Anyone here keep Piranha??

[Olympia]

Except pacu grow way bigger and need humongous custom built tanks. So bad idea.
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[kfryman]

I watch a guy on YouTube, Dustinsfishtanks, he had piranhas. He said he thought they would be cool, but got really boring. He said they were super afraid of people don't know if you can get them to become less shy.

For live food, definitely raise what ever you feed on your own. Fish stores mistreated feeders even more than other fish, so feeding a fish like that will eventually lead to disease. What would you feed them anyways? I agree though, no putting it on YouTube,"piranhas eat mouse" such messed up. I know they gotta eat...

Build or buy a sump, building would be way cheaper and there are lots of videos on YouTube showing how.

[Tazman]

Hate to burst the bubble but you might want to look at this..

NORTH CAROLINA

Possession of Certain Fishes 15a ncac 10c .0211

It is unlawful to transport, purchase, possess or sell any live individuals of piranha.

taken from here

[freemike]

Well for all intents and purposes this tank would be outside of NC...

[Curlyfatbottom]

I've think more then half of the state are illegal it own one.
Since they can survive in lakes
Piranha are scare fish.
They don't do well in tanks.
All they do is hide.
I've never seen a piranha attack another fish while looking at them

[freemike]

Originally Posted by Curlyfatbottom

...They don't do well in tanks.
All they do is hide. I've never seen a piranha attack another fish while looking at them

That is why I want to try it. I have a guy that I met at a LFS that has them. Next visit I'm definitely asking more questions. My main goal with this isn't to just say "Oh I have piranha." Other than a close circle of friends and the internet would be the only entities that would know about the fish. The goal is to raise full colored healthy bold Piranha. This is possible from what I understand on many of the Piranha forums. I understand one key of it is to get juveniles and put them in a high traffic area so they grow accustom to human presence. Most people put 2-5 in bare tanks and think "OMG KILLER FISH let's feed it..." It doesn't quite work that way you have to consider most of these fish are wild caught from large schools and shipped in. So it's not like that are accustomed to tank life with 2-5 buddies. Even if you get them as juveniles you may never get them accustomed to tank life. The chances do go up with having a bigger school for their boldness to shine through because they are a schooling fish and some of that comes from strength in numbers. Right now I don't have the time to tempt this due to school or the space to take this on, but it will be my first monster tank.

[Curlyfatbottom]

It's up to you.
I've seen tank breed piranha, not much different.
They don't get bright in color until breeding season.
Out of season the just look like a pacu with teeth sticking out.
Down fall in keeping a group.
When the fish is 2 year in age or hand size.
They will start to breed.
They do get aggressive toward each other.
You'll have a lot of injury fish