# Red eyes?



## ion (Jun 20, 2003)

I just notice the description of P. Naterreri (RBP) at Nate's website. And it stated in the description that their eyes are suppose to be red. Are all RBP eyes red? Mine are still about 2-3 inch, and their eyes are silvery, not red?


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## |Lurker| (May 10, 2003)

No!!!

Nattereris are the most geograficaly scatered , so they have many coloration varieties depending on the region , they can have red eyes but also silver eyes . But your piranhas can still gain the red eyes!!


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

|Lurker| said:


> No!!!
> 
> Nattereris are the most geograficaly scatered , so they have many coloration varieties depending on the region , they can have red eyes but also silver eyes . But your piranhas can still gain the red eyes!!


 Very true!
Also, juvi reds usually have silvery eyes, and get red ones once they mature.


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## Birdman (Mar 19, 2003)

isnt that true with xingu rhoms, some have red eyes and some have silver


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## PIRANHNUT (May 28, 2003)

Yes good point.Juvi Xingu rhombeus have silver eyes until they reach a size of about 4 inches sometimes even 3 inches.Then their eyes will start to take on the red eyes they will have as adults.Natts are the same way for the most part.They typically start to gain their red eyes at about 4 inches.


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## SnowCichlid (Jan 10, 2003)

And in some cases you will never know what colour the eye truly would be, this is because in some cases those eyes are missing









another question while we are on the subject: Do people attempt or try to dye the eyes of fish as well as their bodies? Has anyone ever seen this?


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## lament configuration (Jun 22, 2003)

I had a 4" RBP that had red pigments in his eye......it was cool. It all depends on the region they're from. at least thats what i have been told


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## hastatus (Jan 16, 2003)

> PIRANHNUT Posted on Jul 10 2003, 02:18 PM
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Yes good point.Juvi Xingu rhombeus have silver eyes until they reach a size of about 4 inches sometimes even 3 inches.Then their eyes will start to take on the red eyes they will have as adults.Natts are the same way for the most part.They typically start to gain their red eyes at about 4 inches.


S. rhombeus is certainly a complex group. Back before these other geographical forms were discovered (pirana study is actually gaining interest now, where before scientists didn't care), rhombeus was simply given a single description. These others (Xingu, Argentina, etc.,) where thought to be possibly new species or previous described one because of the variation of color, body type etc. One thing all these fish have in common is the *red eye* and one other detail that didn't show until adulthood, similar appearance to the traditional appearing S. rhombeus.
I have had to modify my S. rhombeus web page several times over the last 10 years to keep up with the new data. In particular the time of the eye color changing to red. It was previously thought to occur after the fish reached 5 inches or more, with these newer forms being discovered in other localities, the size is even smaller in some cases.........so the beat goes on.

S. rhombeus study is still relatively new with current on-going studies taking place. I would be hesitant to put a tag on a vario-type like S. rhombeus as being some other species until current field studies are done.

One species, S. altispinis is so close appearing to S. rhombeus that only a few characters make it distinctive. It is just a bit thinner anteriorly then S. rhombeus but thicker than the compressus group, large humeral spot and the tail band is distinctive from other S. rhombeus in the same region where both occur.

This is also true of P. nattereri. At one point in time, it was thought that nattereri was a subspecies of P. cariba since both appear more similar than does nattereri vs piraya or cariba vs piraya in some physical and internal similarities. Current research has made nattereri distinctive from the other two based on scientific methods. Yet as a whole population they are indeed scattered in terms of color, spotting, size, head shape etc. Some of these can be seen in the home aquarium. With NIKE breeding P. nattereri, if he observes closely enough on these offspring, he will see how scattered these fish are with some having more spotting than others, different head shape, body etc.


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## MarcusK408 (May 18, 2003)

I have two rbp's with red eyes. They are about 4.5-5".


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## RhomZilla (Feb 12, 2003)

Red eyes in Rhom usually depends on their maturity. I had an 8" rhom before that didnt have red eyes but developed it a couple months down the line. Also other than locality with fish, most home raised RBs do have red pigments in their eyes which develope with most.


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