Black Piranha Feeding

[BATISTA]

Hi All,

I was just wondering what everyone feeds their black Piranhas?

We have had ours 2days and now it is safe to say he can be settled and now fed,
his previous diet was earthworms,feeder fish and the odd pinkie, probably not the best diet, as im not sure the feeder fish would have been quarantined etc.

However we would like to start him off on the best range of food now, should it be uncooked beef, prawns etc,

I would just like to see what the 'proven' food is?

Thank you for the help !!!

[MJ75]

I used to feed my Rhom a combintaion of the following :-

Earthworms
Frozen lancefish
Mackeral and trout fillet * If you try it, use it sparingly!!!
Prawns
Frozen mussel *Never that much interest in this.
Small pieces of cooked chicken and beef
Whitebait

Personally I don't think feeder fish are a good idea. You risk disease, it's not cost effective and it's unethical in my opinion if your fish will take dead food. I know theres always one person who'll jump in and say "What do you think they eat in the wild blah, blah, blah..." but it's unnecessary if you know what you're doing with piranha.

If you can get him to take several different foods during a feeding then thats good. Always mix it up as much as you can. Mackeral and trout can be a bit oily especially the former so take it easy with them or your water will suffer.

[BATISTA]

Thanks,

Do you reccommend feeding coked meat or is raw ok?

[MJ75]

Originally Posted by BATISTA

Thanks,

Do you reccommend feeding coked meat or is raw ok?

I don't really think there is any real difference. In all honesty I just used to take a bit of the roast, chop it up and feed it. I don't keep it now, it lives with a friend, but I do own other very big meat eaters like Cichla and they're really not too fussy. They were eating uncooked venison liver the other night!

[Darbz]

I know as far as mammals are concerned, raw meat has more benefit in terms of vitamins..as long as you use meat from a safe source you don't have to worry about parasites..

I don't know if this applies to piranha's but I would assume so?

[MJ75]

Originally Posted by Darbz

I know as far as mammals are concerned, raw meat has more benefit in terms of vitamins..as long as you use meat from a safe source you don't have to worry about parasites..

I don't know if this applies to piranha's but I would assume so?

Dunno, I would have thought so though. The reason I said to mix different foods up was to ensure a varied diet etc. I think we need "expert opinion". Maybe Graylord could help? He knows everything there is to know about fish and fishkeeping.

Graylord... Any pearls of wisdon you'd care to share with us? Can you provide the nutritional breakdown of all of the foods listed above in cooked and raw form?

[TUBBS]

cooking meat does denature many vitamins and will remove the fats and oils (the energy source you want fish to utilise as theres no ammonia) but mammalian meat is too energy dense for aquatic predators who will get fat and i do believe there is liver damage from all the excess protein being brokendown into energy

try things more like the fish listed above like leaner fish like whitebait (Lancefish) etc plus once/twice weekly feeds of trout and/or mackeral due to the high amount of oils and fats that will cause fat fish if u use it too much

prawns etc are good foods, and it may even take small signal crayfish if u want to get a licence (free) and have a local place to trap them

[Graylord]

Originally Posted by MJ75

Dunno, I would have thought so though. The reason I said to mix different foods up was to ensure a varied diet etc. I think we need "expert opinion". Maybe Graylord could help? He knows everything there is to know about fish and fishkeeping.

Graylord... Any pearls of wisdon you'd care to share with us? Can you provide the nutritional breakdown of all of the foods listed above in cooked and raw form?

Not really but i do know that feeding mammalian food will eventually lead to fatty degeneration of the liver .

I`ve really got under your skin haven`t i?

[Graylord]

Re the original question ,whatever you feed i don`t think it will be much .

They are so sedentary that regular feeds aren`t necessary in my opinion.

I had a young one once that ate twice in a year yet lost no weight whatsoever.

Went back to Wharf as fat as i`d bought it .

[Graylord]

Originally Posted by TUBBS

cooking meat does denature many vitamins and will remove the fats and oils (the energy source you want fish to utilise as theres no ammonia) but mammalian meat is too energy dense for aquatic predators who will get fat and i do believe there is liver damage from all the excess protein being brokendown into energy

try things more like the fish listed above like leaner fish like whitebait (Lancefish) etc plus once/twice weekly feeds of trout and/or mackeral due to the high amount of oils and fats that will cause fat fish if u use it too much
prawns etc are good foods, and it may even take small signal crayfish if u want to get a licence (free) and have a local place to trap them

Good well informed answer

Not too much lance fish though as its thiamene positive ,tho` i`m guessing you know that