Classification
View: Piranha – Serrasalmus nattereri
Subfamily: Piranha
Family: Characinic
Order: Characiform
Class: Rayfin Fish
Type: Chordates
Kingdom: Animals
Domain: Eukaryotes
Life expectancy: in the aquarium – up to 15 years, in the wild – up to 10 years
You barely hear about the piranha fish, when you immediately remember the movies horror where flocks of these small fish to the bone can gnaw all who are attacked: people, large and small animals, fish and marine life.
Yes, they evoke horror. But some daredevils (zoos, zoos not count) lodge piranhas at home, on a par with others aquarium fish.
They say that aquarium individuals are not as bloodthirsty as those live in the wild.
Famous for their jaws, piranhas are armed with very sharp teeth in the form of plates. Such teeth can easily tear out a piece of meat, gnaw off a finger and even bite through steel
Content
- 1 Habitat
- 2 Characteristic
- 3 Appearance
- 4 Key Features
- 5 Nutrition
- 6 Reproduction. Spawning
- 7 Maintenance and nutrition in the aquarium
Habitat
The largest population of common piranhas (such is their official name) lives in the Amazon River, Paran, Orinoco, Essexibo that in America.
Piranha countries prefer the warm (South America) and meet they can be in Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay and Venezuela.
This monster belongs, like guppy fish, to freshwater fish, and therefore residents of coastal areas may be calm – these fish are not in salt water.
But the flocks, consisting of 20 – 30 individuals, can be seen in the rivers and lakes, tributaries and ponds, and even in flooded areas land.
Important! Recently it has become fashionable to breed predatory fish, in particular, piranhas at home. But some negligent aquarists fish bored. And they release them on free bread. Therefore, even in our climate zone, they can meet in the ponds. This is confirmed by stories of victims of piranhas.
Aquarium piranhas are specimens refined, i.e. not adapted to wild life, as bred in captivity. Master aquarium only with some caution gets into the aquarium hands to clean it or to fix the interior
Characteristic
Piranhas are famous for their jaws, photos of fish will be shown at approaching jaw, armed with very sharp teeth in the form of records.
Such teeth can easily tear out a piece of meat, gnaw off a finger and even bite through steel. But this is for wild fish.
Aquarium piranhas, like axolotls, are individuals refined, that is, not adapted for wild life, since bred in captivity.
The owner of the aquarium only cautiously climbs into aquarium with your hands to clean it or to fix the interior.
Important! Be careful! Working in aquarium with piranhas, do not pinch them in a corner. Otherwise the fish will have to attack and set their teeth in motion. That’s why transplant fish during cleaning is necessary not with hands, but with net.
That wild, that aquarium piranha – cowardly fish.
First, from shock, they turn over on their side and turn pale, pretending to be dead and sinking to the bottom.
Then, having come around, they can attack, and then disturbed them not say hello.
In length, piranhas reach only 20 cm (piranha red-bellied there are also 33 centimeters). The largest representative species seen in wild waters was 48 cm long
Appearance
What does a piranha fish look like? The photo will show a flattened fish from the sides. with a dense body and powerful tail.
It is the tail that helps to develop speed and maneuverability when attack.
- Only 20 cm long (piranha red-bellied there are also 33 centimeters). The largest individual seen in wild waters, was 48 cm long.
- The weight of one fish is from 500 grams to a kilogram.
- The color of the young is pale, light gray.
- With age, the color of the piranha changes. Females become purple, males – bright silver, blue-black, bright red or silver with an olive tint.
- Very beautiful are the mature red-bellied piranhas: throat, belly and their lower back fin is bright red; silver steel.
The color of young piranha is pale, light gray. With age fish color. Females turn purple, males become bright silver, blue-black, bright red or silver with olive shade
Key Features
The most remarkable and dangerous thing in piranha is its teeth, located in the big mouth.
Seeing her jaw – massive, protruding, I immediately want recoil, since such a muzzle does not cause sympathy.
Triangular teeth, up to 5 mm long, lower jaw larger top.
Piranha bite is dangerous: the jaw closes so that the upper teeth exactly go into the voids between the teeth of the lower jaw.
Important: Do not stick your fingers in your jaws. unfamiliar fish that live in our reservoirs, and in American.
Piranhas are the orderlies of water bodies (like wolves are the orderlies of the forest), since do not disdain to eat carrion, support the principle of natural selection: eat the weak and sick
Food
Piranhas gather in large flocks, but because the victim is usually not leaves them alive.
Prowling through the ponds, they eat everything living and moving.
Everything that you can eat, chew and swallow goes to them in food:
- plants;
- fish;
- invertebrates;
- snails;
- amphibians.
They hunt in muddy water, so it is easier for them to swam to the victim with a flock. They love to hide in snags, pebbles, bury in silt.
Their numbers include even large animals: horses, buffalos, capybaras, birds – they can nibble them in a minute.
And if they smell blood, they have no equal in speed, cruelty and the frequency of the jaws. It turns out that films are based on real events.
Interesting! Do you know who piranhas are afraid of? Amazonian dolphins, caimans, reptiles (anaconda, not pythons)! They all eat piranhas if they come across in their way.
It can be concluded that since piranhas are so dangerous, their easier to exterminate than accept their existence. But this wrongly.
Firstly, these fish are the orderlies of water bodies (like wolves – orderlies of the forest), since they do not disdain to eat carrion, support principle of natural selection: eat the weak and sick.
And secondly, in Brazil once poisoned them, but the result surprised everyone.
Piranhas remained intact and pissed off, as other aquatic the inhabitants disappeared, poisoning themselves with poisons.
Piranha go to spawn in the spring and until mid-summer. Caviar female fish lay to the bottom, mostly closer to the roots of plants, in silt, tearing holes. There may be 50,000 eggs at one time
Reproduction. Spawning
At the 10th month of life, the female is already able to lay eggs.
If the piranhas are very large, then at maturity they can enter in the second, third, and even fifth years of life.
Piranha go to spawn in the spring and until mid-summer. Caviar female fish lay to the bottom, mostly closer to the roots of plants, in silt, tearing holes.
It can be scary to think 50,000 eggs at a time. The eggs are large, can reach a size of 4 mm.
After a week, the embryos already feed on their own, passing through themselves water with microorganisms. And after two weeks, fry appear.
Parents, protecting the offspring, are always circling nearby, driving away and eating enemies.
Interesting! Malki initially herbivorous, feed on plankton, pass as they mature on zooplankton, and then on small fish.
One piranha needs an aquarium of at least 100 liters. Accordingly, for four fish – from 300 liters or more. To the aquarium be sure to place any objects in which these fish will be able to hide
Maintenance and nutrition in the aquarium
Is it possible to keep piranhas in the aquarium with others fish?
It depends on the size of the aquarium, and on the number of plants, snags, houses where you can hide, and from the bloodthirsty fish themselves, and from their neighbors.
It happens that large fish can swim side by side for a couple of months, until one day piranhas eat them.
Other cases are known when these bloodthirsty fish peacefully coexist with other aquarium inhabitants: singing catfish, pterygoplychitis, black pacus and plecostomy.
One piranha needs an aquarium of at least 100 liters.
Accordingly, for four fish – from 300 liters or more.
Any objects in which these fish will be able to hide.
The basic requirement for a life of piranhas in an aquarium is clean water.
Therefore, it is worth buying a filter, an aerator. Frequent water samples on the content of nitrates and ammonia in it, cleaning the aquarium, too add hassle.
A thermometer is also needed to maintain optimum temperature in 25-28 degrees.
Important! Washing the drift locks, filters, Do not use tap water, but from the aquarium.
If in the wild piranhas eat what they can catch, then in aquariums are fed what they are given.
Piranhas aren’t so fussy. Eat shrimp, fish, squid, earthworms, mice, crawls, offal.
But the meat of mammals in their stomachs is digested very bad and can result in obesity. It is well received they and ready-made feed for fish.
Food for fry: bloodworm, corpetra, small fish, tubule, tadpoles.
If in the wild piranhas eat what they can catch, then in aquariums are fed what they are given. Piranhas aren’t that big picks. Eat shrimp, fish, squid, earthworms, mice, creeping offal
Aquarium piranhas are lazy creatures, they may not eat up the whole the food.
Everything that the fish did not eat should be removed. You don’t want more often than required, clean the aquarium from rotting food.
For safety’s sake, being in the wilderness or close to an aquarium with piranhas, do not tempt fate and climb into the water, do not I know the ford.
Piranhas: the bloodthirsty but shy creatures of the Amazon
Piranhas are familiar to us from thrillers. They attack with lightning speed to prey, eating it all without a trace. In fact, they and they themselves are afraid of some animals, for example, dolphins.
