# Super Reds or Reds?



## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

can anyone even tell at this size, 1/2"-3/4"?


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

another


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

another


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

another


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

last one


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## Serygo (May 17, 2004)

Cant tell at that stage.
both supers, and regular reds look the same, until they reach a more higher life stage.
So when at that stage in life, they look the same.


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## LaZy (Jun 17, 2003)

Tank bred Rb


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## timmy (Mar 29, 2004)

primetime3wise said:


> last one


 kinda looks like a baby rhom.


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

:laugh: hope u dident pay too much for normal tank bred natts


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## marco (Jan 2, 2003)

oh wow. he is a small one.









i dont think anyone in the world can tell the diffrence between a super red and a captive bred red when they are that small!


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## hastatus (Jan 16, 2003)

Cute lil fellas.


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

timmy said:


> primetime3wise said:
> 
> 
> > last one
> ...


 could they be baby rhoms? god i hope not, guy at store said he got em as snakeskin/super, but he's not sure if they are snakeskin or reg. red-bellies. I guess time will tell. Is there a chance thay are baby rhoms, I think they don't look like em to my knowledge.


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

they don't have the pointed snout like baby rhoms, round more like pygos


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## timmy (Mar 29, 2004)

primetime3wise said:


> last one


 Thsi last pic has a pointed mouth (imo)


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## hastatus (Jan 16, 2003)

I would stick with letting them grow out more. From the general body shape, I tend to think its probably a Pygocentrus more than a Serrasalmus or other related species.


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## Little Waffen (Mar 13, 2004)

cute little buggers i cant believe i had mine that small at one time,and now 7in later,,good luck with your fish


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## spawnie9600 (Nov 15, 2004)

they look like regs to me i dont think their rhoms send more pix once they get bigger


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## PYROPYGO1 (Nov 23, 2004)

Its skin is tinted simular to the pygos or serrasalmus with a bluish green, allthough when I purchased the five that I have now only started to get their color when they were a little over 1'' or so. As the rest of the guys said, it may be too early to tell. My pygos were silver for a while until I fed them some food that had some color enhancements. Hope this helps, good luck!


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

bump, guy at LFS said they are def. super reds/snakeskin. i've also lost 2 due to cannabilim







here are more pics. do super reds have the spots on them at 1"? is it still too early to tell?


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

another. they do have little spots, but i ask again" do super reds/snakeskin have them at this small (1")


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Yeah, the LFS will tell you whatever you want to hear to boost sales: as far as I know, all Super Reds (which is nothing more than P. nattereri variant from a certain region in S. America - northern Brasil and Peru[?], btw.) are wild-caught. And I've never ever seen a picture of a Super Reds smaller than around 2 inches or bigger than about 7 inches.

I doubt they'll import lots of piranha's as tiny as these dudes: unless someone can tell you for sure where they were collected in the wild, or can hand over pictures of the parents, they are just redbellies - not that that makes them any less cool: raising your own baby reds is a cool business, no matter what "type" they are









This does raise an (imo.) interesting question, however: if Super Reds have been bred in captivity, would the offspring have the same vibrant colors (which is at least partly caused by the water chemistry and diet in the wild - both lacking in captivity), or would they end up just like any other first-generation captive-bred fish, compared to offspring off other P. nattereri variants/forms?


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

yea, you're probably right, esp about the LFS's honesty, as they are a little shady. they insisted a cariba and notatus are seperate species to make it more expensive.


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## MR.FREEZ (Jan 26, 2004)

Judazzz said:


> This does raise an (imo.) interesting question, however: if Super Reds have been bred in captivity, would the offspring have the same vibrant colors (which is at least partly caused by the water chemistry and diet in the wild - both lacking in captivity), or would they end up just like any other first-generation captive-bred fish, compared to offspring off other P. nattereri variants/forms?


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

primetime3wise said:


> yea, you're probably right, esp about the LFS's honesty, as they are a little shady. they insisted a cariba and notatus are seperate species to make it more expensive.


 Well, they can do and say whatever they want, but in the end only one thing matters: you enjoying your hobby.
And wheter you have wild Super Reds or 13-in-a-dozen captivebred Reds, raising them from tiny farts to impressive adults is about as good as it gets when it comes to piranha keeping
















So don't worry about what you have, and simply enjoy them for what they are - it doesn't really matter what label is attached to them anyways!


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

picked up 6 more reds, strange now if you look at my old pics, and look at a pic like this one that has more recently bought piranhas, these reds, which are def. just regular reds, have black on the end of the tail, in two spots, right before the tail starts and also right were it ends. look at this picture, it has one of the old and one of the new p's. the newer also have much more prominent spots.


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

esp in this photo, look at p at top of screen and one at bottom to notice difference in tails.


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

few more showing variation


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

new ones have 2 tail fin stripes, older ones i'vew owned, 1 stripe. plus new ones more spots (though could that be stress on older ones?)


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## primetime3wise (Sep 28, 2003)

another


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