weird ? need info fast though

[Kitteness]

:?: So my niece called me and she said her boyfriend wants to get a pirraunha a black one. Isn't that the most aggressive one? Anyways they know nothing about it and they wanted advice from me and they definitely had me stumped on this one. So I thougt maybe someone here could offer some advice. I told her to not do anything without research on the fish. And to check on what the water requirements would be to keep such a fish. So before she lets him jump into something crazy like this can some one refer some information for me to send her. I personally think she is nuts for thinkin about it but I not gonna let them do it with no help cuz it sounds like they gonna do it either way. Anything would be awesome!!!

 

[WA coral]

I have had pirranah in the past they can be good pets but they are very pron to getting diseaes like hole in the head and body rot and unless in a school can be rather boreing and if in a school need to be fed regularly as so they wont eat eachother, they will eat almost anything and setting up a tank is as easy as any freshwater fish, keeping the tank clean becomes a chore as you cant have any alge eaters excpt snails and they will even eat those at times so almost always hand cleaning the tank can be a chore especially when they are such messy eaters I was able to keep small guppies with him as he got older because he did not see them as a food source and they breed like crazy so even if he eats one the population will recover I just put a bunch of plant cover in there for them to hide in and they ate alot of the floating debris from the big fishes meals not sure if this helps or not I fI can think of any thing else I will post again

 

[Kitteness]

thanks so much they are setting up the tank and i guess he is driving to portland to get some red bellied piranha's and he is going to try the guppy and plant thing also great advice

 

[aquariumdebacle]

all species of pirraunhna are illegal in the state of Washington. They need a dark queit place in the house. They startle quite easy and can injure themselves.

 

[Illusion]

Piranahs as said are very boring unless kept in groups... The place he is probably going to is A-Z pets... I believe they are one of the Very few here in portland that Carry Piranahs.. The black are the most agressive and are to be kept singlely otherwise they will fight to the death no matter how much you feed them... If they are getting them from A-Z I would get a few 4 or 5 make a good number... As for hardiness I could not Kill mine for the life of me... I had one that seemed like it was going to die when I moved and ended up soaking him in how water with an Airline in his mouth... The fish survived and lived for quite a while longer...

I eventually got bored and Sold them back to A-Z pets and they were their breeding pair for a while... I dont know whatever happened to them..

the main thing about Piranahs is the fear that people let them back into Streams and rivers... They can become quite large and cause some issues there... In a home tank they are rather docile and never harmed me while cleaning the tank... It is the only fish that you can keep in the tank alive...

Last time I checked they had baby red bellies for like 5.99ea there...

HTH<
James

 

[Sparks]

Technically piranha's aren't totally illegal in washington. They are just illegal to move over our state line, they are illegal to sell and illegal to transfer ownership to someone (although maybe with a wild animal handlers license), but they're not illegal to be here. My store can get them, along with alligators, rattlesnakes, etc... i think even african northwest has "illegal to get, not illegal to own" stuff on their order from time to time. I have customers tell me theres a website in New Jersey(not sure what name) that ships a variety of piranhas to washington at about $90 a piece. FYI: moving illegal animals across state lines is a Federal offense and there is big time jail/fines if caught.

 

[diablo]

well midway pets had piranha's for a long time and papers for them in their display. wa animal control or what ever came and took them. and the owner had to goto court about them. from what I hear they are illegal and midway with certified papers to keep them. had them takin away.

 

[Sparks]

I remember those in that bubble tank.

I know it's pretty expensive to be a reseller of wild animals (some license that needs to be renewed each year), not many pet stores have them (unless they sold sugar gliders, monkeys or hawks, they probably wouldn't), I only knew one in this area by alderwood mall (not sure if there anymore, its been years).

I'd bet they either needed that license to have one, even thought hey said never for sale or were acquired illegally too (all you gotta do is order animals, they may or may not get sent, the companys selling them don't always check your state's law. 1inch turtles/tortises, baby alligators, etc can be ordered and shipped to anyone with a resale tax number), although i'm not sure what these certified papers were.