Piranha won't eat

[smeesus]

I recently moved my piranha from a 20 gal to a 30 gal. He was eating ALL the time in the 20, but now he isn't touching the dried krill that I put in. Its starting to worry me that hes not eating and I'm just wondering if anyone knows or has had similar problems.... the water tests out ok before I did a water change, the temp is 72-75, I just don't know why he's refusing to eat. I bought some feeder goldfish and put a couple in there, but when I checked in the morning, I found the almost all the goldfish floating, hes not eating them either.

If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

[trodder]

try blood worms... They pretty much always respond to them and if they don't there could be trouble... they do at times tend to go on "dry" spells where they don't eat much if at all in my experience.

[trodder]

If you only have one I would also recommend getting at least one more if not a few... they are a schooling fish that do well in groups.

[smeesus]

well I tried adding a couple more but the one I had just ended up eating the bigger one that I added

[Stang69]

Are you by chance goin thru a cycle from the switch?


Jeff

[tims]

Originally Posted by smeesus

well I tried adding a couple more but the one I had just ended up eating the bigger one that I added

well at least he ate...

i know with my guys when i cheanged them over to a larger tank, they woudl not eat at all for a good 2 weeks or so.. almost as a " i am pissd and dont like my new home" thing..hows the pH?

[Twitterbait]

I always fed mine fresh shrimp or fresh beefheart when they stopped eating.

[epidemic]

I ahve always had really good luck with catfish. You can get packaged fresh catfish nuggets at he grocery store. Beefheart is good for putting on mass, but not the tastiest.

[smeesus]

I noticed another interesting thing that I have never seen him do before..... he sticks the top of his head out of the water, so the water level is right above his eyes (kind of swimming at a 45 degree angle) and just swims around like that..... almost looks like he is looking for something..... anybody seen that before?

[Twitterbait]

Time to check you dissolved oxygen. if they are staying at the top it sounds like there may be a circulation issue

[trodder]

I would agree with Twitterbait on that... It wouldn't hurt to run an airstone or two in there or a curtain rod or even pump air in via a venturi from a powerhead. All I can say about them eating eachother is it happens... if you get a large enough crop you should be able to get a couple survivors. Maybe add 5 that are as close in size as possible. THen when you feed spread across the tank as much as possible so that you can get them to seperate a little during feeding time. Also it may seem starnge but add a cheap feeder goldfish or two (small ones) and that will make them the outsiders and let them get picked on for a little while and that may help the RBs to learn to hunt in a unified pack. But first you may want to adress the potential O2 issue if in fact there is one. Also make sure there is enough hiding spaces for all them in case they are hunting eachother down. Feed at least twice a day no matter if they are actually eating or not. That will give the runts a chance to catch up. Compensate by doing a couple more frequent water changes. Also PH can be a factor. They are used to PH drops (real low PH) from the rainy seasons. That is also a good way to trigger a breeding response if you end up with a breeding pair. The easiest way to do that is with RO or RODI water with water change.

[McP]

A few questions:

1. What species do you have?
2. Did you cycle the new tank or use the old filter to help establish your nitrifers?
3. On the new tank what is the filter type, and the turnover rate? Aiming for at least 10X per hour is a good mark in a predatory tank.
4. How often are you doing waterchanges and how much water do you change out each time?

[Liza]

How did it turn out? I'd definitely check your water chemistry... The feeder goldfish just spontaneously died overnight without him killing them? That in itself sounds suspicious to me.