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Now, as I made a thread that was quite popular, even tho there was no specific point made, (mind you it came out quite well) I want to know. Is there a defnite way to sex pirhanas!!???? And what are their breeding conditions. i want to know from people on this website, (believe me i have researched it on the internet), what you have done and your experiences.

72 gallon bowfront:Tanganyikan Lake set up
75 gallon: A. Baenschi trio,Cyanotilapia Afra Cobwe(4), copadichromis trewavase, protomelas sp. tangerine tiger(breeding pair)

to the best of my knowledge its all but impossible to sex piranha except by dissecting them, which pretty much defeats the purpose, or by having a mating pair and watching which one lays the eggs and which one fertilizes them. ive heard plenty of rumors on it tho. all of them are rather absurd. the only one that stands out as a possibility is that female piranha tend to be thicker/girthier than a male counterpart of the same size. the idea being that a female would naturally be a bit bulkier due to carrying eggs. makes some sense BUT it isnt a steadfast way to sex piranha. i do know that in most species of piranha its the male, not the female, who stays with the eggs. both parents guard the nest. but its the male who hovers over the clutch until theyve hatched.

so they dont act like your typical characin, dropping the eggs and running/eating them?

72 gallon bowfront:Tanganyikan Lake set up
75 gallon: A. Baenschi trio,Cyanotilapia Afra Cobwe(4), copadichromis trewavase, protomelas sp. tangerine tiger(breeding pair)

nope, the spawning pair will seperate from the the main shoal, find a suitable site for a nest and make a depression in the substrate. sometimes theyll even nip plants and add them to the nest. then, from what im told, they seem to do a ritual mating "dance" and shortly after the female deposits the eggs, then the male fertilizes them. the pair will then defend the nest against ANYTHING. the female will leave the nest to eat but never gets to far away. ive seen pics where the mating pair is at one side of the tank close to the substrate guarding the nest, while 4-5 other red bellies are at the other end in a tight bundle, apparently being kept there by the very protective parent pair. but once the eggs hatch all parenting behavior is over. the pair return to their shoal and the newly hatched fry are on their own.

interesting....very uncharacin like..

72 gallon bowfront:Tanganyikan Lake set up
75 gallon: A. Baenschi trio,Cyanotilapia Afra Cobwe(4), copadichromis trewavase, protomelas sp. tangerine tiger(breeding pair)

i've also read that they are very difficult to breed

yea, thats what ive been told as well. i dont know of anyone whos bred any piranha species in a tank of 125g. or less. piranha are a fish that requires more room than most fish that grow as large. and to have a breeding pair seems to require much more.

i havent had a success yet but by observations of my 7 piranhas all wild cot red bellies (f0) i believe the male hits sexual maturity first but the females grow larger faster
i have no proof of this but by watching closly i have 4 larger reds n 3 smaller ones that arent as dark during times of social activity
the smaller thinner believed to b males make advances towards the lager of the group often swimming beside or t boning the other when side by side they shake quite rapidly the larger of the only reciprocates the action after turning noticebly darker
once the larger of the pair darkens the other 5 move to the other side of my tank n hide in the plants n wood while the other 2 circle each other n shake
ive never witnessed any eggs but the larger n darker of the 2 has violently shredded swords n java moss around the corner were they reside even attacking drift wood and my heater light
so if u have a larger darker fish i wood assume it wood b female but i can not say for sertain
if i happen to ever see myn spawn ill b sure to post

when piranha grow close to sexual maturity they get a bit darker. the older a piranha is usually the darker they become. and during spawning they become very dark. but this also happens during night cycles when the lights are off, a form of camo i would suppose, and during times of stress they can also become very dark. ive seen a couple of pics on p-fury of a red belly that was literally black, it was soooo black that there was a crapload of posts pertaining to whether it was a red belly and to be honest it could have been a caribe it didnt have the jaw structure to be a ternetzi or piraya, but it was definitely pygocentrus. the owner got it from an old man who couldnt care for his tank anymore. i havent seen any species of pygocentrus as dark as that particular specimen. it was as dark as an adult black piranha straight from the rio negro. unreal.

thats crazy!!!!! do they every get out of their juvenile stage of being scared and swimming all spastically when you go by the tank?

72 gallon bowfront:Tanganyikan Lake set up
75 gallon: A. Baenschi trio,Cyanotilapia Afra Cobwe(4), copadichromis trewavase, protomelas sp. tangerine tiger(breeding pair)

yes, as they get larger n more confident theyll calm down and get used to u. they will always however, be very wary of anyone approaching the tank. the best thing u can do is spend time near the tank itself. let them see you watching them. i can remember watching young p's and theyd start to move or check something out and then theyd instantly stop and look me dead in the eyes. then move back to the rear of the tank. but with time, and patience they showed me a whole other side to their behavior.
many new piranha owners believe that its going to be a tankfull of bloodthirsty carnivores. that during every feeding the water will boil blood red. they think of these piranha constantly cruising circles in the tank just waiting for a feed. WELL, owning piranha is the POLAR OPPOSITE. they know when they are being watched and it seems to unsettle them. tho they are a predator, they come from a water system where they are usually on the lower end of the food chain. and evolution has hard-wired them to be very skittish of anything that eyeballs them.
tanya, if ur not a patient person now, owning piranha will make u one. believe me, i bought my original shoal for all the wrong reasons, after owning them for awhile i realized just how wrong EVERYONES preconceived notions about this fish were. not ugly killing machines, just beautiful fish. especially beautiful when the room is lit up by the sun, wow, that shows their true colors(as with most fish). most pics make them look a gray color but in reality theyre so reflective silver and when they turn u see all the colors of the rainbow reflected off of them. and its not everyday u can watch a fish that even when its sitting perfectly still u can see that its thinking and is extremely aware of its enviroment in the tank and outside the tank

ONE species of piranha can be succesfully sexed very easily. I own 4 Pygopristis Denticulatas (2 males, 2 females) and these piranhas can be sexed by looking at the anal fin. The females anal fin forms a concave line, while the males has an extra "lobe" in the middle of the fin making a convex bump in between two concave "valleys". Mind you, most people have never heard of this piranha...

From what I've read breeding red bellies isn't all that hard. I know of a couple people personally who've done it. Piranha-fury forums have excellent information on it. Most red bellies are farm bred I believe and unless you buy from an importer yours are going to be captive bred. Rhoms and other serralmus species though are a different story. They dont do well with others and can take a while to get to sexual maturity.

Yeah, they do keep a watchful eye on you!! I go to the tank and they swim all over the place, and i turn around and go to the farther point of the room and they are watching me walk away with their beady little eyes!!! I think that they are very beautiful fish, very interesting behaviors that they exhibit. Now i was looking over mine, and their anal fins are a bit different in shape..... do you think that it is anything to do with gender? The one has an anal fin that has a longer front curve towards the back, and the other one, has a "normal looking" i guess is the best way i can describe that... any ideas?:%)

72 gallon bowfront:Tanganyikan Lake set up
75 gallon: A. Baenschi trio,Cyanotilapia Afra Cobwe(4), copadichromis trewavase, protomelas sp. tangerine tiger(breeding pair)

ive heard people say that can be a way to distinguish gender, tanya, but anytime u use a physical trait to pin down gender ur really just making an educated guess. with piranha there can be to much individual variations to use finnage as a gender marker. ive also heard that the head shape can tell u the sex of a piranha. but there are more than just two head shapes ive seen with this fish, so that seems invalid as well.

Mind you, most people have never heard of this piranha

ive heard of them nattereri, but i dont know many people that own them. a rather rare species to have

Last edited by TIGER9 at 11-Sep-2005 20:39