Mighty and bitey: Are there any great piranha exhibits?

[GaryA]

Hating this exhibit which appears to use a sole mammal as background dressing.

Herd or group animal on a tiny bare concrete exhibit with no visible enrichment.

Although it has been demonstrated that piranha don't generally attack unless something with wounds triggers them, only a small scrape could result in a swift and painful and totally unnecessary death.

Appalling. Hopefully someone can enlighten me if reality is hopefully otherwise.

 

[birdsandbats]

Hating this exhibit which appears to use a sole mammal as background dressing.

Herd or group animal on a tiny bare concrete exhibit with no visible enrichment.

Although it has been demonstrated that piranha don't generally attack unless something with wounds triggers them, only a small scrape could result in a swift and painful and totally unnecessary death.

Appalling. Hopefully someone can enlighten me if reality is hopefully otherwise.

Where is this?

 

[Tetzoo Quizzer]

Osaka Aquarium; see earlier in this thread.

 

[Van Beal]

Although this isn't answering the question of the thread (i.e. the visitor interpretation), I do like this tank at Beauval photographed by @Maguari - so much nicer-looking than most piranha tanks!

Open-topped Piranha Tank at Beauval, 12/06/18 - ZooChat

That is absolutely amazing, although I do feel that some idiot people would either a) throw food scraps into the water to try and trigger a feeding frenzy, or b) stick a finger, hand or arm in the water to try and "prove" that piranhas are "harmless" and then sue upon getting nipped by one of them.

 

[Chlidonias]

or b) stick a finger, hand or arm in the water to try and "prove" that piranhas are "harmless" and then sue upon getting nipped by one of them.

The aquarium isn't in America.

 

[DaLilFishie]

Appalling. Hopefully someone can enlighten me if reality is hopefully otherwise.

Nope, it's exactly what it looks like. What you see in that image is pretty much the whole enclosure. One Capybara, no enrichment, and tiny enclosure. Let's just say that Osaka Aquarium is not known for it's fantastic animal husbandry...

 

[CMTM]

Piranha are not mindless eating machines that frenzy as soon as they smell blood. That sort of thing only exists in movies. Piranhas in human care can be and often are conditioned into frenzy type feeding on larger items for the spectacle, but this is not their normal diet by any means. To act like piranha are vicious is the same as acting like sharks are vicious; outdated, uninformed, and simply incorrect.

Piranha can and are safely kept with a very wide variety of species. Various mixes i have personally seen or cared for include:

Reptiles
Dwarf Caiman
Mata mata
Podocnemis sp.
Plica plica
Basilisks
Brown Diving Lizard
Caiman Lizard

Amphibians
Various Dart Frogs
Milk Frog
Giant Waxy Monkey Frog
Clown Tree Frog

Fishes
Other Piranhas
Leporinus sp.
Uaru
Severum
Chocolate cichlid
Oscar
Earth eaters
Various dwarf cichlids
Various large catfishes
Various loricariid catfishes
Exodon paradoxus
Cardinals and other micro tetras
Hatchetfishes
Pencilfishes
Pacu
Arowana
Arapaima
River rays

Mammals
Marmosets
Tamarins
Two-toed sloth

Birds
Aracaris
Toucans
Tanagers
Honeycreepers
Amazon Parrots

This is by no means an extensive list, there are other species that have been mixed as well with no issues. Of course there are exceptions and outliers, but the fact of the matter is that while the teeth of piranha are fairly unique, aside from that they are really no different than other amazonian fishes of similar size.

 

[Van Beal]

The aquarium isn't in America.

Fair enough

 

[DaLilFishie]

Fishes
Other Piranhas
Leporinus sp.
Uaru
Severum
Chocolate cichlid
Oscar
Earth eaters
Various dwarf cichlids
Various large catfishes
Various loricariid catfishes
Exodon paradoxus
Cardinals and other micro tetras
Hatchetfishes
Pencilfishes
Pacu
Arowana
Arapaima
River rays

River rays? I would have thought the piranhas would nibble at and cause damage to the rays' fins.

 

[CMTM]

River rays? I would have thought the piranhas would nibble at and cause damage to the rays' fins.

Perhaps, but honestly I would be more worried about Leporinus exhibiting that sort of behavior. It certainly could happen with piranhas in which case the species would need to be separated if it became an issue. To be honest the worst offenders for this are actually male rays trying to mate with females. I have had to separate rays for this more than any other behavioral issue. It is certainly not a piranha exclusive behavior though. Just because they have sharp teeth doesn't mean they're constantly looking for an excuse to use them. They're fish, not engineers.

 

[DaLilFishie]

Just because they have sharp teeth doesn't mean they're constantly looking for an excuse to use them. They're fish, not engineers.

I know, I just thought that if the piranhas were to nibble, it would do a lot more damage than other fish would

 

[CMTM]

I know, I just thought that if the piranhas were to nibble, it would do a lot more damage than other fish would

Hey, you got me there.

 

[DaLilFishie]

As for the aggressive male rays, would keeping them as same-sex groups eliminate this problem? That obviously wouldn't work if you are trying to breed them though.

 

[CMTM]

As for the aggressive male rays, would keeping them as same-sex groups eliminate this problem? That obviously wouldn't work if you are trying to breed them though.

If we're talking Potamotrygon sp. That does tend to work. Most species breed like rabbits and most facilities aren't trying to breed them save for rarer species like tigrina.

 

[Ebirah766]

I believe Osaka has an excellent piranha exhibit. It is an excellently planted area with tens of large red-bellied piranhas which are mixed in with other species, a real feat for any aquarium!

 

[DaLilFishie]

I believe Osaka has an excellent piranha exhibit. It is an excellently planted area with tens of large red-bellied piranhas which are mixed in with other species, a real feat for any aquarium!

Yep. It's a good exhibit for the piranhas and other fish, but the addition of a lone Capybara to it, an awful enclosure for this species, really knocks the exhibit back. Just remove the Capybara and all issues would be resolved.