My Piranha

[bike7]

http://www.angelfire.com/wizard/fish1/black.JPG

This is my 5 1/2" S.Rhombeus. aka Black Piranha. He IS NOT as aggressive as they say. he only attacks fish when feeding and is a great fish. he will soon be in a 265gal Amazon tank im gettin. Im gettin a tiger shovelnose cat. 2 red pacus. and a peacock bass.

[Forum221]

Cool, I would like to get some peacock bass.

[vfrex]

Aren't you scared that the peacock bass might eat the rhom?

[bike7]

of course not. im gettin a small p.bass. he will grow to bout 5" when i get the 265. the same size almost as the rhom

[vfrex]

I don't follow you...the growth rate of a peacock bass vs. the growth rate of a rhom is a joke. 1" a year vs. like, 12" in a year. The peacock bass will be double the size of the rhom within 12 months.

[bike7]

trust me, he wont touch the rhom. u no y peacocks have an eye-like dot on their tale. so piranha dont eat them in the wild. they will be fine together. plus if the peacock takes any little bit off my rhom the peacock gets the grill. and we have Pbass for dinner

[vfrex]

I'm not quite sure if that is accurate. As far as my understanding goes, peacock bass are introduced to piranha territory. They do not exist together naturally. The bass are introduced to eat piranha.

[JamisonBWolsh]

hehe..thats FUNNY... Bass eating Pirahna!!! WRONG. Well... correct only slightly. They are introduced to eat the pirahna FRY and eggs. HOWEVER, when the surviving fry grows up to adults and if there is nothing to eat, the BASS are all history. Bass CANNOT defend itself against a parihna!

[vfrex]

Jamison, we're not talking about a common redbelly piranha here. Its a Serrasalmus Rhombeus. They grow an inch a year. If you think 5" is adult, think again. They grow to 17" +. Now, the bass will grow 1" per month and have big mouths. Any species of pbass would grow 12" for 1" by the rhom. The pbass would be 18" before the rhom is 7", not even HALF of the rhom's mature size.

[JamisonBWolsh]

well.. The bass does eat the fry and eggs and of course anything that fits in its mouth. BUT if the the piranha are at a mature size, the bass will not hold ground with the pirahna. OF course, all I know about pirahna is what I seen on the discovery special. This Docu said the natives introduces the bass when the pirahna breed to cull the numbers down. It also stated that when the surviving pirahna grew to size and had no food sources, they WILL attack the bass and eat them.


As for the tank: Vfrex knows his stuff and I would listen to him. I dont know anything about pirahna, but I do know its close relative (the infamous PACU) grows extremely fast.

[vfrex]

Yeah, thanks for pointing that out J. Those pacu are gonna grow huge and FAST. They'll hit 3 feet easily given the room, jump like noneother, and eat like total pigs.

The discovery channel show you are referring to (wolves in the water I think) shows a video clip of a peacock bass getting ripped apart by a shoal of fish. But key word is shoal. In our aquariums, the only piranha that shoal are red belly piranha, cariba, and piraya...ternetzi is another, although the debate is up whether its just a red belly in a different region...anyway, according to that video, we see a group of rhoms hanging out.

I think theres a good chance that the rhom would kill the peacock bass before it is given the chance to grow...but if the rhom is not territorial enough at it's size, and does not kill the peacock bass...let me show you a photo.

http://arofanatics.com/members/peacockbass/junk/image07.jpg

and here is a sketch

http://www.zsm.mwn.de/Fische/1tab63.jpg

Just look at the jaw. The pbass is MADE to eat other fish, and the size of its mouth allows it to eat a variety of sizes :)

When the rhom matures, there is no chance the pbass can fit it down. Visit the below URL and check out the pics labeled "18" Rhom"
http://www.geocities.com/heartland/prairie/5962/Rhombeus.html

Sorry to draw this out. I just don't think that those fish are compatible in that size tank in the long run. BTW, TSN grow to be 42" long according to planetcatfish.com

Like I said, I just don't think that combination of fish can work out in a 265 gallon tank.

[JamisonBWolsh]

WoW... Now thats an UGLY fish!


That discovery snature program is dedicated to a full hour to the pirhana from the spawn-as it matures- to breeding- then its death. A full life cycle is represented. A really neat special if your interested in this type of fish.

Bike7: Vfrex really knows his stuff. I read many of his opinions and they are usually dead on. If you want a nice attractive fish, try a few Neo.Brichardis. They should handle themselves well as long as they have hiding spaces. In that special, it shows a Large fish tank in a research facility with a breeding colony of pirahnas. With the fish were many Brichardis. So, I believe they can co-exist. OF course this is with the "common" pirahna,I believe. So, whethor this be true with your type? I dont know...

[vfrex]

I'd just like to add a bit more, from someone who owns a 17" rhom, has owned 24"+ pbass, owns a 22" tsn...

And I quote...
BTW, I have never seen a fish grow as quickly as a peacock bass. I've owned several juveniles as well. from 2" to 12" in less than 6 months. My orinocensis reached 27" in 2 years.

[crenicichla]

That rhombeus, is going to nip the fins of all your fish, undoubtedly. The are a fin eating piranha. (not to say they only eat fins exsclusivly fin eating is more of a term.)

[Mattimeo]

IMO nothng goes with a rhombeus. If it can't kill it directly, it'll predate on the fins. I have a rhombeus at the moment, and even though it's only 3.5 inches, I've seen it rush and bang the divider trying to get at a 10.5 inch midas cichlid... I can't see this fish coexisting with anything else.

[VoodooChild]

That's gonna be some pretty heavy filtration needs. That's 5 fish that grow big enough to provide food for a couple of people.

[Mattimeo]

providing they don't kill each other (or rather, rhom doesn't kill them) they'll need much more tank space than that.