Pygos Community Tank - First Class

[Red Aimara]

Have to strike it while the iron is hot. LOL!

Earliest recruits:





Sole Piraya amongst 3 Caribas.



The plan is to add 2 more Pirayas and perhaps a Ternetzi.

A question to those who kept Ternetzi before:

Do their colours really wash out once they hit maturity? If it is available (priced higher than Piraya), would you guys go for it?

Thanks and have a great weekend.

 

[asterophysus]

Congrats on your new P's. Yeah, with the exception of piraya, most pygo's colours fade considerably with maturity. I had a mixed pygo tank (2 piraya, 2 ternetzi and 4 cariba), but it was over a decade ago. I might be remembering wrong, but I think my ternetzi were double the price of my cariba and my piraya were a little more than 1.5x the price of my ternetzi. I know things have changed, but I'm kind of surprised that ternetzi are more expensive than piraya now. Personally, I don't think they're worth it at that price. Of the three species, the ternetzi were my least favourite (but still better than captive-bred natts)

All fish are different, but in my experience, cariba are the most aggressive feeders. They also develop the most bulldog-like head (which I love). Piraya, of course have the nicest colours and huge growth potential. While ternetzi are basically wild, yellow natts (I think they're from the same river system as Salminus brasiliensis). Since they cost more than piraya now, I would try to get either super reds (from northern brazil) or just regular wild natts instead (if they're available and affordable). Mind you, super reds will end up looking like regular wild natts when they mature anyways. Both will have a much heavier jaw than a captive-bred natt though.

Super Red

Regular wild natt

But who knows, if you decide to go with a ternetzi, you could get lucky and end up with one like this:

A specimen like this would be worth it IMO.

 

[Red Aimara]

Thanks for sharing. That tremendous information there.

The pricing at the moment is probably skewed by both demand and hype.

Definitely agreed with you Cariba has the best shape, colours wise Piraya and RBP best bang for bucks.

Hope to share the progress of this comm in the coming weeks.

 

[Red Aimara]

Congrats on your new P's. Yeah, with the exception of piraya, most pygo's colours fade considerably with maturity. I had a mixed pygo tank (2 piraya, 2 ternetzi and 4 cariba), but it was over a decade ago. I might be remembering wrong, but I think my ternetzi were double the price of my cariba and my piraya were a little more than 1.5x the price of my ternetzi. I know things have changed, but I'm kind of surprised that ternetzi are more expensive than piraya now. Personally, I don't think they're worth it at that price. Of the three species, the ternetzi were my least favourite (but still better than captive-bred natts)

All fish are different, but in my experience, cariba are the most aggressive feeders. They also develop the most bulldog-like head (which I love). Piraya, of course have the nicest colours and huge growth potential. While ternetzi are basically wild, yellow natts (I think they're from the same river system as Salminus brasiliensis). Since they cost more than piraya now, I would try to get either super reds (from northern brazil) or just regular wild natts instead (if they're available and affordable). Mind you, super reds will end up looking like regular wild natts when they mature anyways. Both will have a much heavier jaw than a captive-bred natt though.

Super Red

Regular wild natt

But who knows, if you decide to go with a ternetzi, you could get lucky and end up with one like this:

A specimen like this would be worth it IMO.

Another question (also to those who had prior experience):

You were right; I noticed the Caribas are more aggressive feeder than the Piraya. On the average, do all Pygos grow at the same rate?

I am abit concerned that the Caribas will outgrow the Piraya in a month or so and might cause some damage to them during fighting.

Again, it is a cost / rarity comparison. The Pirayas cost about 3.5 times more than the Caribas.

 

[asterophysus]

I had a dominant cariba that outate and outgrew everyone else. He was an absolute beast with an unusually large head. When he was about 13", everyone else was still only around 9-10". The great thing though, was that he was an awesome peacekeeper. A couple of head shakes and any troublemaker would back down.

Unfortunately, all my caribas had come in with a very stubborn form of septicemia. Mild worsening of water quality would result in red patches. Luckily, my ternetzi and piraya were unaffected. Although I was diligent with my water changes, sometimes I was guilty of overfeeding. To make a long story short -- I ended up losing my dominant cariba (and one other) while trying to treat him in a hospital tank. That was the beginning of the end.

A couple of times, I came home to just a head. Another time I was able to save the fish despite horrific wounds (could see the spine). I didn't witness the first casualties and thought things would improve once a new hierarchy was established. But I was wrong. Little did I know the new dominant P was a psycho-killer cariba that likely instigated all the carnage. I ended up giving away the scarred/damaged fish and selling the others for much less than I paid (after a couple of years keeping them solo in smaller tanks). I don't mean to worry you -- I believe that if I had removed the evil bastard early on, things would have been fine.

 

[Red Aimara]

Once again thanks.

Cannibalisim or death from fights are probably unavoidable for such comm.

Only wish the Pirayas came in cheaper so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[SandNukka15]

If all are fed well piraya will easily outgrow caribe

 

[jimmie d wad]

i have only kept reds and caribe together. everything went good. unfotunantly i have an issue with forgetting the hose when filling up my system and left it running over night twice. thus killing everything

 

[Red Aimara]

Quick update. 3 Pirayas and 3 Caribes. A common pleco and cichlid as tank mates.

Managed to get them off live feeders this week.





Initial observation: the Caribes are more outgoing and aggressive feeders though personality wise; the Pirayas are more dominant.

 

[ilikeb00st]

nice looking P's.