Exotic predatory fish piranhas often become an ornament of domestic aquariums. If certain rules of detention are observed, some types of piranhas may well live in such conditions. The most common of them - piranha ordinary, red pak, lunar metinnis and ordinary metinnis.
Contents of piranhas in a home aquarium
Arrangement of an aquarium for piranhas and care for them has its own nuances and features. First of all, the correct temperature regime is important - in the range from +25 to +28 ° С. To maintain it, a thermometer and a water heater must be present in the aquarium. A prolonged drop in temperature can lead to fish diseases , a decrease in immunity, damage to the heart, etc.
Also, the content of piranhas in the aquarium assumes constant maintenance of the purity of water and its saturation with oxygen. For this purpose, a filter and a compressor are installed for aeration. In addition, approximately every 1-2 weeks you need to change some of the water.
As for the volume of the aquarium, 8 liters of water are needed for every 2.5 cm of fish body. Accordingly, the minimum volume of water in the aquarium leaves 100 liters. Lack of space affects the behavior of the inhabitants - piranhas can cripple each other. And since piranhas like to hide, in the aquarium there must be vegetation, snags, houses, caves and other shelters.
What to feed a piranha in an aquarium?
In food, piranhas are completely unpretentious. They equally well eat all kinds of live food. The only rule is that they can not be overfed. It is advisable to feed them once a day, limited to two minutes. A longer time of feeding leads to the fact that the food settles to the bottom and pollutes the aquarium, and it is extremely undesirable, since it leads to fish diseases.
To ensure that the piranhas in the aquarium are healthy, their diet should be varied. It should include shrimp, tadpoles, beef meat, frozen fish fillets. It is not recommended to feed piranhas with meat alone, as this causes tarnishing of scales. It is also not desirable to feed piranhas with freshwater fish meat, as this leads to the appearance of parasites and various diseases in them.
Young piranhas are excellent at eating bloodworms and tubules. Gradually, as they mature, their diet should include fish and meat. And at the age of three months piranhas can be completely transferred to an adult diet.