Breeding Piranhas

[Melody]

The first thing that intrigues me about any fish is its breeding habits.

I don't like posting articles when I don't know enough about the topic to at least be somewhat sure of its accuracy, but I thought the conversation would be interesting. I'll be relying on Ryan & you other Piranha fans to argue or add to the below information, if you would please.:smile:

Breeding Piranhas
By William Berg


Piranhas are a unique creature that has won its so popularity, not only because of its appearance, but also due to the many myths they are told in. Unfortunately only a few species having been breed, some of the species that have commonly bred include Serrasalmus nattereri, S. spilopleura, S. gibbus, S. rhombeus. Another species that is considered relatively easy to breed is S. maculatus.

Whichever you choose, you should have an aquarium that is at least 100 gallons. A group of 5-6 piranhas is quite appropriate, however if you want them breeding, the best is to keep them in pairs so that there are no other fishes to bother them. To find ae mating pair, you can pick two adult Piranhas, one is thick and the other is thinner. In most cases, thick piranhas represent females and thinner Piranhas represent males. Just make sure you are not looking at them after they have been fed. Though having found males and females doesn’t automatically mean success, it is however a step on the way.

The ideal temperature is between 73-83F. Standard fluorescent bulbs are fine for the lighting. Notice that they also like some protective cover. You should also make the lighting of half of the aquarium darker than the other. Piranhas are hardy fish but it iss a good idea to maintain the water clean and clear. In their original habitat, Amazon River, rainy season is the time when most fish spawn. Frequent and bigger water changes seem to have an immense effect on the success of breeding (as they simulate the rainy season) and most likely getting the piranhas into breeding condition.

When your piranhas lose all their color and turn almost completely black, you can expect that they are in breeding condition! Both of them may start to protect a certain spot and chasing off other piranha that come too close. If they start picking up gravel in their mouth like digging for something, it usually means they have already begun the mating process. Be careful not to disturb your piranhas during this time! The female will release eggs into the pit, and then leave the nest but might stay close by it., The male is usually the one that is responsible of guarding the nest and eggs. The number of eggs laid is variable from 700-4000. The eggs hatch in 2-3 days.

If you are lucky enough to have reached this stage, then it’s time to take care of the fry. Prepare a 10 to 15 gallon tank with heater and under gravel filter for the fry to be moved into. Water should be from the parents’ tank. Be very, very careful when doing this, as the parents can be extremely protective and aggressive. The fry will quickly absorb their yolk sac and you will have to start feeding them live baby brine shrimp as food.

One thing you should carefully notice is the legal issues. Some states do not allow the sell or ownership of Piranhas at all. Other states require that you obtain a permit to sell or own a Piranha. Be sure to check to see if any local restrictions apply before purchasing your piranha.


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About the Author: William Berg Has over 20 years of aquarium experience. He runs the website http://www.aquaticcommunity.com which features a lot of information about all kinds of tropical fish such as cichlids, predatory fish and crayfish. He also written thi text about Clownloaches (http://www.clownloach.info/).
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[CACAdmin]

I know nothing about piranhas, but I found the article on breeding quite interesting. What surprised me the most was the number of eggs. The number of eggs laid is variable from 700-4000. 4000 eggs???? :swoon:

[jones]

a fairly good introduction to piranha breeding but i find the first two paragraphs to be almost completely missleading...

the only commonly breed piranha is the P. Nattereri, (red belly) all other piranhas are deffinitally not to be considerd common breeders, as the report even claims redbellys to be serrasalmus, when they are in fact pygocentrus... so im not sure how knowledgeable the author is... for anyone wanted to breed piranhas, red bellys are the best introduction, as they are already piranhas that shoal and group quite easily... Other more Wild pygos such as the cariba, or piraya prove much more difficult to breed as they have not been around the captive environment as long and require water conditions to match the amazon river basin as closely as possible for any success... i know a fellah online that is trying to breed ternz and pirayas, he's been simulating the rain and dry seasons for years now and is still hoping for success... he as also successfully breeded S. Maculatus, a fish of the serrasalmus genus, so its not impossible, but when starting a breeding project with serrasalmus, only the experianced piranha owner should attempt this, as first off you have to co-habitate a fish that most will keep solo as they are so aggressive towards other tank mates... so first you have to get serra's living in harmony before any chance of breeding, this can be a task in itself, requires constant attention, care, and im sure money as there will be mostlikely be casualties... so red bellys are the way to go for introduction to breeding... but the claimes that "some of the species that have commonly bred include Serrasalmus nattereri, S. spilopleura, S. gibbus, S. rhombeus. Another species that is considered relatively easy to breed is S. maculatus." is just bogus... also the paragraph about sexing them by width is complete none sense, you CANNOT sex piranhas by characteristics, i have read this is possible via an incertian tube into the anus of the fish, and i have read an educated eye can tell the difference, but i wouldnt try this tactic unless your some marine professor, haha, so to get a breeding group, get as much as you can and hope for the best, hahah

but to induce a breeding behaviour in your piranhas, one must first understand the rain and dry seasons of the amazon rain forest... conditions much be match as closely as possible for better success.... in the rainy season around our winter, the rains raise the river levels up and piranhas own the new land the rivers claim, they hunt for food which is everywhere and clean up the shores and everywhere else that floods come the rain season, as water levels start to recead, most will find their way back to the main river systems and all will be fine, for some that have ventured too far away from the river get caught in small pools left by the floods... as the dry season comes water levels drop even further, those left in pools eat up the food supply fairly quickly and the piranhas now start weeding out the sick and the weak from their own shoals... this is a rough time for any left in wading pools and in this season, anything that drops in these pools are eaten almost instantly and this is the time when piranhas get most dangerous as they are desperate for any kind of food they can get. as the sun drops water levels even further throughout the season, birds, crocodiles, lizards, turtels and everyother fish eating creature comes down for the year's amazon 'roman banquet'... dying or dried up dead piranhas lie everywhere and animals come from miles around to feast on piranha around this time, its not a good time of year to be a fish, thus the circle and system of life in the amazon... when the rain comes back it is a glorious time for the piranhas, rain water airates shallow oxygenless pools, and they slowly start to fill back up, the serviving piranhas now claim the land again with the water. And this is where the breeding behaviour is triggered... as food, water, oxygen and space all comes back in their lives, the piranhas trigger into breeding mode and pair up... breeding can be very stressful on both mates as they get very aggressive towards eachother, the male and female will both sustain heavy damage durring breeding, mainly from eachother... the male will be left the guard the crude nest which is mainly a depression in the ground or burrow made out in some plants. as the report says, they will drop 500-5000 eggs or so that hatch in 2-3 days... after the piranhas are hatched they grow very rapidly and once they can swim and move they find shelter in floating vegitation and eat mainly mosquito larva and anything else they can fit in their mouths....

so to breed in the home aquarium, the rain season and dry season must be matched almost to a 'T' if your planning this project with serra's that have mostlikely orriginated from the wild and have experianced these water chemistry changes first hand... so research on your piranhas local river is a very good idea for extra insight.

PLEASE NOTE: breeding piranhas is for the experianced keeper only, for durring breeding time, they fight and are EXTREMELY aggressive towards eachother, sometimes even resulting in death. So if you choose to proceed this path, know that care and constaint observation is required for any success...

to simulate the dry season, drop water levels in the tank to 50%, feeding should be limited and oxygen levels should be lower than normal (NOTE: dropping oxygen levels is EXTREMELY dangerous and can result in death within a very short time, this is very difficult to successfully accomplish and is something only the experianced hobbyist should attempt), these conditions should be monitored very carfully... the dry season lasts for a few months and the rainy season should next be simulated...

most accomplish this by slowly raising the water level over the next few weeks and have a rain simulator in place with holes poked in a water line running above the tank, this should trigger breeding if you are successful and you will notice aggression increase almost 10 fold... hopefully you will get a pair, you will notice two fish that keep together and dont let any other fish around the area they pick for the nest. This is where things can get dangerous, as they will fight and bite and wound, and usually they will sustain some nasty damage from this. so its a stressful time for the piranha owner as pretty much anything can happen... durring this time of the rainy season, water conditions should be kept PERFECT!!!, any change or drop in water quality will diminish your changes of a successful breeding. especially dealing with fish wild caught from the rivers themselves...

after you see eggs, assuming all goes to plan, the best route is to vacuuming them up with a gravel vac or turkey baster, and putting them in a 20gal to 40al that you have set up for the fry... raising fry is a whole'nuther story and thread... hahah, i think this is enough to read for now, hahahah

so yeah, hope thats informative for anyone who is wishing to breed piranhas in the future, i havent breed my reds yet, as they are still too young, but one day i will and ill have pictures and info as they grow... :)
breeding piranhas is a labour of love and i deffinitally think all the hard work pays off in the end, its quite a fascinating process...

all the best
jones

[Melody]

You certainly know your fishies young man, thanks for all of that typing - do you need a finger massage? :laugh:

I think that a lot of the threads here will be formatted and placed in the articles section as well as here so we don't lose this valuable information. Your expertise is impressive Ryan.

I think that many articles are written for promotion purposes so they may be written based on what people have read elsewhere rather than experience. I don't know if that's the case here, but it could be the problem. That's why I don't like posting them when I can't give them a knowledgable review. Some of the things I've read in these open source articles by other authors would amaze you, but not in a good way...lol. Articles are a good promotional tool though - we can chat about that elsewhere if you'd like to try it for marketing your business. I have all of the open source content information bookmarked.

You make me want to breed them - you could stop that part ;) .

[jones]

i love articals, crossing them with personal experiance is really the key to moving on in the hobby i think, so keeping things open ended is always best, since i have never breed myself, this is also all information i have collected from the internet, friends, videos, books whatever right, and that stuffs always wrong too... so im sure there are bits and parts in my own explaination that could use some work, i dont claim to be an expert in any means, i just keep reading and take in any information with an open mind...
theres always more to learn...

but getting back on topic, breeding is a lot of work and one must be properly setup and prepared or it will result in casualties, although i have read of breed habbits being triggered by just regular 50% waterchanges, but that was a red belly tank, so it always goes by the fish i guess...

for a piranha to sexually mature it takes about a year to a year n a half... some will argue this can happen sooner, some will argue later, but from what i've read, its about a year...

no problem, as you can see, i love talkin piranhas, hahah, that and that grade 8 typing class i took back in the day always helps out, hahaha

i cant wait to finally breed mine, they are still just a bit too young...

[Melody]

I hear ya - I soak it all up myself, everytime I get a new species I do it all again...lol.

If you want to read some detailed and successful ways to induce spawning with a simulation of the rainy season, read Ian's Cory (http://corydorasworld.com/books/breeding_corydoradinae_catfish) book. He's spawned some very difficult to spawn Cory's with his methods. The VAHC Library has it if you're a member. That's the second time I've recommended that book in the past week - I'm not affiliated, honest! :laugh: I do have a great respect for his work though.

[jones]

ill be posting pictures, videos, of pretty much every dawgawn step of the way when my fish are old enough and im properly setup...

i really cant wait personally its always been something i've wanted to do... i've made sure to get a variety of reds from different shoals and 6 wild reds are in there too...

but ill have some updates pretty quick here...

i promise to get all these piranha pictures then my camera breakes:twitcy:
they're comin, haha

[Melody]

LOL That's ok, we know you'll come through and it will be worth waiting for :yes: .

[jones]

LOL That's ok, we know you'll come through and it will be worth waiting for :yes: .


talked to bestbuy today, the cameras on the way back n fixed, hahaha

get some new piranha pics up when it comes in :)
hahah

all the best