# Spilo Attack Training



## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

In attack dog training, when we get a young dog who needs to be "brought out of his/her shell" and gain confidence, the decoy (person pretending to be the attacker) will advance on the dog and when the dog shows any kind of forward movement, barking, growling or such, the decoy acts scared and backs off... thus giving the dog confidence.

Over a period of doing this over and over, the dog learns that when he shows aggression, it scares the 'attacker' off.

My spilo has been very inactive the entire 6 months that I've had him... not moving much from his corner, not showing any interest in finger chasing, etc.

I decided a couple days ago to try the dog tactics on him... and it appears to be working so far.

I made a "spilo puppet" by running off two photos of a spilo onto photo paper, reversing one of the photos so that the "puppet" would have both sides.
I then glued the two pics together and put a bamboo skewer in the middle.

I've been holding this "puppet" up to the tank, having it "swim" up to my spilo, and when my spilo shows any advancement, I make the "puppet" turn tail and "swim" off.

The last couple of times I've got spilo to where he'll actually charge the glass when the "puppet" gets close.

Just thought I'd share my weird tactic...


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## TheCableGuy (Feb 22, 2005)

Boring day at the office, huh?

But seriously, that's a pretty cool idea you have.








You should post a video.


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## Sylar_92 (Dec 15, 2010)

LOL, so I wasnt the only one who tried this with my fish. The first few weeks when I bought my older red bellies I wanted them to be more aggressive and active, so I did the same thing you did but with a silver arowana puppet. I trained them to chase the puppet, everytime the shoal successfuly chased the arowana puppet together I threw food in slowly I made the transition from puppet to a peice of tin foil and then my hand. Now my redsfinger chase, body chase and greet people who walk because they think Iam gunna feed them. Cool RRS puppet hope the plan works.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Thanks for the cool comments guys...

I just did it again and he hit the glass so hard you could hear him smack against the glass.


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## Piranha-Freak101 (Dec 8, 2010)

Very nice tactik p-man , glad hes loosening up


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## Smoke (Sep 8, 2010)

Very nice! I do the same thing, but I just use my fingers... seems to work well.


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## Plowboy (Apr 9, 2008)

You should've been working on your powerpoint

For V2.0, I say you carve a spilo out of a nerf football and attach it to a toy submarine.


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## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

What??? Seriously? You know this is a fish, right?



> I just did it again and he hit the glass so hard you could hear him smack against the glass.


Great.


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## Smoke (Sep 8, 2010)

Couldn't help thinking about this some more, and wondering... what if... just what if... your Spilo ends up co-hab'ing with your so called puppet? Heck... make 4-5 of those puppets and attach them together somehow and see if they shoal!


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## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

Beyond ridiculous


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## Smoke (Sep 8, 2010)

SERRAPYGO said:


> Beyond ridiculous


Absolutely


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## BRUNER247 (Jun 2, 2010)

I kinda do same thing(idea anyhow)but with t hand. Ill point at say my rhom when he jumps forward my hand retreats but I never put my hand closer than a ft to the tank. I don't want them working the glass or hitting it hard. Hitting the glass hard might shy them away & working glass can't be good on the ol chin.


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## I Can Mate (Apr 8, 2010)

haha i did the same thing with a towel though


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

I Can Mate said:


> haha i did the same thing with a towel though


I remember you posting something like that...
It was your story that helped inspire my "puppetry."


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

This is coming along extremely well!

He chases the puppet around tirelessly, snapping at it and hitting the glass hard.
Yesterday he even went for my fingers a little bit.
When I walk in the room now he comes up to the front of the glass.

I'll shoot a video of him in a few days.
Hell, up until last week he just sat in his corner and never moved... ever... for any reason.
Now he's becoming a maniac.


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## Tampa2Josh (Jan 9, 2011)

This is such an awesome thing. My spilo was always pretty curious but not really aggressive, but since I've applied your training techniques he's a monster. I've been doing what you have but with a finger, and gotten the same awesome results. Now she just coasts back and forth at the front of her tank, waiting for someone to sit down and give her a finger to chase.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

^^ You've got a natural finger-chaser there... I have to bring mine "out" with the puppet still... but we're making advances rapidly and he's starting to show interest in my fingers.

Should make a P-Fury t-shirt that shows a badass Serrasalmus with the caption under it: _"Give your piranha the finger!"_


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## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

Genius just pure genius!!! I'm going to try this with my goldfish. He'll be finger chasing in no time









No for real I think that I'll try this same thing with my rhom. I'll let you know how it goes.


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## Johnny_Zanni (Nov 8, 2009)

Sacrifice said:


> Genius just pure genius!!! I'm going to try this with my goldfish. He'll be finger chasing in no time
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I bet it would work with your fiance too.


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## Guest (Mar 30, 2011)

I'm still laughing at the puppet








Genius idea though


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## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

Well....if I made a puppet of my







I could get her to chase me all over. Wallet that is...wallet yeah that's what I meant.


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

.









Either way should work... I do believe those are the two things of interest to most women, eh?


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## Guest (Mar 30, 2011)

Piranha_man said:


> .
> 
> 
> 
> ...


puppets and







?


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## SandNukka15 (Nov 16, 2010)

Smoke said:


> Beyond ridiculous


Absolutely
[/quote]

x3 hahahaha


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

try and get him to the point my avatar is at







it's not my rhom, but i remember the member whose it was, and he interacts with it daily.


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## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

primetime3wise said:


> try and get him to the point my avatar is at
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The members name is PaYaRa_12. Here's a link to his thread.

http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?/topic/194491-rocky-mix-new/









sorry I'm bored at work


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

pretty bored at work myself









if you look at the 2nd page on that link, he has a training program for his rhom, kinda makes me chuckle...but hey, if it works!?


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## Smoke (Sep 8, 2010)

I am bored too

http://fish-school.com/


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## His Majesty (Apr 5, 2005)

lol nice idea pman. if its working its working. cant argue with that


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## Guest (Mar 30, 2011)

Smoke said:


> I am bored too
> 
> http://fish-school.com/


I've seen that stuff before, pretty crazy lol.
Check this out







if only it was a pygo shoal lol.


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## Sacrifice (Sep 24, 2006)

^^^^WOW


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

THIS THREAD JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER


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## TheCableGuy (Feb 22, 2005)

Traveller said:


> I am bored too
> 
> http://fish-school.com/


I've seen that stuff before, pretty crazy lol.
Check this out







*if only it was a pygo shoal* lol.




[/quote]

x2

That's a pretty cool video!!


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## Hogdog (Feb 1, 2010)

My Marginatus is quite shy, I'm gonna try this


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