# One-eyed cariba



## Elongatus cockus (May 28, 2005)

I turn my head for one second and one of my caribas eyes comes up missing (I think the heat drove them insane):

View attachment 70170


2 Questions:

1. What are his chances of surviving in a mean shoal with this handicap
2. What can I do to prevent them from biting eachothers eyes off???


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

Elongatus cockus said:


> I turn my head for one second and one of my caribas eyes comes up missing (I think the heat drove them insane):
> 
> View attachment 70170
> 
> ...


Wow that sucks man. You almost have to treat it like any other injury. Sadly enough, eyes do not come back.


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## "qickshot" (Apr 19, 2005)

mine lasted for a while but mine was a rbp and i heard that caribes are more likely to pick off the week







nice shoal btw realy nice


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## Elongatus cockus (May 28, 2005)

Thanks,

That's what I heard too. I think Taylor had 3-1 eyed ones that lasted about a week. Does he stand a better chance against my 3" reds you think?


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## Joga Bonito (Oct 30, 2004)

Elongatus cockus said:


> I turn my head for one second and one of my caribas eyes comes up missing (I think the heat drove them insane):
> 
> View attachment 70170
> 
> ...


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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

Iv never had one eyes last past 5-6".I dont know if it can be prevented.Seems lots of one eyes around of these small ones.

Sucks man....


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## bmpower007 (Feb 11, 2005)

That sucks man, good luck on him I had a red with one eyed and the shoal ending up eating him up


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

Elongatus cockus said:


> Thanks,
> 
> That's what I heard too. I think Taylor had 3-1 eyed ones that lasted about a week. Does he stand a better chance against my 3" reds you think?
> [snapback]1124238[/snapback]​


That is correct. It was much less than a week though. I don't think they will "take him out" as fast as mine did. Like I have explained a few times before, I have 3 that are about an inch larger than the others. Since those 3 happen to be skittish, they won't eat in front of me, and they also didn't want to eat the food after it was on the bottom of my tank. I know it was my bigger ones that ate the one eyes, because they had bulging stomachs when they never did before. I have the 3 big guys alone in the 29 gallon tank for now. They are going to have to learn they can't eat live food. I can't take the risk of them killing any more of my others. From the looks of it, they will be in the small tank for quite some time, because they just don't eat like they should. Once I can feed them repeatedly until their stomachs bulge and they do it in front of me, I will put them with the others.

Yours all seem to be the same size, and it looks like they all eat until they are bulging, so hopefully you won't have trouble for a while.

I wanted to add that the eye looks badly injured and not gone. Chances are the others will try and take it out totally, especially now that it is blood red...








~Taylor~


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## pinchy (Jun 3, 2004)

thats too bad


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

keep him solo, he may turn out really cool and aggressive then


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## lightning2004 (Jun 25, 2005)

keep him in a tank alone or with some smaller p's if he has size advantage it may help keep him alive "longer"


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## SERRAPYGO (Feb 4, 2003)

He'll be ok unless he's projecting weakness. Piranhas are all about taking out the weak even if it's their own kind.


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## divine (Jan 3, 2005)

I had a shoal of 8 rbp. They are all at 6" or just a little bit bigger. One of the middle sized RBP is missing one of his eyes. One piranha was "taken out" but it wasn't one eye. it was another rbp about 1/2" smaller than one eye. the wounded did make it to a hospital tank and is going to survive.

just thought i would share.


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## anthongy817 (May 3, 2005)

that really sucks...i haven't lost a caribe yet..only reds.


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## lightning2004 (Jun 25, 2005)

now you can name him winky..lol


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## Elongatus cockus (May 28, 2005)

lightning2004 said:


> now you can name him winky..lol
> [snapback]1124532[/snapback]​










yeah if he survives -- he's got a lot of character though, so I hope he makes it. I might just scoop the rest of his eyes out so the others don't try to wipe it out completely ~ anyone with advice on scooping it out


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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

Elongatus cockus said:


> lightning2004 said:
> 
> 
> > now you can name him winky..lol
> ...



















Dont think I would do that, let nature take its course.Iv also had partial one eyes, where I think they may be able to see out of it, but wasnt sure, they survived...


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## Phtstrat (Sep 15, 2004)

I would suggest adding a little salt to help the wound heal faster. Other than that, I don't think that there is much else you can do.

Scraping the rest of the eye out will only make him weaker, thus further inciting the other cariba to attack.

My suggestion would be to give him a lazer eye:


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

I was ayt the LFS today who also sells puppies. They had a tank with a lone 3" Red, and he had one eye. I immediatly thought of this post. No one wants him. If I had room Ida taken him..

They also had a tank with 4 little dime size Reds. First time I ever saw them that tiny.


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## Elongatus cockus (May 28, 2005)

doctorvtec said:


> I was ayt the LFS today who also sells puppies. They had a tank with a lone 3" Red, and he had one eye. I immediatly thought of this post. No one wants him. If I had room Ida taken him..
> 
> They also had a tank with 4 little dime size Reds. First time I ever saw them that tiny.
> [snapback]1127597[/snapback]​


That's good to hear you would consider buying a one eye regardless of its handicap









I think one eyes have a distinctive character over the rest of the shoal. They are a little more fearless than the rest. I'd take him out and raise him in a seperate tank, but I wouldn't want to shelter him or anything. Went over to Mr.Wilsons house the other month, and he had a completely BLIND cariba shoaling w/ his 8"-12" caribas. It seemed to be doing alright, so who knows


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## lightning2004 (Jun 25, 2005)

if its blind how does it eat?


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## Elongatus cockus (May 28, 2005)

lightning2004 said:


> if its blind how does it eat?
> [snapback]1128328[/snapback]​


I guess when you lose one of your senses, you learn to fully itilize the rest of your senses

Check out Mr. Wilson's video:
http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?showtopic=91936

The blind one is the really dark one


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## Elongatus cockus (May 28, 2005)

The inevitable happened today:









View attachment 70726


Saw him dead when I came home







1-eye cariba


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## timmy (Mar 29, 2004)

wow, that sucks....... I lost one this weekend also, he was bout 4.5in


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

That sucks. I am so sorry to hear, and I didn't think it would happen that fast. Just goes to show you how accurate piranha are at picking out the weak.








~Taylor~


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

sorry to hear, RIP lil buddy, those things look very nice BTW


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## PuffPiff (May 23, 2005)

damn i see he didnt last too long with one eye, that sucks because my friend has a 1 eyed p named winky and he is a mean mofo, sorry for your loss dude


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## kove32 (Oct 26, 2004)

weird... my one eyed one is the biggest of the shoal!


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

My condolences my friend.


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## faebo_tarzan (Jun 5, 2005)

I dont know how it is with caribes but my 1-eyed rb is the most aggressive and non skittish. But it seems to different from case to case.


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