Is my Piranha lonely?

[hippiegirl453]

I have one single piranha living in a 10 gallon tank. I've had him since he was about an inch big. I've had him now for about 7 months and i feel him fish to help him deal with his aggression...He's picky and doesn't like pellets. I'm not sure if 1) the ten gallon tank is too small for just one piranha...or if 2) he's lonely all by himself...and what kind of friends i can buy him...
it's upsetting seeing him in his tank all alone i feel bad we try and get him to move around...but he looks so lonely...I'm just afraid he'll die

[Aqueous]

10 gallons will be too small to house one full grown piranha. The most common type of piranah found in pet stores is the Red Belly Piranha which has the potential to grow up to 12". Sure you can keep a piranha in a smaller tank but that would generally lead the fish to being stunted which will eventually lead to health problems. Even with 20 gallons the most you would be looking at would be one fish.

Piranha are also social fish that tend to do better in groups. 3-4 would be a much better ratio, and for that amount of fish you would be looking at around 100 gallons.

As far as feeding your piranah live fish, make sure that any fish you buy are quarantined for at least 2 weeks (4 would be better). Feeder fish are a great way to introduce disease into your tank.

[hippiegirl453]

You've been a great help, thank you. But i have two more questions...
my piranha being lonely won't affect his health will it? Also, if i buy like three more piranha will they eat each other? Can't they not be added together if they're not little babies anymore? He's a good 3 inches now...

[Aqueous]

Piranha's are skittish by nature, being in a group helps them to combat this. As long as there are enough hiding places in the aquarium that should cut down on some of the stress.

If you were going to add more piranha's I would make sure that they're the same size as the one you have now. But definitely don't add more if you have no way of eventually upgrading to a tank of at least 100 gallons. Even the fish you have now will require at least 20 gallons on it's own as the bare minimum.

I forgot to mention in my last post, if feeder fish are your piranha's staple diet then it is most likely lacking nutrients. Feeder fish are not particularly nutritious (they're mostly fat, scales and bones) and store bought diets are formulated to meet your piranha's specific needs.

[hippiegirl453]

Thank you so much you've been such a great help! I'll go buy him some tropical fish nutrients today, thank you! Also i actually took out some plants so he could swim around, but ill put some more back in.