Gravel Vaccum Freak Out

[piranha_tim]

So lets be honest ... I post alot but I haven't really started a completely useless post.

So here is my first.

So today my Piranha was great ... very social ... follows me around the room when I am walking around it.

Today was a week since the last cleaning it was time to clean his tank. (the side he doesn't like me near his hide out)

My tank is layed out so the right side is mostly hide out and the left side is all "run way" for him to swim in.

Normally when I put the vaccum into his hide out he simply just goes to the other side of the tank and watches.

Not today though ... Today he decided to swim back and forth hitting the tank.

Which well I don't know how anyone else feels but it seems upsetting to me thinking he could be injuring himself.

Finally he finds the closest biggest plant (that can't cover him) and he watches (but only while I drain the water if I vaccum he freaks out and won't stop)

Anyone else have this?

I guess making a decent hide out in the opposite side of the tank would probably resolve this problem.

 

[pete0403]

I always thought Piranhas did better in small schools. But yes, they can freak out at times.

I had some Piranhas one time and I had to stick my hand in their tank pretty regularly to fix plands and caves etc that were disturbed due to their thrashing, usually while eating or if i came into the room too fast and pissed them off by hurrying by the tank.

They were some of the most interesting fish I ever kept...they're smart as hell. I got to the point that I couldn't float feeder fish in the tank to attemperate (had to do it in a seperate tank) because they found out that if they bit the corner of the bag open, the fish would come out. It took them about 10 weeks to learn this and every week after that they did it until I got very worried about one of them swallowing a piece of plastic if they ever actually bit a piece right off. They would bite the bag open within the first few minutes..it's like they remembered how to get the fish out from week to week.

I also had one charge at my hand once. I usually only stuck my hand in the tank after they had fed and later on in the evening after the scheduled lights-out so they'd be "drowsy". This one time I saw one of them looking at me and I saw him do a kind of rear-end dip they do sometimes before they start going for something. Well he came at the corner where my hand was fast enough to stir the gravel up behind him and I whipped my hand out of the tank so fast that I flung water all up the wall and ceiling...lol! Luckily he didn't jump out of the tank.

 

[JenCliBee]

been quite nervous fish in general id say this behavier is normal in time u probably will find out that it wont even phase him but... and a big but he could also get used 2 ur hand been in there even 2 the piont of thinking it's food so be vary aware!!! piranah bite i can imagine would hurt i know oscars do and they are pretty much harmluss lol

jen