Piranhas - a much misunderstood fish

[Innes]

I have been asked to make up a little post about piranhas, well I have 2 P nattereri (Red Belly Piranhas) I bought them about 1-2 years ago and at the time I really didn't know that much about them, the people in the shop told me they could go with my cichlids and so I came home with 2 piranhas the size of a 10p coin, I added them to my tank and after a few days I noticed little bits out the cichlids fins, well out of many of them so I moved all the ones that had been gotten and there remained one severum who lived with my piranhas for about a year, by which time they had gotten about 5" and I finally moved the severum when a little bit of his lip was bitten off (it is now fully healed) now I have some small (and fast) tetras in my tank.

now that is my story of my piranhas.

now a little piranha info:
piranhas mainly come in 2 Genus in the shops around the world, although there are in fact 4 that I am aware of.

Pygos (Genus Pygocentrus) are known for there rounded look (like red bellys) and these 3 species can all shoal, in fact that is how they like it, the most tolerant of all these is P nattereri, if you wanted to keep other fish with piranhas these are the only ones you have any chance with.

Serras (Genus Serrasalmus) are more pointy than pygos, this genus includes the black piranha (Serrasalmus rhombeus) which can reach 18+", it also includes the small but beautifull Serrasalmus elongatus which has a max size of only about 9".
This Genus is known to be very aggressive and intolerant of even its own kind in the cramped conditions of the home aquarium.
However there is one or two of the serras that will shoal like Serrasalmus geryi which are known to do best in shoals.


For more piranha information - please click here

 

[Fruitbat]

Thanks for the info, Innes! I had two Pygocentrus nattereri myself a number of years back....before it was illegal to have them in Texas without a VERY hard-to-get permit. They ate every fish that I put in with them...including a 12-inch 'pleco'. Of course....they only ate the back half of him and left the armor-plated front half alone. I finally got tired of having a 55 gallon tank with two fish in it so I managed to donate them to the Dallas Aquarium where they lived a long and happy life with about 100 more Red-bellys.

 

[cj10488]

I had a couple of the Pygocentrus nattereri Myself.. i used to throw a fe handful of feeders in there for feeding but they never really seemed too active.. They seemed real hardy.. Man one of them died and I stuck it in hot water and stuck an airhose in its gil and brought it back to life.. I ended up selling them back to the LFS a couple years later when they got Boring to me.. In the 2 years that I had them I only saw them eat once... They are now a breeding pair at the LFS and still going.. Locally I can get both the Black piranha and the red bellied piranha..

Thx for the Info,
James

 

[Christmasfish]

pirahna

My grandfather had some type of pirahna as oddities and for culling back in the 70's. They were actually curious and interesting after they fed. Hungry, they'd nip at their tanks mates. He never lost anything that was their size or bigger. They were all Samerican fish species. All from th esame river even. He has 8. They were the size of a small adult hand and very shiny. I think I only got nipped once. He had other things bite me far more often. His school had about 10. You could make them jump to catch tidbits . If it was a weak goldie it was easier. They were messy eaters and the tank always need cleaning. There were a few other larger agressive fish in the tank. They stayed under the floating plants if they were not pacing. after a while they were not scarey at all. He had big mosters in th eback pool but no pirahna...... ^.^ he was more afraid of me coming in contact with those.
I wouldn't have them becuase I'd prefer either a community or a brighter species.(With the exception of the polyreptus)

 

[Innes]

here are my piranhas (sorry they are old pics and my tank is all changed now - same fish though)

And here is the tankshot

 

[Christmasfish]

One pic loks wierd

That first picture it looks like "eraserhead". >shuddeed<
Nice. Grandpa's were shinier.....
I see you keep a eye pleasing dinner assortment.








*checks carefully to avoid a repeat of my spellcheck nightmare posted above*

 

[Innes]

they are not dinner, in fact these pics were taken about 6 months ago, and here are some newer pics of the tankmates (these pics were taken in my filming tank about a month ago)

These fish rarely get eaten, only if I go away without feeding my piranhas and also leave the lights off, or when I get new fish they can dissapear in the first 2 weeks, then they are usually long term tankmates with a bright future