Piranha Live Feeding Ethics Thread.

[Hdeuce]

how am i putting words in your mouth? you are the one that stated that feeding a snake a live mouse and feeding a piranha a live mouse is the same thing... it is not. small mammals are the main part of a snakes diet, they are not even a factor within a piranhas diet.

i am all about showing people the truth about piranhas, but you are only proving my point by saying that i should just accept the fact that these videos on youtube present true piranha behavior... if you remember correctly, a piranhas diet is 97% fish, so these kids throwing mice, snakes, and ducks into their piranha tanks on a regular basis are not showing true piranha feeding behavior, they are throwing **** into their tanks because they think it is cool to watch their fish tear things apart.

I will reiterate i never said that a mouse is a staple in a pirahnas diet. I stated that from an ethical standpoint feeding a mouse to a pirahna is the same thing as feeding that same mouth to a snake. I also never advocated the feeding of "mice snakes and ducks" to a pirahna on a regular basis. I merely said that these videos could be used to educate the public and to force people to respect the powere the fish has and hopefully prevent any injury due to ignorance. You can twist my words all you want to make it seem like i am arguing that its cool to feed rabbits to fish. When the truth is that im only stating that you could be doing more of a service to the fish you say you love to keep by educating people who are ignorant. Rather than by critisizing other people who keep the same fish and feed them a diet you disagree with.

 

[Hdeuce]

now you are bringing up the issue of good and bad intentions... obviously it is unethical to teach your dog to be violent, so creating videos of your dog doing bad things is probably not going to make people think very highly of it... are we then to assume that all dogs are bad and that they are all dangerous?

do you know how many people have been killed by piranhas?

the answer is zero

piranhas can bite, there is no question about that, but to sit here and argue about their status as dangerous animals seems a bit ridiculous considering the fact there have been more people killed by dogs in the past month than people killed by piranhas in the last century.

You are not to assume that all dogs are bad. However, if you are shown a picture of a pitbull mauling a man you should respect the fact that while not all pitbulls would maul someone they all could, and should be treated with care. You should always realise that when dealing with one.

 

[Negrodamus]

how am i putting words in your mouth? you are the one that stated that feeding a snake a live mouse and feeding a piranha a live mouse is the same thing... it is not. small mammals are the main part of a snakes diet, they are not even a factor within a piranhas diet.

i am all about showing people the truth about piranhas, but you are only proving my point by saying that i should just accept the fact that these videos on youtube present true piranha behavior... if you remember correctly, a piranhas diet is 97% fish, so these kids throwing mice, snakes, and ducks into their piranha tanks on a regular basis are not showing true piranha feeding behavior, they are throwing **** into their tanks because they think it is cool to watch their fish tear things apart.

exactly. once you put a fish in a tank, its not in the wild. its in a tank. if you want to see true piranha behavior, you go swimming in the amazon. once the fish is in the tank, its the keepers responsibility to care for it as best as he can, not just exploit the animals natural agressive tendency, while being bling to the fact that these animals are used to a ton more space. I think that these videos just advertise to the wrong type of people about piranhas, and propegate stereotypes.

i made a vid of my piranha eating pellets, but i doubt anyone ever watches it. people probably skip to the blood. but in my eyes, watching a tank of Ps eat pellets is more interesting.

 

[JoeDizzleMPLS]

piranhas are carnivorous fish, the fact that they are extremely efficient carnivorous fish doesn't make them dangerous... ask any piranha keeper and they'll tell you how scared they are of their fish. it boils down to a question of ethics, piranhas don't need to eat live food, they are perfectly content to eat frozen fish fillets just like other carnivorous fish, people just get a kick out of throwing live animals into their tanks and watching them get ripped to shreds.

i am in no way trying to hide their behavior, they are efficient carnivores... i just have a problem with people taking something that rarely happens in the wild and claiming that it is an example of normal piranha feeding behavior.

 

[Hdeuce]

Ask any pitbull owner how scared they are of there dog and you will get the same response. The point is that when you know that an animal is capable of something you should have a healthy respect for that animals capabilities. Whether or not a school of pirahna normally run across a goat in the wild does not change the fact that if a hungry school of pirahna were to run across a goat in the wild they could, not necesarilly would, but could eat that goat for supper. Knowing this should keep a healthy respect for the animal and let any reasonable human being know that you probably shouldnt swim with a school of hungry pirahna. Or as the case may be stick your hand into a tank of hungry pirahna .

 

[Eupterus]

I feel if you are keeping a carnivorous animal, you should try and be as humane as possible with the prey animals you feed your carnivore. I don't feel just because it happens in the wild, that makes it OK in captivity.

Therefore I feel feeding a live mouse to piranhas is wrong/cruel. There is no reason to subject a mouse to being thrown into a tank of water and then torn apart alive. You can get a humanely killed mouse and feed that mouse to your piranhas.

I'm afraid some people won't like to hear this because feeding a live mouse is more then feeding their fish, it's entertainment for them to watch their fish kill another animal.

 

[JoeDizzleMPLS]

this debate has gone on long enough, and whether you realize it or not, actually owning these fish or at least having some experience with them in the past makes a big difference... if you don't understand the ethics behind responsible fish keeping, then i suggest you read up, as it is one of the most important aspects of this hobby, i also suggest that you do a bit of research on piranhas because the "facts" that you think you know about these fish are incredibly wrong.

 

[Negrodamus]

Ask any pitbull owner how scared they are of there dog and you will get the same response. The point is that when you know that an animal is capable of something you should have a healthy respect for that animals capabilities. Whether or not a school of pirahna normally run across a goat in the wild does not change the fact that if a hungry school of pirahna were to run across a goat in the wild they could, not necesarilly would, but could eat that goat for supper. Knowing this should keep a healthy respect for the animal and let any reasonable human being know that you probably shouldnt swim with a school of hungry pirahna. Or as the case may be stick your hand into a tank of hungry pirahna .

i dont understand what this has to do with making piranha feeding videos.

and im not trying to be annoying, but u keep spelling piranha wrong, its not "pirahna" its "piranha"

 

[dad_jsp]

Therefore I feel feeding a live mouse to piranhas is wrong/cruel. There is no reason to subject a mouse to being thrown into a tank of water and then torn apart alive. You can get a humanely killed mouse and feed that mouse to your piranhas.

The question then becomes is the way a mouse dies different then the way a fish dies?


I don't like to feed mine live food period. I am also aware that the shrimp and frozen fish I feed mine were in fact once alive. So I guess I just don't want to watch the "food" die. Just like I don't want to know how my steak got to my dinner table.

 

[JoeDizzleMPLS]

Ask any pitbull owner how scared they are of there dog and you will get the same response. The point is that when you know that an animal is capable of something you should have a healthy respect for that animals capabilities. Whether or not a school of pirahna normally run across a goat in the wild does not change the fact that if a hungry school of pirahna were to run across a goat in the wild they could, not necesarilly would, but could eat that goat for supper. Knowing this should keep a healthy respect for the animal and let any reasonable human being know that you probably shouldnt swim with a school of hungry pirahna. Or as the case may be stick your hand into a tank of hungry pirahna .

i know plenty of pitbull owners and have yet to meet one that is scared of their dog.

i raised my dogs properly, i am sorry that you are scared of the potential of your dog, maybe you should have chosen a different breed. i don't worry about the violent behavior that my dogs are capable of, i actually spend my time having fun with them and enjoying their wonderful temperment and loving personalities.

regardless of your attitude in regards to your dogs, i find your analogy hilarious, you are comparing a domesticated dog to a wild fish.