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red bellies are rather easy to breed, in a large enough tank and i know that caribe have been bred tho not on a scale that sellers could take advantage of. there are a couple of the serrasalmus species that are known to breed in captivity, such as the spilopleura, maculatus, and i believe the medinai. other than that most species either require an enormous amount of space or just cant be housed with each other in an aquarium setting. like the black piranha. in the wild they seem to keep a smaller loose-knit shoal when compared to red bellies and caribe. but its thought to be impossible to keep black piranhas together in almost any size tank. they just annihilate each other. now, all that being said i was unaware that piranha were illegal to import. there are still plenty of states that allow them, but i have no idea about the legal status of bringing them across the u.s. border.

hey bettachris
i knew that koi can cause a lot of damage to an ecosystem but i didn't goldfish do it as well?

but thats tyhe reason paranahs are illegal in oz i think?
cuase people get sick of 'em and dump 'em in the local creeks and before ya know it ya have a deadly water way

Could you imagine, a deadly water way? LOL just swimming at a beach and "YEEEEOOUCHHHH!!"
Angeleel.. thank you for understanding. Life is not boring around here! I know enough about pirhanas, this was just to spark some interesting conversations about them.....K.I.S.S. if you dont know what that means.. yeah.. exactly.

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

Has anyone had any accidents with their pirahanas or near-misses involving their body parts or hands?

Not yet.. but now since i gravel vac like a good shishie mom... they arent scared of it.. they swim right by it.. knid of creepy since my hands are in the vicinity...]]

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

with my first shoal of rb's i used one of those flimsy plastic tank dividers to keep the p's on one side of the tank while i vac'd the other. worked fine until they were about 6in. for some reason at the 6in. mark there is a very noticeable change in demeanor with rb's. they get a bit bolder n to an extent more territorial. anyways as i was vac'ing one side out of the corner of my eye i notice the divider slowly falling over as i went to grab for it with my free hand i then noticed that my piranha werent on the other side anymore. i look down and there swirling around my hand are my 3 6in. rb's, "poised to strike". i was totally dumb-founded as to how quick this had happened. i slowly, very slowly balled my hand into a fist(a fist looks much less like a meal, than a trailing finger) and proceeded to inch my hand out of the tank. they never even seemed to notice. after that i never used any type of tank divider. it sounded like a good idea, but all it really did was make the piranha more frightened n nervous. which is not a good thing, an angry animal is dangerous but a scared animal is even more dangerous and highly unpredictable.
on a side note, ive talked to a couple of people who have been bitten by their piranha. in almost every case i can remember it was attributed to the owner not taking the time to let the piranha move to a safe distance. they just shoved their hand into the tank for maintenance purposes, etc., scared the crap outta the fish, and POW! got a good ol' love bite. most of the people ive talked to also say that the bite itself didnt really hurt, its over so quick that they almost didnt realize they were bit. they do however talk about the ache n pain as the bite heals, when piranha bite they usually take an almost perfect grape-shaped chunk out of the "bitee" so its a slow and painful mending process. now these accounts were people who had been bit by either red belly piranha or cariba piranha(pygocentrus caribe),a close relative of the rb. ive never talked to anyone, or ever even heard of someone being bit by any of the larger growing species such as the black piranha(serrasalmus rhombeus),piraya piranha(pygocentrus piraya), or manuel's piranha(serrasalmus manueli)

Last edited by TIGER9 at 23-Aug-2005 20:54

Ok, so my fiancee gravel vac'ed the tank and one went right towards his hands, and just stopped short! Holy crapola! Any who, they are about close to 6" so perhaps it is that threshold that they are crossing.
Oh and another question: So if pirhanas can't be imported into the US, how are we getting them? Also, I watched a show on National Geographic the other night, as I am sure many of you did, The Amazon Abyss, and when they showed the pirhanas, their teeth look so different unlike the ones we have here.. another species or what is the answer?

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

well they breed, and we can get them from breeders in the us, or they are import illegaly, but i don't think it is? maybe i am wrong.

I thought that they weren't easy to breed?

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

MAN oh man.........Tanya I know what you were trying to do, and like you said it worked....instead of everyone getting it, you got people who are STILL demanding you ask your question a diffrent way.Just type something about pirhanas..lol



I don't understand why you guys just won't add something to the list of what this fish is....instead of only teaching english



I am sure she knows what she should have wrote.....

But that sounds boring and gets no ones attention =p




I would love to find out more about this fish that I never knew, like being banned in certain places.....BUT instead I am learning proper sentence form........BUNK heh


Hopes for more pirhana info...
Angel Eel

What's the max size of a normal RB Pirahna; and should they be kept in shoals, or are they OK with one or two companions? What's the smallest sized tank they can stay in(with good filtration)?

-Keith#2


http://www.ozarkgames.com

well as a piranha owner I'd keep 1 red in a 55 as they are messy eaters and get to 9+in easily.



Chris

Do they eat only live food, or can they be fed pellets and such?

-Keith#2


http://www.ozarkgames.com

My red bellies staple diet is smelt.
They also like shrimp, beef heart , and squid.
They do eat floating cichlid pellets too.
Oh yeah, all most forgot, they of course will eat feeders too, but I very rarely feed them any.
HTH
Eric

I feed mine floating Jumbo cichlid pellets, 4 pellets for 2 fish, once a day, and the occasional guppy (of which i raise and breed) but they hardly bat an eye at them, perhaps it is a waste of their energy to eat something so small?? Maybe Tiger9 can help me out with that. Anyway, and they get frozen bloodworms now and then, and i used to feed them shrimp pellets, again, they are too good to eat that!]

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

well, piranha will eat pretty much ANY meaty food source. but not all meaty foods are good for piranha. rule number one in my book has always been NO mammal or poultry meat. they are to high in fat and oil, piranhas dont need the extra fat or oil and both are bad news for your tanks water chemistry. not to mention that most mammal n poultry are pumped full of growth hormones which cant be good for anyone, piranha or human. rule number two, no red or pink meat fish. the redder the meat usually the more oil in it. stay away from these i always considered catfish a bit to much as well. stick with the white meat fishes. tilapia, cod, etc. as well as most crustaceans. shrimp n scallops are excellent. they made up most of my piranhas diet. and rule number three, feeder fish are a treat NOT a staple. raising ur own feeders is an excellent idea. u can keep track of what they are eating and the general health of the fish ur piranha are eating. still most feeders are a bit to small to be a good well-rounded meal for piranha. i used to go with ONE feeder every 3-4 weeks. instead of getting a dozen small or medium feeder goldfish i would buy one large comet or koi. something close to the size of my piranha. alot more meat less fins(aka filler) and for those who like to see what piranha are really capable of its a much better assessment of their hunting and killing prowess.

and the occasional guppy (of which i raise and breed) but they hardly bat an eye at them, perhaps it is a waste of their energy to eat something so small??

perhaps, but more likely ur piranha are just well fed. piranha dont kill just because theres something to kill. u know that, i know that(now we just gotta convince the rest of the world) piranha tend to only make a kill for two reasons.
A) theyre hungry(duh)
B) they feel the that this other animal is either a threat to them, their food source, or their territory.
a small guppy isnt much of a threat to anyone to be quite honest and as long as ur piranha are kept well fed they have no reason to expend the energy chasing one lil guppy. thats true predator theory, is the food source theyre going after worth the energy they have to expend catching it? now eventually yea one of your piranha will eat this fish no doubt about it. but it could be a week, month, or longer. ive had large tinfoil barbs that lasted for 3mths without more than a nipped fin, then one day BAM they were gone. hoped this helped.

ive showed mine in shows and have won awards for there finage n colouration
i have 7 wild caught reds n there the best condition n colour of piranhas ive ever seen all 7 are 6.5"-8.5" housed together n there stable diet is fish n frozen krill theu get worms pinky mice blood worms sparrows grapes sun flower seeds rose pedals they seem to eat almost every plant except java moss n java ferns
i feed my shoal every other day 12 gold fish 2-3" in length or sometimes instead they get 50 flat head minnows keeps them in good shjape
my twim power heads n massive filteration also keep them in good condition

they r very smart n recognize me n my gurl freind if anyone else comes in they hide n watch every movement from behind drift wood plants or rock caves

there gentle n agile enuf to feed from my hand only my gf is reluctant to try

watching these fish grow has been the best experience of my fish keeping n for anyone who can afford the setup fish n food n has the time to enjoy a truely remarkable fish i suggest red bellies they r not the violent killers theyve been made out to b but more much more of an aquatic wolf taking the sick n weak thus helping there natural environment
they r a truely gorgeous fish

How about them pirhanas?

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 really didnt have a direction that i wanted to take the topic.. hence it was a freeflow forum posting. some people get a bit uptight around here.

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

sorry didn't mean to sound rude, I just meant that you should of gave a starting point. Something along the lines of "What are your oppinions on them" or "what do you think about piranhas"

"how about them piranhas" doesn't really give any info on what direction you want to go with them. No idea if you want to get info on them or get oppinions on them. Sorry if I sounded rude, but I didn't know where to go with it.