Silver Dollar Or Some Sort Of Piranha

[always4lora]

Hi' All,

I got 6 Silver Dollar's from Maidenhead aquatics but one of them looks slightly differernt and is doing a fair bit of chasing around. I'm not to familiar with Piranha's so not sure if this is some sort of Piranha or if its just normal silver dollar behaviour.

Basically the one that is doing all the chasing is chasing the others then like shivvers next to them. Not sure if its some sort of mating or what not or possibly trying to attack them
The difference in the look is the one thats chasing has a reder bellie and the tips of the fins at the back are black and not red. I've checked the RDP profile out but they look more round .


Any ideas? will post Pics in a little bit.

 

[bae1994]

it sounds like the one chasing is a male and has different colours as its trying to breed

mine did this when i kept them

 

[always4lora]

Ahh thought it might have been , bit strange though because they were all together in the shop with no chasing. Any idea if it will just stop or will i need to remove him?

 

[Davo86]

possibly a red bellied pacu

 

[bae1994]

there probably wasnt any chasing in the shop as there water qaulity wasnt good enough for them to breed

 

[always4lora]

Maybe it was the water quality, Will it likely breed then or just keep annoying the others, if it does annoy them will it stop hassling them eventually?

Davo86 does look a bit like that but not as red near the mouth area. Hope it's not as they grow rather on the large side!

 

[Davo86]

it is incredibly rare for Silver Dollars to breed,

 

[raptorrex]

it is incredibly rare for Silver Dollars to breed,

so i have heard.

i see this behaviour lots with my 4 dollars. the black spots develop above and below the "lateral line" of the fish. and they "shivver" and chase. to me, its breeding behaviour. but i have never seen any issue (eggs). watching them though, its hard not to see it as "affection".

 

[always4lora]

Thats good then Just didn'y want it to be some sort of Piranha thats going to start attacking the fish. Nice to know they like my tank then

 

[raptorrex]

Thats good then Just didn'y want it to be some sort of Piranha thats going to start attacking the fish. Nice to know they like my tank then

I cant say i have ever seen the "red(ish)" belly. but everything else, in my tank anyway, is common.

 

[dave_oddballs]

did you get them from ma in blackpool? From the tank on the floor? The tank to the right of it is full of red bellies. I went on friday, and i swear it was a red belly in with them dollars. Erm them tanks dont have lids so my bet is its either jumped or just at the spare of the moment been put back in the wrong tank!
If it is from there my money is on it being a pirhana.

Dave

 

[dave_oddballs]

did you get them from ma in blackpool? From the tank on the floor? The tank to the right of it is full of red bellies. I went on friday, and i swear it was a red belly in with them dollars. Erm them tanks dont have lids so my bet is its either jumped or just at the spare of the moment been put back in the wrong tank!
If it is from there my money is on it being a pirhana.

Dave

 

[always4lora]

did you get them from ma in blackpool? From the tank on the floor? The tank to the right of it is full of red bellies. I went on friday, and i swear it was a red belly in with them dollars. Erm them tanks dont have lids so my bet is its either jumped or just at the spare of the moment been put back in the wrong tank!
If it is from there my money is on it being a pirhana.

Dave

Yup you're spot on , got it from there. The guy in there said they had one that had got in the other tank but he said they had put it back.
Hmmm would it try mating with the other silver dollar's though? Not sure on what to do... the oscar int he tank is smaller than the silver dollar's and hsnt been botherd by it, it owns my tank at present . I;ll see what hapens, if i see any injuries on any of the fish i'll take it down to the LFS.

oh and quick question , do pirhana and silver dollerslive together in the wild? i know they come from the Amazon but do they shoal together there or do they never mix?

 

[Davo86]

Yes in the wild, juvi silver dollars and juvi red bellied piranha often school together,

 

[raptorrex]

Yes in the wild, juvi silver dollars and juvi red bellied piranha often school together,

ahha, good info. but the picture is not of a pacu or redbelly piranha. neither have the spots on its dorsal fin, that both the "silver dollar"(Metynnis argenteus) and the pictured fish have. also the shape of the head is wrong, i feel.
red tinges are not uncommon in pictures of, Metynnis argenteus. often seen in the gill area.
if it is a redbelly, it will have teeth, same goes for a pacu. so perhaps having a good look at the mouth will help.

interesting conundrum though