How to Raise a Piranha
Piranhas make beautiful, exotic pets. Everyone is fascinated by a pet fish with teeth! If you currently have a pet piranha or want to raise one, you should know a few simple rules for caring for a piranha and keeping it healthy. Piranhas are like any other fish, but they need some special treatment. They are messy and will eat almost anything you give them. While it is true that they are not picky eaters, you should try to give it a healthy, balanced diet so that it will live for a long time and give you years of enjoyment.
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Instructions
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Keep the water in your piranha tank at about 80 degrees at all times. They thrive in semi-warm environments but will die if the water gets hot, since the water loses oxygen. If they get cold, their immune system might suffer and they will fall prey to disease.
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Make sure the tank has about 25 gallons of water at all times. Piranhas need a lot of room to swim around to stay healthy. Keep the tank very clean. This might be difficult, since piranhas tend to make a mess, but a clean tank is a healthy tank. Have a good filter system in place to help keep the water pure. You are going to need a few filters for a tank this large, so ask your pet store employee what he recommends.
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Feed your piranha about one-quarter cup of natural foods once a day. They will eat anything, but that doesn't mean it's good for them. In the wild, piranhas eat other live fish. You can feed live fish or frozen fish and vegetables that are thoroughly washed. It will eat any type of fish, but do not feed it goldfish because they tend to carry disease. Let the piranha eat for a couple of hours and then remove any leftover food so that the tank won't pollute itself.
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Give your piranha places to hide in its tank. You can buy fake houses and coral reefs at a pet supply store. Piranhas like to hide for much of the day. Do not use real plants in your piranha tank, or they will eat the greens.
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Give your piranha some company. They will probably not eat guppies and neon Tetras if you feed it other food every day. If you are worried about your piranha attacking your other fish, you can keep it solitary and it will not suffer.
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Tips & Warnings
Never stick your finger into the piranha's tank. You may put yourself in danger and stress the fish.
If piranhas are in a tank with other larger fish, they may try to eat their fins.
