Just been offered 7 Piranhas

[Ziggy25]

Hi all,

A friend's friend is converting his tank from a piranha tank to a community tank. He's offered to sell me the seven piranhas he had on his tank for 100 pounds(UK). These are quite young and are about the size of a packet of cigarrete.

Does anyone know if that is cheap? what are the chances of selling them on Ebay?

I know they are not your usual type of fish but i do have an extra 5foot tank and im very tempted.

Does anyone here keep piranhas? whats your experience with them i hear they are fun to feed.

Oh and are they legal to keep in the home? (In the UK). I heard its illegal to keep them in some states in the US i wonder if its legal to keep them here in the UK.

 

[Paul_MTS]

considering your really bailing him out you should consider that as a bit expensive, we're selling them at work cheaper than that at the moment. £12.95 each for a good size wild red belly. there also about the size of a fag packet.

if he had to take them to fish shop he might get 30-40 for the lot, of course he can sell online he might get more.

make sure you can heavily filter the tank as they are messy eaters.

it is fun watching them eat even with froozen lance fish they will argue over 1 ripping chunks off and playing tug-of-war.

perfectly legal in the UK.

 

[jmaster]

from what i no you can keep them in UK

also i would say that 7 for 100 pounds is gd but see what others think

jmaster

 

[Ziggy25]

Here is a pic of them.. Can you tell what species of piranhas they are? are they all the same species? one of them looks different to me..

 

[GSD]

dont know anything about them but they look great!

 

[june]

I know my lfs are selling bigger ones for £25.00 or £100.00 for five.

My hubbys mate had some a few years ago and he told me they where boring apart from when they were being fed, so he changed his tank to marine.

I must admit i like them, not sure i would have them myself though.

 

[Ziggy25]

I think 100 pounds is way too expensive for them. I visited Maidenhead aquatics in Wembley today. They had small ones for 4 pounds each. I might get the small ones. I think its better to get them when they are young.

I wont have to get a bigger tank any time soon.. and i get to watch them grow

 

[Nethius]

Here is a pic of them.. Can you tell what species of piranhas they are? are they all the same species? one of them looks different to me.. [/IMG]

They are Pygocentrus Nattereri aka Red Belly Piranha.

Most common in the aquarium trade. Like to be in packs.

 

[WILDER]

They look cute, they scare me wouldn't keep them to aggressive for me like placid fish.

 

[Ziggy25]

You should see their visible teeth... looks vicious..

 

[Matty]

how would you clean the tank?

 

[Ziggy25]

Do you know i thought about how im goint to clean the tank and so far they only solutions i think is to get a long gravel cleaner. I dont really know how people clean their piranha tanks. There is no way i'll put my hand in there..

 

[Nethius]

You can put your hand in the tank with no worries. The piranha will generally scoot to the opposite side of the tank. Piranha are very skittish fish, and would never bite you, unless maybe you tried to grab one in the tank or something silly like that, haha. Piranha like to eat other fish and very small mamals and birds, they are not going to attack something as big as a human.

I have owned 3 different types of Piranha (Pygocentrus Nattereri, Serrasalmus Elongtus, and Serrasalmus Sanchezi). I always use my hands for tank cleaning, and have never come close to being bit... They can scare you tho, if they freak out and start darting around, but it's because they are scared, not because they want to bite you.

In rivers where piranha are densly populated, the locals will swim, bath, whatever in the water. They are often more afraid of sting rays then they are piranha. Take a look at this picture.

This is probably the best resource for accurate information on piranha if anyone wants to learn more - http/www.opefe.com/

Or always ask here!