View Full Version : Damn, RBP's are meant to be skittish wimps...
rumblesushi
08-21-2005, 9:55 PM
I felt sorry for a lonesome RBP in a tiny tank today, so I bought it. Pushing 4 inches.
I kept 3 RBP's years ago and had them eventually with a spotted gar and a shovelnose. The worst that ever happened was the gar killed a pirhana.
They were not aggressive at all. They would sometimes leave a feeder goldfish untouched for over a week.
Yet this one, my god.
I put him in on his own and he started attacking all my fish, who are all bigger than him. Tried to bite my lovely bichir several times, went for my hujeta, tried to bite the oscar.
I quickly fed him some beefheart which he gobbled up, then he started attacking the fish again. He attacked everything but the wolf.
Then I noticed he bit a chunk out of the bichir's tail, just the fin bit, so I thought you little bastard I'm gonna eat you.
Then I just decided to quarantine it until I set up a tank tomorrow.
I may as well keep it, not often you see a lonesome Pirhana as aggressive as this.
guppy
08-21-2005, 10:19 PM
You got a good one, the ones I kept as singles were all fat and lazy.
fishnthings
08-21-2005, 10:31 PM
ive got a 5" by himself, hes such a pussy he hides if im anywhere around and was getting bullied by 2" texans until i took them out. he only eats in the dark, and will only accept feeders, and it takes him days just to go after one!
NeonTetraFan
08-21-2005, 10:57 PM
That is one aggressive piranha. The ones at the public aquariums hide from me!
The last one that I kept alone reached 14" and stayed at that size for around a year then died during a power outage, It was not atall agressive and not at all skittish. It would come up to the surface at the front of the tank when I lifted the lid and would tug feeders from out of my fingers. It would also let me scratch its back after a heavy meal. It was named KIPPER and was a very lazy, fat fish.
rumblesushi
08-22-2005, 3:13 AM
Looks like I got a weird one.
In fact, in the store it looked just like a piraya. It had MUCH more colouration than that pic, he lost some by the time I got him home. And the phone cam colours are off too.
In the store most of his bottom half was a distinct orangey colour.
Maybe it's just a standard RPB but it's a far cry from the 3 I used to have. They would get intimidated by goldfish for days, this one 2 mins after I plopped him in was attacking everything in the tank and devouring big chunks of beefheart.
NeonTetraFan
08-22-2005, 3:56 AM
That's a big RBP, guppy!
guppy
08-22-2005, 10:24 AM
That's a big RBP, guppy!
Yep, biggest I have ever seen out side of Stienhardt Aquarium,S.F., Ca. where they had a couple as big. I got it as a 6"er. Kept it from 83-87. Power went out one weekend I was away and It got very cold and died. I ate it, rather bland, quite fatty, with a lot of small bones.
piranha45
08-22-2005, 10:36 AM
tasted like tilapia, or had a fish taste?
NeonTetraFan
08-22-2005, 11:05 AM
I wouldn't imagine it tasting good.
guppy
08-22-2005, 11:07 AM
VERY bland, like over cooked steamed whitefish, almost no flavor at all.
NeonTetraFan
08-22-2005, 12:36 PM
Are ate it anyway? LOL.
Hot sauce and lemon juice. heheh.
NeonTetraFan
08-22-2005, 1:07 PM
Hehehe, was wondering if you gave it some flavor. :D
thamunsta
08-22-2005, 3:04 PM
down in the amazon they eat piranha all the time, i read an article on that some time ago
NeonTetraFan
08-22-2005, 3:18 PM
No Red Lobsters in Peru? Man, they sure are missing out. Yum.
I bet the amazonian one have better texture and more flavor due to diet and exercise. Mine was fat and very lazy, It lived in an old steel frame tank that was 18"x18"x36"(about 50g). I had several of them given to me by an lfs when they renovated, it is a very useful size tank, I kept a marbled goby in one until he reached 18" himself and I sold it.
NeonTetraFan
08-22-2005, 6:34 PM
Well if you ever try a peruvian Piranha, let me know what it tastes like!!!
oscar1
08-23-2005, 10:02 PM
sounds like a true monster
Just1nK4ng
08-25-2005, 3:42 AM
hmm how big was the piranha because when its a baby piranhas do attack everything they can and the reason it doesnt attack the wolf is because it would kill the piranha and it knows you should keep your rbp in another tank because piranhas will eat or kill anything it sees or try to atleast
rumblesushi
08-25-2005, 7:11 AM
The pirhana is probably around 4 inches.