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Suggested Dither Fish


Jo3l
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I am looking for some reasonably priced smaller fish that I could introduce to my tank for "custodial" as well as visual aid.

I have had for the past year a 55 gallon tank with a solo juvinile piranha. His exact species is kinda up I n air at this point over the recient confusion over the s. Spilo and s. Maculatus variants.

Now as much as I'm not intending on the death of the new fish I am introducing, i do expect the odd one to go missing and minimizing this is my top priority.

If anyone has any tips in my search it would be greatly appreciated!! I have had success with cray fish in the past as well as larger Congo tetras

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How big is this piranha ?

Is this 55 g the 12 inch wide dimensions ?

Mixing predators is always a gamble but part of the fun.

Try something a bit larger than the piranha but no guarantee.

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The piranha is an S. Maculatus, he is wild caught and about 4" not including his tail. The tank he is In is too large for him IMHO. Being a territorial type of fish he isn't very active outside of his area. Looking for something to take up the other 3/4 of the tank, as well as not let the scraps from the food my piranha eats (very messy eaters) go to waste.

In my past experiance smaller and more aggressive tetras have a good shot too.

Basically I'm asking if anyone has had experiance with tougher bite sized fish that lasted in a well fed predators tanks for longer than expected.

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I always use giant danios in my cichlid tanks. They outlast everything. Not sure if they'd be aggressive enough to deal with piranha, but they're cheap and might be worth a try.

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In previous tanks I have had with more aggressive species, cray fish did a nice job. The crays seem to be able to defend themselves as well they eat any scraps/algae they can get their claws on. However it can be hard to find the balance between fish big enough to eat the Cray, or vice versa.

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I'd be careful of bichirs , I find silver colored fish trigger their feeding response .

I havent tried piranha with them but I know balas, silver dollars and tinfoil barbs were all quickly hunted down in with me my bichirs . Even my attempts with larger 6"+. ones that were too large to swallow were an epic fail, although I did get to whiteness the bichirs doing the crocodile style death roll for the first time as they ripped them into peices that could be swallowed!!

I would worry any bichir large enough not to be seen as food for the piranha would be large enough to take it down.

Edited by DevonC
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If you dig through the archives, you'll see a set-up with a Black Pirahna - the guy had a bunch of tetras in there. They lasted a while, but I think the BP eventually ate them all. If I remember correctly, it was one of our Red Deer members

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I'd be careful of bichirs , I find silver colored fish trigger their feeding response .

I havent tried piranha with them but I know balas, silver dollars and tinfoil barbs were all quickly hunted down in with me my bichirs . Even my attempts with larger 6"+. ones that were too large to swallow were an epic fail, although I did get to whiteness the bichirs doing the crocodile style death roll for the first time as they ripped them into peices that could be swallowed!!

I would worry any bichir large enough not to be seen as food for the piranha would be large enough to take it down.

I must agree with this statement, I kept a few...lol (10) large bichirs at one time. Always seemed to amaze me what they could take down and how fast they can be when they want too.

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Bichirs do seem a little too aggressive (and fast growing) to do the job I need done.

This type of piranha can be quite slow growing.

Silver dollar is more in the direction I want to go. Anyone seen red hooks around town?

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The right size of Bichir verse piranha would work

Done it before.

And my two ten inch ornates far from monsters yet but kept well fed leave everyone alone they housed with.

What size is this tank ?

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