOT welcome here. booooooo


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## accr (Nov 27, 2002)

I have a simple simple suggestion...

If ya'r going away for 2 weeks 3 weeks, why not just get 2 dividers and divide up your fish ? That's what I'm planning to do when I"ll be away for 2 weeks end of Aug.

Divide them, stop feeding them for 3 days or so. Then before you leave, do a water change. By the time you come back, they should be still alive and with OK water too.

Just my $0.02.


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## SonicDark (Apr 30, 2003)

Chill

I like my fish and I'm not out to see them be "super aggressive"

I would like to learn though how you guys got them trained to eat out of your hand


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## USAFbOOst (Jul 16, 2003)

SonicDark said:


> Chill
> 
> I like my fish and I'm not out to see them be "super aggressive"
> 
> I would like to learn though how you guys got them trained to eat out of your hand


 Sorry if I seem a little perturbed. Its just when a person comes onto this site and kinda disgraces something that we put alot of our time, effort, and money into ...it pisses us off. And about hand feeding your piranha's.
1) You have to have all the basics. Good water parameters. My set up is Ph-6.6, ammonia levels never over trace amounts, no nitrite, very little nitrate, I keep my water temp. at 82F. Some people don't like having it that high all the time but it should be 78-82F. Also do water changes weekly, if all my levels are good I'll wait 1 1/2 to 2 weeks max sometimes.
2) I suggest putting your tank in a high traffic area. Mine is in an area that I'm always using. This helps them get used to you, and they should stop shying away to an extent.
3)Now the hard part. I would try using bloodworms and krill for this, or even a long peice of fillet just to get them to the top. Stop feeding them feeders and get them accustomed to raw foods again. Once you get them eating raw foods again try and get them to come to the top of the tank. There's no telling how long it will take but they should come to the top eventually. After they get used to eating at the top of the tank, just hold the food between your fingers and wait. Mine took awhile to investigate but after one bit a peice of food from my fingers all the other ones did. Now they arent shy at all and I hand feed them for every feeding.

There's no guarantee that they will ever eat at the top, let alone from your fingers. But that is what I would suggest you do if you want to try. BTW you should have #1 on that list taken care of regardless. Good luck.


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