# Single Red Belly



## ncith (Apr 20, 2003)

With keeping a single red belly? If so how does he act, is he agressive twoards others or what. Just want to know if my single is acting normal. He just sits around all day and does nothing. Not really interested in eating or anything. I don't have enough tank space for any more piranha, so any info. would be nice







Thanks


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## piranha 13 (Feb 16, 2003)

I once had one Red Belly. He did just what yours is doing by sitting around all day doing nothing and not vey aggresive then I got two more and now they're fairly aggressive.


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## smb (Jun 1, 2003)

Yea. I've never had a rbp, that when kept singularly, was out in the open and aggressive at all.


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## SnowCichlid (Jan 10, 2003)

I have a single red belly that is 4" now and is extremely active. Here is waht to do:
*create a good environment
*Add a couple of smaller dithers (ie tetras)
*setup a mirrored background
*Mix its diet up really well

this is how mine works and My guys comes to greet me, and is always dashing around in the tank and playing with my black widow.
Good Luck :







:


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## scarfish (Apr 5, 2003)

Now, I've had an opposite experience. I had a lone, seven inch red in a 29 gallon tank. He was very active, and moderately aggressive. Anything I put in HIS tank was slaughtered in a matter of seconds. He would let my finger dance across his tank, then he would come right to it and do a little dance of his own. I introduced him to four other reds after about 7 months of solitude, and I'm not sure if it was anti-social behavior or not, but he seemed to lose his original personality.


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## ncith (Apr 20, 2003)

What do you mean by a mirroed backround?


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## SnowCichlid (Jan 10, 2003)

ncith said:


> What do you mean by a mirroed backround?


 I use a big mirror at the back of my tank as a background pic. It seems to help alot, give it a shot


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## piranha 13 (Feb 16, 2003)

Yea i saw a tank in my LFS with mirror background. Looks pretty cool.


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## memen (Mar 14, 2003)

i keep one rbp in a 15 G for wait he become bigger and i will put him in my 125 g with 3 others reds. 
my solitary fish is active, agressive, but he seems to be sad...


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## ncith (Apr 20, 2003)

Thanks guys







I'll try the mirror


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## thoroughbred (Mar 14, 2003)

my brother has about a 8" rbp hes had for almost 5 yrs it was 3 then 2 then 1 lol but hes very aggresive probably the most aggresive rbp ive ever seen especially by himself in a 75 gallon


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

I've kept my largest red alone for a while (cuz he killed all his buddies), and he was pretty active and agressive then, but also quite easy to scare off. But it wasn't as bad as many people would say...


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## Mr. Hannibal (Feb 21, 2003)

BORING!...try a bigger tank with 3 or more Pygos...!


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## freekain (May 29, 2003)

I got 1 red in a 40 gallon, I was kinda curious if he was actin normal too.. He's active enough but not too bright when it comes to feeding time. It's pretty kewl sometimes he's more interested in entertaining me than eating, but other times when ya wanna see carnage he won't pay any attention to the feeder and do his little dance until I leave the room and then he'll eat. Most of the day he plays around in the current or does laps across the front glass.

Also was curious, now that I have a bigger tank for him, would I be able to introduce anymore p's into the tank with minimal casualties?


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

freekain said:


> Also was curious, now that I have a bigger tank for him, would I be able to introduce anymore p's into the tank with minimal casualties?


 Would be possible, but a 40g doesn't leave many options open... I'd get at least 2 more (since keeping two pygo's in one tank is a potential recipe for disaster), but then you'll need a bigger tank (at least 55g, preferably a bit more...)

When introducing the new fish, a few things might help to minimize agession in the first hours/days: rearrange your tank, so that the newcomers as well as the already resident red need to reclaim territories, keep the lights off for a few days, so they can get used to each others presence with a minimum of stress, provide enough hiding places, so they can seek refuge when it all gets too much, place a powerhead, so the current can keep them focussed on that instead of each other, and try to get new reds that are almost the same size as your current one: this will reduce the chance of them viewing each other as food...
But you can most likely expect a bit of agression in the first period anyways, since they will be sizing up each other, establishing a new pecking order etc...


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## freekain (May 29, 2003)

Thx Judazzz

Will give it a try. If it don't work then I'll just have to try somethin else.. will let ya know how it goes..


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