Piranha As Pets
How exotic can you go when it comes to choosing the type of fish for your aquarium? Try taking care of a piranha – with their edgy little faces and menacing reputation.
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Two Things to Consider Before Purchasing a Piranha
The first thing to consider is whether owning a piranha is legal in your area. Remember that piranhas are not your usual type of pets and some countries find the idea of taking care of one as something that needs legal deliberation.
The second thing to consider is that piranhas do have long lives. They live between four and fourteen years. This means that taking care of one is a long term commitment, something that you should look into if you really want to take care of these types of pets.
Setting up the tank
Matura piranhas will need about 2 gallons of water per inch. A recommended tank size would be at least a 25-gallon capacity. Water temperature is also important and you should see to it that you maintain between 76 to 83 degrees Fahrenheit. Even a little more than this will cause oxygen deprivation; on the other hand, too cold and the piranha will be stressed and their immune system will be jeopardized.
Piranhas are messy eaters and you need a double-filtration system to deal with the excess food crumbs.
You will also help the piranhas by mimicking their natural habitat. To do this, add some hiding places and plants. About 50 to 75% of the tank should provide these “covers”.
How many per tank?
Young piranhas live in schools. More mature piranhas would like to live solitary lives. So you can keep one adult piranha in a 20 gallon tank while you can keep two to three piranhas in a 55 gallon tank.
What to feed?
Whitebait, prawns, lance fish, smelt, lean chicken slice, beef heart pieces are staple. Occasionally, you can feed your piranha small chunks of zucchini and pieces of raw potato.