Q&A for How to Care for Piranhas

None, that would be like having your entire home be a broom closet. It's best to get at least a 30+ gallon tank for one.

When finding a habitat for piranhas, bigger is always better.

Check your local petstore. Some places have laws that make it illegal to keep piranhas, so be careful and check the local laws before purchasing one.

Yes it will. More fish means a bigger tank and more food. For a single piranha, you want, at the very least, a 25-gallon tank, but 30+ gallons would be advisable.

Guppies and minnows can be served live no problem, but for sardines and larger fish, it's best to cut them up with scissors before feeding them to your piranha.

If you are careful and fast, the little creature will not bite you. My piranhas are actually very well behaved. If they get to know you, you should be fine.

It depends. If you live in a cold area, get a heater. If the area you live in is warm most of the year, a heater might not be needed.

Piranhas will eat guppies, specially when the guppies you feed them are alive.

If the algae eater is provided with plenty of space and hiding areas, then it should be okay, but this is a risky move.

Piranhas are naturally schooling fish, so they would feel more comfortable in a group of 3 or 4, but it would be fine to have a loner. if you have a 20 to 25 gallon, only get one.

You can give them flake food when they're still small, but live food is ideal.

No. Hair is an inedible object for piranha to eat. Piranhas would prefer to eat other fish in the wild, but you can feed them frozen or freeze-dried food.

Since Piranhas eat flesh and meat you can feed them small, raw pieces, but in order to do that here are the steps 1. Purchase meat. 2. Wash meat thoroughly with water. 3. Tear, rip, or cut into small chunks. 4. Use large feeding tongs found at pet stores. 5. Grab meat with tongs and put in water. 6. Watch your Piranhas tearing at the meat!

It would need to be huge; though your piranhas are small now, they grow pretty fast and will soon be 6 - 8". At the recommended 20 gallons per piranha, you're looking at a 1,000-gallon tank.

I'd say a 110-130 gallon tank in the long run. MAYBE a 90 gallon at minimum. Just remember these fish can become very large in adulthood, and are very active.

If you go by the 20 gallons per piranha - which is best - you would need a 6,000 gallon tank for 300 red-bellied piranhas and a 10,000 gallon tank for 500.

No. 60 Gallons for 4 piranhas is best. It states in the "Setting Up A Tank" section: "As a rule of thumb, you want about 20 gallons of water per animal or 60 gallons for 4 piranhas."

Anything very large in size should work: big catfish or pleco, pacu, or maybe even an oscar or two.

I have only kept a single pleco in my piranha tanks. They aren't know to eat much, so netting the scraps out and/or feeding less is probably your best bet. Some people have pacus (close cousins) in the tank, as well as large Oscars, and they live well together given you have a larger tank and some good hiding spots.

Just like humans, animals have preferred foods too! Your piranha probably just prefers meat, but if you really want him to eat different things, just sneak a little bit into his dinner. As time progresses, slowly introduce more of it into his dinner until he gets used to eating it.

Piranhas won't eat potatoes.

I would recommend only 4 fish in a 60 gallon tank. They need enough space to hide from the others if needed. There's a pecking order between them, and one may get picked on more, hence the need for hiding space.

No, they cannot. This is because they will fight each other; the black piranha is a much bigger and solitary animal that likes its space and guards its territory.

Yes, if the length is a little more than 13 inches or 1 foot and 1 inch because the fish always stay on a straight side.

Since piranhas are schooling fish, they are usually comfortable in groups in at least 3 or more, but a loner can survive by itself.

The proper tank size is 25 gallons per piranha and you can keep 4 piranhas in a 60 gallon tank. Do not keep your piranhas in anything that is too small for them. That can cause countless issues with your fish.

Yes, all fish need the water to be oxygenated.

Depending on your fish tank's size, for one it would be 20 - 25 gallons minimum. For a tiny school of 4 it would be 60 gallons +.

You should not feed piranhas goldfish as they can give them certain diseases. You might be able to feed piranhas lobster as you can feed them crayfish but double check before you do so. This is assuming the lobster is dead as lobsters are saltwater animals and cannot survive in freshwater.

You should feed your piranha once a day. You can chop up the chicken and give a bit to your piranha each day. Don't feed a whole chicken, that's too much work and mess for your fish and you to deal with.