ajm

Just moved my existing 5 foot tank to make way for the new 8 Foot Tank

Siphoned half the water into a 200ltr butt, then filled eight buckets to plop the piranha in. They are double the size since I last moved them and as expected the little gits soaked me and trashed my extra tough net!



After an hour and a half in buckets I have just put them back in the tank and, after swimming around for a while, they all remembered their own spots and are now chilling in the same places they normally do.

More evidence of fish memory!

ajm

I did a video of them picking off frozen lancefish a while back HERE

You'll see they are very cautious about several floating bits food. They don't tend to "frenzy" unless you plop in one single lump. I'll try and get some footage of that next time. A good lump of monkfish usually gets them going!

Leslie

Hope it never breaks, but I bet it looks good.

Les

Poor Guy

drop in something still moving. frog or goldfish perhaps. film that. as i sai before 10 goldfish vs piranha tag team match.

that would be ace.

ajm

So do I! 375 US gallons in my lounge would definately suck!

Its not set up yet though, the fish are still in the 5 footer but as the 8 footer is taking its place I thought it would be easier to complete the stand and the plumbing insitu, meaning the smaller tank had to move.

Hopefully I'll get the stand finished over the next week, then I need to get 3 large mates to help move the new tank onto the stand!

ajm

As I have posted before, I personally tend not to use live food due to disease risks, to keep aggression down and to avoid the tank getting too messy. I also usually chop up food and offer it in multiple pieces to reduce facial bites that piranha tend to suffer when multiple fish go for for an individual piece of food.


There are pleanty that do live feed however.... check out http://www.piranha-fury.com/download...=category&id=3

Alas

Oh disappointment, when I read the title I thought the mouse must have escaped over the edge
Alas

Gutmann pug

I got bit by one of them in August when i was fishing for them in the Amazon .. got the ickle scar to prove it ..... beat that

ajm

A handler of my experience would never get bitten.... but if I do I will be very proud!

Gutmann pug

Try sticking a screw driver in one of their mouths ...... It sounds like a hammer drill, no bull****.
Swimming with them all day everyday then fishing for them in the same spot later on, very sureal

ajm

Which river were you in?

ajm

*bump*

Gutmann pug

The amazon ........... did about 1000KM along it. Rio Negro was where I got bit by the buxgger. Caught black and red bellied ones. The red bellys are the worst, real nasty rat bags. Bloke I was fishing with only has 3 fingers, the other two were taken while getting hooks out of the little sods mouths.
Strange way to fish. Take one piece of thick line, attach a foot long piece of 2mm steel wire to the end of it with a hook attached to the end of that. Get a bamboo cane and beat the shxit out of the surface of the water (sounds like a struggling animal) stick a piece of raw buffalo on the hook and chuck it over the side. When you feel the tug give a yank and drag the bugger in. The hard bit is not getting bit when you get it in. Getting the hook out is done by hand untill they get too big then its a pliers job. We were catching them about 1and1/2 times the size of your hand.

But the river you fish in is safe to wash and swim in during, as long as you dont have an open wound.......

You should try the screw driver in the mouth thing though mate, sounds amazing.

prodriva

Your setup looks fantastc ajm, makes my Fluval Duo 1000 'Deep' tank pretty pathetic.

I changed to external filtration about 6 months ago and it is so much better than anything I've done before.

What I'd really like is an Oscar setup based around a 4ft but ideally 6ft tank.

Keep us updated on your progress along with plenty of pics please

ajm

That would have been serrasalmus rhombeus and pygocentrus nattereri then.

You need to try the venezuelan version of the red belly, pygocentrus caribe, in the Orinoco. They make common reds look timid!

Sounds exactly the same technique as shown on Nigel Marvin's documentary. Are they strong fighters on the rod? They certainly put up a fight in the net, although some fish just don't fight like you'd expect them to. Cod would be a good example of that.

There is the scent issue of open wounds (did you notice the flaps on their nostrils to direct water through?) but it is said they can also sense distress alone!

I wouldn't want to do that to be honest, it could damage their teeth. They do replace their teeth fairly regularly but even so.... Presumably the sound you heard is the rapid opening/closing they do? When you watch them feed they do a simillar thing on tough bits of food. They can cut through lumps of fish far easier than I can with scissors!

Sounds like a great holiday though, would love to get out and see them in their natural habitat one day!

Gutmann pug

The fishing was done by hand line mate, no rods. I started out with a bamboo rod but the locals weren't using them so i was soon using the hand line with them. They dont put up too much of a fight to be honest and they taste bloody horrible.

It was my honeymoon mate, 17 days in boats, jungle trekking, sleeping inside and outside in hammocks etc etc. Hell of a honeymoon lol .......

The locals loved the fishing, we took a cool box full of beer a big chunk of meat and away we went. More than once the buggers bit straight through the steel wire though. A great experience all the same.

ajm

Yes, I made the same transition from an internal built in Jewell filter a while back to a Rena XP3. External filters are definately the way to go. What filter did you opt for?

What's stopping you? Just go for it!

Will keep the pics coming!

prodriva

External filtration is via a Fluval 204 with the Multi-stage media. I added pre-filter (ceramic hexagonal type) media over the weekend with some replacement poly-wool and the water looks crystal clear. I also changed over to aquarium sand from gravel and it looks so much better now. All the fish seem to be enjoying the change (2xPaired Altum Angels, 2xBolivian Rams, 4xClown Loach, 1xfan shrimp, 2xarmoured shrimp, 1xclown plec and 5xmoss *****)

I'm cruising e-bay for a decent sized tank all the time but they're miles away from me when one comes up.

ajm

The fluval range are good filters actually, I've got a 204 too, on a 40 gal. Nice and quiet aren't they! That's my only complaint about the XP3, its a bit noisy.

I'm with you on the sand too. I currently use a fairly fine natural gravel, but I'm quite keen on trying sand. The only thing that puts me off slightly is that the lighter colour of the sand can tend to make the fish's colours look washed out, although I guess it varies from fish to fish. Piranha look good with dark coloured substrate but I'm finding it very hard to find dark coloured sand or very fine black gravel in any decent quantity.

ajm

Have you looked on http://www.aquarist-classifieds.co.uk/ ?

prodriva

Cheers ajm, thats one for the favourites list

PG

where are you ?
I have a Juwel panorama 200 for sale
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthrea...ighlight=juwel

Leslie

They have a species of black fish which look identical in shape to Piranhas which live close to the shore in Ascension Island. They did not tend to attack while we were swimmimng but we were warned not to swim if we had an open wound or they would go for you pretty strongly. We used them for bait to catch Grouper and Moray eels.

They had the impressive teeth too!

Les

prodriva

PG, nice looking tank. However, i'm in Sandhurst, Berkshire so not very local Cheers anyway

ajm

I think I have heard of them. I think they are known simply as "blackfish" which would figure I guess!

When I was in Australia we went into the forest around Cairns and swam in a freshwater pool. Our guide chucked in the leftovers from lunch and we were suddenly surrounded by all manner of different fish and turtles. Never seen a group of people leave the water so fast. The guide was p!ssing himself. The fish were all totally harmless, it was just the fact that everyone was completely unaware they were sharing the water with so many creatures!

Brit_in_Japan

I caught red bellies in Peru a few years back. I just used a fixed line attached to a 50cm length of bamboo, a little bit of chicken skin as bait. Seemed too easy but when I dangled the hook in the water they were biting immediately

Tasted good, quite a delicate flavour but a few too many bones for my liking. Gutmann, you needed a different chef!

ajm

Piranha head soup is actually revered by the locals as a fertility and virility tonic!

muppet paster

Pah, oscars are messy buggers! As was the 16" pacu i used to have.



Catfish are the way forward!

prodriva

muppet paster, yeah I know they're a bit messy but they're full of character and a nice big fish which I like the thought of.

A nice Red Tiger Oscar is what I would really like with a Jaguar Cichlid or Frontosa as a tank mate. Not too sure about the compatablility of them though?