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I was just given a 35 gallon fish tank from a relative, and I went to a pet store near by me and they had red belly piranhas there for $9...

But I was wondering if anybody on here had any and could give me some info about taking care of them. Im really thinking about getting a couple.

all you gotta do is drop a purple painted mouse in the tank and then sit back and watch the carnage. preferably while listening to heavy metal and extremely stoned.

That tank likely isn't going to be big enough for piranhas.

once you get them in there, make sure to stick your arm way down into the bottom of the tank and make sure the water feels like it's the right temperature.

BigSmooth_31 wrote:I was just given a 35 gallon fish tank from a relative, and I went to a pet store near by me and they had red belly piranhas there for $9...

But I was wondering if anybody on here had any and could give me some info about taking care of them. Im really thinking about getting a couple.

I am a fish lover though have never owned any piranhas, I have multiple tanks in my home (one 10 gallon, one 20). I think you may be able to do that , but you should first look up to see if they are going to be okay being in small numbers as opposed to have a solid population in your tank... Find out also how big piranhas get.. I warn you before you buy any fish you are going to want yo make sure you have a effective filter, stones for the bottom of the tank, heater, light source that isn't overly bright (generally green or blue lightbulbs)... I cannot tell you how much money i've spent in the last 6 months on my tanks and fish

Piranhas need about 20 gallons per fish and they don't do well alone or with only two of them.

trwi7 wrote:Piranhas need about 20 gallons per fish and they don't do well alone or with only two of them.

yea i read that too.. im only gonna use this tank for a little while and then get a bigger one. I did talk to somebody that kept 1 alone and they had it for over 7 years.

Yeah, they can live alone, but it's not recommended and I certainly wouldn't count on one lasting 7 years if it is alone.

When I was a college aged lad I had two rannas by the names of Chompus and Mr. Magilacutty. How they would eat the beejesus out of goldfish and what have you! Although they preferred to do it when you weren't looking, because they hated us watching them eat.

Well, when school closed down for winter break they would kick everyone out of the dorms, on account of us constantly setting fires and arranging prostitute visits. So I decided to just pour five times as many goldfish in the tank, since I was going to be gone about a month.

Well, when I came back into the dorm, I smelled something awful in the hall! Apparently my rannas had eaten all their food supply right away, and the weeks that followed, Chompus apparently ate Mr. Magilacutty and tried an amazing leap to freedom over the side of the tank, but landed not in the Amazon River Basin, but on the radiator, where he cooked slowly as he suffocated.

I'm sorry, I've been looking for an excuse to tell that story for several years. RIP my beloved rannas, who never hurt anybody except for hundreds of goldfish.

That is a great story haha

Last year, a guy fishing in a lake in central Illinois near Springfield caught a piranha while trying to catch some crappie and bass. the local game and wildlife authorities confirmed it was a piranha. they also speculated it found its way into the lake from somebody who had bought a piranha for their home acquarium and it either got too big for its acquarium or its owner no longer wanted it and tossed it into the lake. the piranha was over 8 inches long and had several sets of teeth. the game official speculated the piranha was only in the lake for a very short period of time. I think he came to that conclusion because a lot of people use the lake for swimming and boating purposes, and he didn't want the general public to be worried that additional piranhas may also still be in the lake.

i trust when your piranhas get too big for your tank, you will properly dispose of them rather than giving them freedom into some local river or lake.

When mine get too big for the tank I am using now i will be moving them to a bigger tank. Im not buying these things just to have them for a short time. Im buying them as pets and i make sure my pets are taken care of.

But yea there have been piranhas caught in a pond near my house before.

I have had them on several occasions. Either get 1 or 3+, if you get 2, one will eat the other. You will also need at least a 50 gallon tank

I've had Piranhas in the past and would not recommend getting them. Watching them rip flesh is very interesting at first, but once you grow tired of this (and you will), they really don't move around much and are very reclusive and hide behind anything you have in the tank. I'd recommend getting a mix of tropical fish that won't hurt each other. Talk to the people working at the pet store to see whick fish work well with each other. You'll also have to clean the water less with fish that don't eat flesh, for obvious reasons. The biggest tip I can give you is don't overfeed your fish, they need far less food than you think.