# My first serra



## [email protected]° (Jun 16, 2004)

I took home my first serra today. I have been keeping an eye on him for a few weeks at a LFS, he had an eye injury and was going for $49. til I pointed out to the owner how sick he was. The owner took the price off him and treated the tank imediately.

He has a severe cloudy eye with swelling. He looks 100X better than he did 3 weeks ago when I first saw him, but is still cloudy and a little swolen, he is also a little skinny.

It was sold as a "black piranha" as usuall, he has a nice little splash of red across his gill plate, so I was thinking either sanchezi, or red throat rhom. I honestly have no idea, Im no expert on serras...

Anyway, he is about 3.5-4" total lenth and in my 36 Bow for the time being. I am planning on either getting 2, 75G or a single 90G in the next 6 months anyway so I had a perfect little place for him to heal and grow.

Check out the pics... they are crappy phone pics, thats all I have, but I got close up, right to the glass, he just sits there, doesnt bug out at all.

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PS: I offered the guy $25. for him. 1/2 what he was asking when I pointed him out. I knew he wasn't going to just give it to me since he was getting better and I wanted to help make sure he makes it rather than get bought by some dumbass. He thought it over for a minute and agreed... I think we both made out.


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## Joga Bonito (Oct 30, 2004)

nice fish


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## lament configuration (Jun 22, 2003)

i think you have a red throat rhom. check out the pics of similar looking serras in the other thread in this forum called "unidentified tfd serra"


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## moeplz (Feb 21, 2005)

It will look real nice when the eye heals.

Good pickup!


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## oscared15 (Feb 3, 2006)

great pickup, hope the eye heals up well :nod:


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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

Cant tell for sure from those pictures.

How is the spotting pattern on the fish??? Do you see spots, are they shaped oval??( bars)


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## whatsthedeal (Feb 3, 2006)

rhom


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## piranha_guy_dan (Oct 4, 2004)

rhom

he will look good once his eyes heal up


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## 2PiRaNhA~2FuRrY (Nov 1, 2005)

can't really see, but a guess would be rhom.


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## b_ack51 (Feb 11, 2003)

Good looking serra (other than the eye), need better pics for ID.


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## [email protected]° (Jun 16, 2004)

I really can't get a better shot of him, my camera sucks!!

I have been going through the info section and opfee comparing him to the gallery pics and I would belive he is a sanchezi if someone told me so. His shape, especially around his mouth looks a LOT like the shape I see on the sanchezi.

I honestly have no idea when it comes to IDing piranhas, thats why I NEVER post in this forum.

My GF is coming down to visit this weekend, she has a better cam. I'll try and get some good shots then...


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## black_piranha (Jan 12, 2006)

does that have white eyes? or is it me.


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## dipset.taliban (Sep 8, 2005)

the head shape makes it look like sanchezi to me but i cant tell for sure


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## [email protected]° (Jun 16, 2004)

black_piranha said:


> does that have white eyes? or is it me.


His one eye is injured. It is cloudy and a little swolen, however it has improved GREATLY since I first saw him in the LFS a few weeks ago.

He is doing quite well, not overly skittish, he just chills at the bottom of the tank but doesn't hide at all. I put a couple pieces of water sprite in there for him to hide behind but instead he sits at the front corner of the tank.

I haven't seen him eat at all yet, but there are some dempsys in the tank, and some of thier fins are nipped up, so I think he is at least trying to eat. I put some small pieces of shrimp in the tank last night for the demps hoping he would give it a try but I didn't see him touch any of it.

For now I'm just going to keep some ciclids in there for him to munch on, and keep offering shrimp, and other supermarket foods.


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## [email protected]° (Jun 16, 2004)

New pics with a slightly better cam...

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## C0Rey (Jan 7, 2006)

that fish seems to have beem malnurished, even though its swolen its eyes still looks to be too big compaired to the rest of the fish.

lets hope he heals up nicely.


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## [email protected]° (Jun 16, 2004)

C0Rey said:


> that fish seems to have beem malnurished, even though its swolen its eyes still looks to be too big compaired to the rest of the fish.
> 
> lets hope he heals up nicely.


He is pretty skinny, but he has been eating. He chomped the tail off the pleco, took a few swipes at the oscars tail, and ate all but the head of a small dempsey. I have been treating him with melafix, and also offer him shrimp and fillets.

I hope to get him off live food eventually, but for now I'm keeping a good population of SA ciclids for him to munch on.

Luckily the Petsmart near me has plenty of cheap cons, and demps


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## b_ack51 (Feb 11, 2003)

Just make sure to keep up on the water changes, raise the temp, and add salt when you are done with the melafix.

I see in the reflection a red eye in one pic.


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## [email protected]° (Jun 16, 2004)

He died.









I just couldn't get him to eat enough. He got skinnier and skinnier til I found him stuck to the filter when I got home.

I feel awfull!! I wish I could have saved him


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## bmpower007 (Feb 11, 2005)

That sucks man, you tried your best don't worry


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## mashunter18 (Jan 2, 2004)

Bake at 98.6° said:


> He died.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


to bad he died...


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