# beginer fish?



## ipsd (Aug 11, 2004)

what would be a good species of piranhas that doesnt have teath? ive never had fish
but best friend has been in hobby for over 20 yrs and is helpin me out.
i have little kids that like to play in his tanks so i dont want flesh eatibg piranha (his follow fingers so dont want kid to get bit) he didnt know of any species vegetarian but said he knows most piranah are veg and only like 20 something are flesh.
going in 55 gal long any help appr
buddy said i had to join this site cuz it was the shhiiiizzzzzznnnnnnniiiiiiitttttttttoooooooo


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

hmm wrong site buddy. your friend must be a pipe smoker bc they're are no "vegetarian" p's and all p's have teeth. might want to look at oscars, no teeth, carnivore but very smart


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

btw kids shouldnt play IN any type of fish tank


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## Sanguinea (Feb 19, 2004)

You try a silver dollar. They are a relative of the piranha and are vegetarian.


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

or a couple goldfishes?

hehe just messing


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## ipsd (Aug 11, 2004)

Well i saw a show on discovery channel that said somthing like 300 species of piranha and only 20 or so have teeth so whats' the deal ? Also we try to keep the kids out of the tanks but you know things aren't the way they were when i was little!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Spankings?


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

ipsd said:


> Well i saw a show on discovery channel that said somthing like 300 species of piranha and only 20 or so have teeth so whats' the deal ? Also we try to keep the kids out of the tanks but you know things aren't the way they were when i was little!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Spankings?










actually i think frank (hastatus) said there are alittle over 40 known species
and yes they all have teeth


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## fury (Nov 30, 2003)

i don't think any piranha is a beginer fish







if you want a fish that your kids can pet at the top of the water (piranha are out of the ?) oscars are good pets for that they are people friendly


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

yea every specie of p known to man have teeth. maybe there are one's without teeth but just aren't discovered yet, never know


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## ReDraGon-> (May 24, 2004)

Well u shouldnt let your Kids IN the fish tank anyways...whats wrong with u , Be a good parent and show your kids not to play "IN" the fish tank!!!

and all Piranhas have Teeth...why would we want them then???
your friend that has been in the hobby for 20 years u say....well i think hes lying or your lying.....unless hes got some gay ass pacu

And yes this site Rocks









even those VEGETARIAN fish will bite your kids if the are playing "IN" his fish tank.

Go get an Oscar and have your kids play "IN" the fish tank and u can watch the oscar nibble at there fingers









apparently your not ready to be a parent let alone take care of fish!


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## Doug (Feb 10, 2004)

Just build a canopy with a lid and a lock on it. Problem solved. And then go get some piranha's.


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

i'm almost 20 but i at least know not to allow any kid even touch the glass on a fish tank. how are you gonna let your kids open the lid and put their hands inside??? looks like your kids need obidience (sp) and some better parenting no offense

only solution i c to this is that your kids are spoiled and walk all over you!!!


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Guys get off his back about his parenting. Not all fish are going to see fingers and drag his kids to the depth of the tank where they will drown before being consumed by the flesh eating carnivores or killed by the crushing pressure of the deep









It's not the best fish keeping, and your kids had definately better wash their hands afterwards but to call someone an unfit parent for it is stupid as all hell. When you have kids yourself and see how difficult it can be too watch them 24/7 then you can comment on someone elses child rearing techniques.

Piranhas are absolutely out of the question for a house where kids might put their fingers in. And that means all piranhas as there are none that don't have teeth and none that won't act unpredictable if a kid starts chasing them around with their hands. I suggest an Oscar, they're beatiful and personable fish and are pretty much the equivalent of having a puppy dog as a fish. They'll beg for food, let you pet them and have been trained by some people to do tricks. Unfortunately in a 50 gallon you can only really fit one as they grow to about a foot in length. Maybe a couple of smaller cichlids are in order or some other tropical fish. I wish I could give more suggestions but most of my knowledge centers on piranhas and I can say for sure that they're the wrong fish for you.


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

1 oscar needs at least 75g to themself

sorry i have a 6 and 8 yr boy cousins that live in town and know a thing or two about raising kids


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## anotherreject04 (Mar 16, 2004)

id say in your case get a oscar...but they need a bigger tank


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Fresh said:


> 1 oscar needs at least 75g to themself
> 
> sorry i have a 6 and 8 yr boy cousins that live in town and know a thing or two about raising kids


 You have cousins, you do not have children. You don't know ANYTHING about raising kids.

A single Oscar can be kept in a 50


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

buddy you don't know me so don't act like you do.

a oscar needs a 75g if wants to stay healthy and happy


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

http://www.piranha-fury.com/forum/pfury/in...=45144&hl=oscar

here's more for your stubborn ass
http://www.piranha-fury.com/forum/pfury/in...&highlite=oscar


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## ShortCurcuit (Jul 16, 2004)

I would suggest some african chiclids. They have alot of personality are pretty easy to keep and most importantly they wont bite your kids fingers off


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

some are aggressive though


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## SerraNBAPygo (Jun 8, 2004)

ReDraGon-> said:


> Well u shouldnt let your Kids IN the fish tank anyways...whats wrong with u , Be a good parent and show your kids not to play "IN" the fish tank!!!
> 
> and all Piranhas have Teeth...why would we want them then???
> your friend that has been in the hobby for 20 years u say....well i think hes lying or your lying.....unless hes got some gay ass pacu
> ...


 i agree with red dragon.


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

yea a oscar is a good choice for you. they want the most attention and can be taught tricks and fun sh*t like that you can do wit ur kids and wont bite off any fingers


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## User (May 31, 2004)

WTF is up? The guy asked about fish not advice on parenting skills.


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

sh*t gets out of hand what can i say


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## Griggs2121 (Aug 18, 2003)

Doug said:


> Just build a canopy with a lid and a lock on it. Problem solved. And then go get some piranha's.


 this is your best answer so far


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

yeah, getting on the man's case about his parenting skills is a little tough. i wouldn't pass judgement on him like you guys are doing.

as for you question about fish, maybe you ought to look at getting a heavy canopy built, one that won't allow your children into the tank. or, you could go with some cichlids. like everyone suggested, an oscar would be nice. www.oscarfish.com is a nice website for oscars. everyone there says that 55g is bare minimum for oscars, but everyone knows that they can up to 14", which would be too large for a 55g aquarium.

there are lots of other choices out there, like jack dempseys, green terrors, severums, firemouths, etc. you could also try out some freshwater puffers, but they might be boring to the beginning aquarist.

i would say get a 75gallon aquarium and stock it with a nice oscar or maybe some parrot fish


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

sorry gotta say it,

what do u have to say now eltwicho? dont be stubborn


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## m0m0n3y_m0pr0bl3mz (Aug 10, 2004)

god damn...everyone needs to calm down...instead of givin smart mouth comments about parenting and sh*t just say there are no piranha that are vegetarian and all of them have teeth...dont go on about ur friend is a liar or your a bad parent...god damn i swear some ppl are so f*cking stupid


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## f2esh (Aug 18, 2003)

Fresh said:


> hmm wrong site buddy. your friend must be a pipe smoker bc they're are no "vegetarian" p's and all p's have teeth. might want to look at oscars, no teeth, carnivore but very smart


 btw oscars have teeth....little ones in the back of their mouth


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## m0m0n3y_m0pr0bl3mz (Aug 10, 2004)

yup ur right...they do...but if your worrying about wut kinda fish to get...start off with some simple goldfish or something get some plecos and cichlids...i dont know...but dont get piranhas if your children will put there hands in the tank


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## Tommy V (Jul 18, 2003)

oscars and jack dempseys are great pets, only problem is the oscar needs to be a lot bigger or else the jack will punk him due to their more aggressive nature


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

and a big ass tank for those two fish


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## Kamikaze (Apr 5, 2004)

shouldn't this tread be ended...


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## Tommy V (Jul 18, 2003)

Fresh said:


> and a big ass tank for those two fish


 yeup thats why i got rid of mine







but then again i need the 55 for my brandti and rhom too


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## Fresh (Feb 8, 2004)

it's getting somewhere relax


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Kamikaze said:


> shouldn't this tread be ended...


Just because a few assholes (everyone knows who I'm talking about) lack common decency and are continuously derailing this thread???:rock:

Next one who makes an off-topic remark can look forward to nice warning: this is not the way we treat new people, idiots








That includes remarks about parenting: nowhere did I read "Judge my parenting skills", let alone asking to pass judgement about his kids. Also, if he wants to keep fish, even when it's freakin' sharks in the kid's room, it's his business - so either contribute in a useful way or shut the f*ck up...

Anyways, back to the topic on hand:
All piranha's have teeth, including vegetarian species (in fact, all characins, or toothcarps, have teeth): your best bet would be silver dollars. They don' get too big (usually no more than 10"), but need to be kept in shoals, so a large tank is required (at least 48" long and 18" deep).
From a distance a shoal of silver dollars looks pretty much like a shoal of pygo's, so the esthetics are to a certain extent the same. But instead of meat, they eat flake/pellet/stick food, vegetables and aquarium plants.


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

i would say silver dollars you can find a few variations in them and are cool they arent very skittish towards people and swim alot. although you CAN make a canopy and put padlocks on it so your kids dont get in the tank. in that case if you want a cool piranha get a irritans or a brandtii or a spilo but you can only have one in a 50 gallon but all of those fish especially the iriitans will likely on occasion go for your finger and can inflict a nasty bite. the irritans is like the chiuaua of the piranha world....nasty but happy meal sized here is a pic...http://www.piranha-fury.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=522


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

btw do not keep any of these species in a group a spilo can sometimes be kept in small groups in large tanks id say over 100 gallons..an irritans may be able to be kept together in lol 500 gallons and a bradnti man...like 1k gallons lol they NORMALLY dont live together very well but there are exceptions to every rule exceptmaybe the fact youd die if you jumped off of a super tall building.


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## delta (Jul 23, 2004)

dont worry gues ive talked him into zebra danios(i have a school 4 dzn strong sellin him) but prob totally lost a member over the crap u gave him im very dissapointed in most of you
he mistated some things but according to discovery channel and two piranha books i have there are between 30 and 40 species of TRUE piranha and over 200 species classified under gen piranha name because they are genetically so simular but they are silver not lookin like a rbp and if you think i have a lame ass pacu or dont know what im doing come over to my house and i have nett's and anouther fish ill let ya play with and see if it has teeth (hes 19 in long and has 100-200 spike teeth that are over 2 inches long and hes a baby)


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## 351winsor (Aug 3, 2004)

red belly pacu


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## shutter13 (Jun 23, 2004)

IMO i would get some cons, they're cool as hell and a few can be kept in a 30 gallon...

but... i was just thinking.. how tall are your kids? Alot of big tanks are 20''+ plus the height of the stand... i doubt they could reach, and if they can they should be old enough to listen to you when you say dont play in the tank


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## delta (Jul 23, 2004)

youd havta know the area we live in. At school the kids are tought to tell every time ya try spanking or the like then you get a citation or loose your kids its really screwed up im just glad i dont have any id definatly move cuz its gettin crazy around here


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## oldnavycb (Aug 27, 2003)

Oscars may scare the kids my old oscar was a beast usta bitch down my dog lol


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## spreerider (Jul 15, 2004)

what about pacu?, they look almost identical to piranha but dont eat meat they eat nuts and fruits, they still have big teeth but arnt meat eaters.
they look so much like rbp that as young fish they are sometimes mistaken for them especially at your lfs.


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

spreerider said:


> what about pacu?, they look almost identical to piranha but dont eat meat they eat nuts and fruits, they still have big teeth but arnt meat eaters.
> they look so much like rbp that as young fish they are sometimes mistaken for them especially at your lfs.


Pacu's reach at least 2ft, often even more so unless you can get a 10x4x4ft tank or an indoor pond, don't even bother...

btw: pacu's do have teeth, a bit similar to human teeth, and can bite, hard at that: definitely hard enough to draw blood or perhaps even remove a finger or toe (I mean, what's a human finger compared to a bit seed or nut?)
They eat mainly plant-matter, but meaty foods and pellets/sticks as well, and even take out feeders at times.


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