# Piranha with Cichlids?



## marinerm10

Hi Everyone,

I am not sure if it has been done, I personally don't like the idea myself at all but I was wondering has anyone ever kept Cichlids with Piranha? I have no intention of doing so but wondered what the likely outcome would be? From my experience of observing both species it would appear that although Piranha possess powerful teeth, they lack the intelligence of cichlids and therefore would find it difficult to deal with a Cichlids fighting ability even if a Piranha is technically bigger and stronger.

Let me know your thoughts


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## PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn

I'm sure someone has tried it, but I wouldn't recommend it in the slightest.

this strikes me as a MFK style thread. its not what I'd call responsible stocking. if you have a massive tank (in the many thousands of liters + range) it "might" work. but in a normal tank I'd say its a disaster waiting to happen.

having seen tanks full of piranha, IMO they're rather boring fish,

however, there is an issue in general behavior/physiology that means its a bad idea. piranhas are nervous fish, and will be stressed by the cichlids behavior. conversely the teeth and jaws of the piranha mean that if they fight (say lip locking) then the cichlid will lose out to the teeth.

if you like piranhas then I suggest you consider silver dollars. there are several that look very much like the various piranha sp (plus some fantastic spotty ones as well) that are far more compatible with various SA and CA cichlids


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## smellsfishy1

P's are extremely nervous fish.
I have kept a small shoal of red bellies and they are very nervous and in my opinion not suitable for standard aquariums.
They probably need an 8 footer and a shoal of 20 just to feel somewhat comfortable.
I used to turn on the light and they would go nuts bashing into tank walls, heaters and rocks.

They are really boring as PMMan stated.
The common red bellies aren't aggressive the least bit.
When I first got mine rosy red minnows chased them around. 
Their vision is also very poor so they are completely reliant on smell.

As for what happens in a showdown?
If all things were equal I would guess the cichlid would stress the P to death.
The one exception I think is if the P was a Black P, the cichlid would be done in the blink of an eye.
I have seen a video of a JD cornering a RBP and picking on it at will.


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## Darkside

What you want is a school of Exodon paradoxus. :thumb:


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## roffels

I totally DO NOT recommend getting piranhas i bought them with the intention that they were going to be a really cool fish (not as in o lets throw a duck in there and see what happens ) but as it swimming in schools and moving around alot and be visible but ooooh no no no no no ... my piranhas sat in one spot ALL day long they didnt even move and they were maybe 3 inches long in a huge aquarium .... so i said byebye and moved on to cichlids


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## oldcatfish

I have kept numerous pirahna species in the past.

I agree with the others----they aren't for someone unless you really know what you are doing. The different species vary a bit with their behavior, and temperament, as well as their campatibility with each other. The ones that generally make better aquarium residents need to be kept in larger numbers, in very large tanks.

And it really is dangerous to keep them...a 6 inch common red-bellied (P. Natteri) has the potential to amputate your finger. And kept in too few numbers, in too small of an aquarium (which is anything smaller than an 8 footer in my opinion), and they are even more nervous than usual----which increases the likelyhood that they will be threatened. I was always overly cautious when I kept them, and I still had a couple of really close calls.

Now, to answer your question more directly. Depending on the type and number of pirahnas and the type of cichlid and size of tank...a more aggressive pair of cichlids will easily drive a pirahna away from a territory....unless the cichlid exhibits any behavior which triggers the feeding response or really gets the piranha cornered. One bite from a 6 inch piranha will easily take a 1 inch plus sized chunk out of the cichlid. Then, it's all over. The pirahna will go for the kill---which won't take long. They even do that to each other, if one of them gets sick or wounded.


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## grd1616

Actually a guy I know has 2 piranha with 2 HUGE oscars and a massive cat in a 300 gal and they do fine, the oscars are actually the bosses of the tank.


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## Jd convict

grd1616 said:


> Actually a guy I know has 2 piranha with 2 HUGE oscars and a massive cat in a 300 gal and they do fine, the oscars are actually the bosses of the tank.


 I would love to see that 300 gallon tank


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## Jd convict

grd1616 said:


> Actually a guy I know has 2 piranha with 2 HUGE oscars and a massive cat in a 300 gal and they do fine, the oscars are actually the bosses of the tank.


I have a Prana with a red devil Texas cichlid three convicts a Jack Dempsey and a algae eater and blood parrot and 120 gallons they all seem fine but the piranha is the smallest


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## ell

I currently have a 6” rbp living with a 4” african cichild. when i was extremely new and uneducated i bought three baby ranas and added them to a tank of guppies and a single pleco. The rbps got about 2” and started eating the guppies, pleco lived for about a year. He actually outlived one of the three red bellies. The rbp i still have actually got bigger way faster than the other two due to bullying (i had too small of a tank) and just killed the smaller ones off. A friend dropped off 5 african cichlids they didnt want thinking i still had my 30gal setup. I put them in with the rbp and he ate all but one within a month. Its been 6 months since theyve been together and they almost seem to like eachother lol


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