# Visit With Frank



## Inflade (Mar 24, 2006)

This weekend i had the Honor and Privilage to finally meet Als in person and view his collection, Particularly Frankenstein the Piraya.

Als is a true piranha lover, with more then 20 years of experiance with these fish. He has a respectful collection of fish, and crystal clear tanks. All his fish were top notch and had great personalities.

See the pictures of Frankenstein below, as well as a short video. Frank has grown considerably since in the care of Als. He lives in a 400 gallon tank.


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

Nice to see some new pics of the monster. How big is he now, sure makes that 400 look kind of small.


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## jp80911 (Apr 3, 2008)

Thanks for posting the pix, I think its too fat for my taste and is that HITH on the upper right side of its back?
I do have to Agree that Frank is one huge piraya, makes the 400g look like a 125g.
do you have pictures of other piranha Al has?


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

yea, only frank could make a 400g seem kind of small


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

I thought you were saying you met with Frank Magallanes.


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## impalass (Nov 20, 2009)

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing.

Is this the ledgend that was imported at 20 or 22" ?

How big would you guess he is now ?

Inspite of what looks like hith, and possibly being a little fat he still looks stunning !


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## Inflade (Mar 24, 2006)

The top marks are not HITH. They are scars. Hith would not be that large or wounds.

Yes, he is the fish imported at 20 inches. Al said that only 2 were ever collected. Frank and another fish, which believed to have died shortly after reaching japan. Frank was the smaller of the 2.

Frank is over 2 feet. i would say more close to 30 inches. he is a very active fish and has a very nice personality.


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## balluupnetme (Oct 23, 2006)

30"???? Dam


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## Smoke (Sep 8, 2010)

I haven't seen him before... did he always have those wounds on the top? It's a shame else he'd be a perfect looking monster... Thanks for sharing!


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## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

Piranha_man said:


> I thought you were saying you met with Frank Magallanes.


I thought that exact same thing!!!









Good O' Frankenstein. How did you get the opportunity to meet this beautiful fish?


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## Inflade (Mar 24, 2006)

Sacrifice said:


> I thought you were saying you met with Frank Magallanes.


I thought that exact same thing!!!









Good O' Frankenstein. How did you get the opportunity to meet this beautiful fish?
[/quote]

Als the owner and myself have a mutual friend Mike (metal Maniac). Als let me know about an extra ruby red he had on hold at his LFS, i made the trip down to get the ruby and on my way Als gave me a tour of his collection.


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## locust (Aug 2, 2005)

Frank is amazingly big, he was reported at 22 ins roughly 2 years ago.
The "scars" are very similar to this 17ins fish of a friends that recently died, probably hith.
Its inevitable they will show more weight than in the wild but hes gut area doesnt look large or distended its all upper haunches


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## 0S1R1S (Aug 29, 2010)

That is an amazing fish.. Such a beast.


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## rhom15 (Dec 20, 2009)

what causes hith


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## weerhom (Jan 12, 2007)

rhom15 said:


> what causes hith


From what I have found. High nitrates and not feeding whole food fishes. I have been lucky enough to see frank also when wes owned him. He was actually offered to me. Frank is a living legend.


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## rhom15 (Dec 20, 2009)

thanks for the input one more thing does it spread from fish to fish


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

it is not contageous, but chances are, if more than one fish is housed in the same conditions, it will also develop the disease. it's extremely common in cichlid's. i had a couple oscars that were always kept in pristine water, and eventually once they were very large, they to developed one or two "holes"...they weren't huge, but IMO it's got to be a natural mechanism for keeping longevity in check...no idea though, that's just a flat out guess.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Yeah, I think oscars are more suseptable to HITH than other fish...

I had one years ago that had such a big one in the middle of it's head that a little kid saw it one time and thought it was a baby whale.


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## picchius (Nov 21, 2008)

Huge baby there...........awesome !!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## lament configuration (Jun 22, 2003)

here is frank


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## Ja'eh (Jan 8, 2007)

Thanks for sharing with us....I always enjoy seeing updates on good'ol Frank. One day I gotta see this living legend in person.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

That P is MASSIVE!!!! A full tank shot would've been awesome.


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