I have TONS of questions for piranha owners:
So for a couple months there's been a nearby piranha on Facebook market place for a low price. His tank (or atleast I think it's a he cuz he's pretty small) looks really small and empty, I doubt any other people in the area would really want a piranha (relitivly conservative "old people" neighborhood) and I really want to get him cuz I feel bad for him. I have never owned a piranha and it's been a while since I've had a fish at all, so I have tons of questions.
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What size tank would he need? I've seen ALL sorts of different opinions ranging from 40-160 gallons, I've been mostly looking for 100 gallon ones but my parents are saying that would be to difficult to maintain. (And I DEFNITLY need one with a cover. I'm not sure how piranhas are likely to jump out, but I also have budgies in the same room I intes to keep the tank and I definitely don't even want to risk anything happening to them)
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I've done some research on what tankmates would be good, and since I've learnt piranhas are really messy eaters I definitely want SOMETHING to help keep the tank clean... But I've also learnt NOTHING is a guaranteed safe tankmate for a piranha and everything is just "this will PROBABLY be fine", does anyone have any sort of plecos or snails with their piranha? What types?
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I'd rather not feed anything live to him. I was thinking store bought shrimp would work as treats but I dunno if that would be a healthy everyday diet. does anyone know what/where to find healthy everyday food for a piranha?
Any other tips would be greatly appreciated, completely new to this... Please help me "fish police"
Posted May 1, 2026, 5:46 PM UTC