theres food in the tank constantly, I also feed pellets aswell as lots of different foods, there is always some left so that all get a go, even the danios etc.
which is part of the reason I have only lost the one. (that I know of)
and in the wild when young they still kill each other, its like teenage boys getting into fights a lot, then when they grow up they calm down a lot.
other reasons could be ...an eye damaged when feeding, or a nip. they get weak, separate themselves from the shoal. next thing they are now on the menu.
the cannabilism you are on about Michael is when older, mainly in the dry season where they are left in puddles with no other food source etc, where its for survival.
just to make it clear, I don't have a problem with my piranha, everything is going well, only issue I had was the o2, and to try and get a forest growing at the same time, the o2 is now fine and everything seems ok for now, I agree with what someone wrote about the flow being turbulent, I have tried repositioning the wavemakers a LOT and am finding it very difficult to get the optimum position.
in regards to overstocking I receive a 6x3x2h in a few weeks, they have enough room for now, and the new tank is more than enough for them at 5"-6" when they slow down growth to an inch a year.
I don't want the danios, the only reason they are in there is I had them a long time ago, some neighbour dumoed them with me, at the time I had a 16" serrasalmus rhombeus imported from peru, I wasn't going to rehome them as I would have had to stress my rhom getting them out, as it turned out they were too quick for him and lived anyway.
the importer who I sold the rhom too in the end gave me a great price where I got £800 of juvenile piranha for him, the transition was instant and again with my newly imported shoal my concern wasn't the 3 danios in the tank, but some how they have lived...again.
if the piranha were hungry they would have killed another fish by now, I even have 5 ancistrus in the aquarium, pretty small and none have been eaten. these would be a free meal if they were hungry, so im pretty sure they are fine for food. like I say though if a fish becomes ill or weak it will be food, that's the nature of piranha, they don't necessarily go out murdering other fish, they spend a lot of time roaming and nipping fins for their nutrients as they grow back.
they are territorial in an aquarium though, so if I ADDED new fish..thats another story..
the overcrowding in aquariums im not too sure on by the way, as I have seen overstocked tanks which are amazing, usually the more you have spreads aggression anyway. in fact the better tanks/shoals I have seen are from overstocked. ill find some vids of this as well.
im not sure if different rules apply to having as many as I have, reason being I have kept them for a long time now, the last shoal was a shoal of 10, ended up with 7. quite a small number, but they had territories in the tank, this big shoal doesn't, they act more like a shoal....
on the piranha forums I usually see people keeping 5 or 6, which I bet they are acting the same, making territories for each other, and chasing away the others when they swim in it. which in the end will end in nips etc.
in my tank theres way too much going on to get a territory, this may change, I can only say whats been happening so far.
lights aren't on yet and I have work but ill try get a video for you asap.
thanks for the replies
cheers lain, completely agree, I didn't post here thinking I would have got the comments I did.
