[ezlife]

I have seen pictures of people having 1-3" baby rhoms living in the same tank.

1) when do these people start to separate them into individual tanks?
2) at what size or age do they start becoming "individualistic" or "solitary"?
3) will i have any chance at having a 5" rhom shoal if i raise them all together and keep them well fed? maybe in numbers of 3, 5 or 7.

I tried to order a piraya and cariba's and got an email this morning saying they arent getting them in, so i have to go with plan B for my empty tank.

Yes, yes, i have heard that rhoms will kill each other, but i am taking a different approach of raising babies (1-2") together instead of taking multiple 10"+ and just throwing them together. I figure i might have better odds this way.

 

[InSinUAsian]

Even babies will kill each other. Small P's are usually more canabalistic then when larger. People do have them in the same tank for short periods, such as in shops, but even then they are very prone to fin damage and fights. There is a good reason that you dont see many Rhoms schools in existance. It is possible however, as rhoms have been bred at a zoo in a tank over 1000 gallons. I believe it was closer to 1500. And even then there where only 2 in there i believe.

Please correct me if im wrong (Frank or anybody else).

In short, a school of rhoms is a definate disaster waiting to happen. All a matter of time.

~Dj

 

[ezlife]

Dj,

I didnt know smaller are more canabalistic than larger rhoms. You learn something new everyday.

But yes thats where i got the idea was from pet shops, i see them with multiple baby rhoms in a BARE tank (no plants, no rocks, no hiding space or anything). With fin nipping and small body bites i am not too concerned because with RBs, they did the same thing with each other. As long as they have the super healing abilities of RBs they should be ok.

I figure after 5", then i can sell them or separate them into small tanks or whatever. But thats AFTER i make a mouse video of course, lol.

Imagine a shoal of baby rhoms attacking a mouse and ripping to shreads.

With the original mouse video, i think it suprised a lot of people because of the oscar in there, very few people thought you could sucessfully mix RBs with anything.

 

[hastatus]

One thing to keep in mind. Pet stores are limited by space and so they mix many piranas together. Not unusual (and I have seen this plenty of times) where I would find 6 to 8 S. rhombeus juveniles (3-4 inches TL) mixed together, many with damaged fins. Usually the dealer tells me that he had more and they are very nasty killing themselves off. So they try to move them as quickly as possible. A photo may be worth a 1,000 words but piranas quickly dispatch that notion with their predatory behavior.

 

[InSinUAsian]

I would suggest if you want a challenging Serra school, for you to go with spilos. I am pretty sure you would not be disappointed. To give you some idea, mine are about 3 inches and if they could finish a whole mouse, I believe they are aggressive enough to go after it. On that note, perhaps this saturday I will give it a try with a pinkie.

*wheels turning in head*

 

[RhomZilla]

One thing to keep in mind. Pet stores are limited by space and so they mix many piranas together. Not unusual (and I have seen this plenty of times) where I would find 6 to 8 S. rhombeus juveniles (3-4 inches TL) mixed together, many with damaged fins. Usually the dealer tells me that he had more and they are very nasty killing themselves off. So they try to move them as quickly as possible. A photo may be worth a 1,000 words but piranas quickly dispatch that notion with their predatory behavior.

Damn it Frank.. just when I had the courage to ignore and close off all the truth I've known regarding the destructions within shoaling of Rhoms, you just had to add more facts to discourage me.

Honestly, since my homie owns a LFS and said that he can get Rhoms for cheap, plus not to mention I've had an empty boring fishtank for awhile, and have nothing to spend money on... I was going to buy 4 Rhoms and see how long it would last and if the impossible can be defied. Then sell the Rhoms later on.

Oh wells.. there goes that Idea...

Thanks for the knock on the head, Frank

 

[DiXoN]

take everyones advise on this one and dont do it it has been tried many times before and failed

 

[thoroughbred]

yeah bad idea ive done it when i bought 2 rhoms about 2 inches apiece ahd them for 1 1/2 yrs in a 30 gallon no problem then another 1 1/2 yrs in a 55 then 1 day came home and 1 had his back bitten out in a perfect half circle i thought i was gonna prove the impossible

110 gallon 5 rbp 2", 1 rhom 1"(i wont let this last to long)

55 gallon 7" rhom

 

[hastatus]

Oh wells.. there goes that Idea...

If you have a loved one, buy them a gift instead of spending on a bad venture. Better still find other interesting species of pirana.

 

[ezlife]

Well it looks like i have no choice but to take you guys advice :biggrin:

I tried to email an order to sharkaquarium but they are out of stock on baby rhoms.

i tried to order a piraya from another source and heard they cant get them at the moment, so i guess its time for Plan C for my empty tank for almost 2 weeks now, GRRRR

throughbreed: do you think your expereiment would have worked if you had 3 or 5 baby rhoms, because with 2, its a one-on-one deal whereas if you have an odd number, they will have to spread the agression around.

well i cant get a piraya i cant get baby rhoms, hmm i will have to do more researching after my test this afternoon and see what i am going to do now.

 

[thoroughbred]

well ez life good question honestly i dont think so because when i got the rhoms i was 19 or 20 and didnt have much moneyfor a bigger tank

and i thought getting 3 rhoms in a 30 gallon was definaltely a no no!! and once i got the 55 the rhoms were ummm ill say maybe 3-4 inchs (didnt measure im guessing too much pot mess long term memory up) lmao and i really didnt think adding another rhom would be feasible also once again i wouldve had to buy a rhom of similar size and once again at that size they werent cheap and im from buffalo ny were thyere illegal didnt have 3-4 inchers laying in lfs's lol but even thought it worked then i notcied then as much as i tried it was coming to an end they never fought that i saw but i did notice when in the 55 was 1 was on bottom and 1 was on top not like it used to be 1 at 1 end and 1 at other so i moved stuff around but nothing worked and i heard(dont know if true seemed true though) that the more dominat fish stays at top and less dominat at top but hey maybe in a big enough tank when they all babies u could pull it off cause till 1 killed the other they werent any fights no fin nipping nothing

110 gallon 5rbp 2", 1rhom 1"
55 gallon 7"rhom

 

[thoroughbred]

sorry more dominat fish at bottom and less dominant at top

 

[RhomZilla]

Oh wells.. there goes that Idea...

If you have a loved one, buy them a gift instead of spending on a bad venture. Better still find other interesting species of pirana.

My gf is way ahead of us both, Frank. I own 2 Rhoms, (1) 5" High Black, and (1) Xingu. She took the 5" 2 days after I got him and wont give him back unless I trade my Xingu for her.

Gotta love gf thats involved with your hobby.