# I fed my Piranhas a shark!



## ITsPennywise (May 26, 2005)

Well actually shark steak...Its like a shark fillet if you will...Its a really oily piece of fish...and my P's did eat some of it...But I think it was more due to hunger...They didn't finish it all...But it was still cool to say...I fed my Piranhas a shark :laugh:

Have any of you guys ever tried feeding shark steak before?


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## Joga Bonito (Oct 30, 2004)

i have never feed shark to my piranhas.

how much did it cost u?


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## ITsPennywise (May 26, 2005)

henry 79 said:


> i have never feed shark to my piranhas.
> 
> how much did it cost u?


It really wasn't too bad...I beleive it as like around $5 something a lb....Which yes is more than say...catfish...But it was fun to try something new...And the more I keep feeding it to them...The more they should get used to it...at least I hope.


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

Personally, if I were you I wouldn't feed them shark anymore







. Shark meat, most of the time has a high percentage of mercury. Often we hear about people in Asia consuming shark fin as a delicacy falling sick from poisoning. If it has the potential to harm humans...imagine what a small percentage of mercury could do to a fish. It's sad how pollution is affecting our invironment.


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## tnpeter (Dec 17, 2005)

cat fish and pike also have high amount s of mercury for ur information....


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## ITsPennywise (May 26, 2005)

Thanks for the info about the shark containing mercury...but I think it should be ok...especially since catfish has it too.


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## riced (Sep 13, 2005)

i bought a bala shark.. in attempts to keep it with my rbp... but unfortunately he was eaten, i was thinkin he would put up a fight but nope.. LOL


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## Guest (Feb 3, 2006)

Wouldnt there salt content in the sharks tissue?


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## rocker (Aug 12, 2005)

no vid









ya sharks contain ALOT of mercury but all fish have it too..i think. Doubt it will do any damage though.


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## bob351 (Oct 23, 2005)

u have caribes or are thoes not your in your sig


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## ITsPennywise (May 26, 2005)

bob351 said:


> u have caribes or are thoes not your in your sig


I have 3 Caribes and 3 Reds...The videos of just the reds are before I picked up my Caribes.

Here's the link to all my videos which does show the Caribes in action too:

http://www.geocities.com/j2_scarface/index.html


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

((( J2 ))) said:


> Thanks for the info about the shark containing mercury...but I think it should be ok...especially since catfish has it too.


I would bet the catfish you are feeding is farm raised and therefore isnt exposed to the levels of mercury a wild caught shark would be.


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

DannyBoy17 said:


> Wouldnt there salt content in the sharks tissue?


Yup, but what about tuna, mackerol, cod, mussels, squid, shrimp, and all the other commonly used food items that originate from the sea?


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## njbudman81 (Nov 6, 2005)

personally screw the fish. i say butter bake that shark steak and eat it yourself. mako is really good


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

People here are wondering why other fish like catfish having traces of mercury wouldn't affect your p and why a shark would. I have a scientific explanation for this since I had done some research on this in the past. Sharks, including whales are large fish and they contain extremely high amounts of mercury compared to catfish. In some cases, scientist were actually able to extract large amounts of mercury form a whale. I know of someone who got a tumour from eating too much shark fin..........imagine your fish :laugh: If you guys don't believe me then its you loss....just keep feeding your fish shark and eventually I gurantee you....you will regret it.


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

kamekazi said:


> People here are wondering why other fish like catfish having traces of mercury wouldn't affect your p and why a shark would. I have a scientific explanation for this since I had done some research on this in the past. Sharks, including whales are large fish and they contain extremely high amounts of mercury compared to catfish. In some cases, scientist were actually able to extract large amounts of mercury form a whale. I know of someone who got a tumour from eating too much shark fin..........imagine your fish :laugh: If you guys don't believe me then its you loss....just keep feeding your fish shark and eventually I gurantee you....you will regret it.


I think the reason why shark may be dangerous whereas smaller animals from the wild may not is this: mercury is a chemical that doesn't break down naturally, like so many other harmful substances increasingly found in top predators in all types of habitats and ecosystems.
Since sharks, tuna, swordfish and others are on the top of the food chain, they will consume vast quantities of fish and other prey items: even if just 5% of these food items contain mercury etc. (which they inhaled by eating smaller food items that also contained mercury), over the years all those toxins, chemicals and heavy metals will amass in the bodies of those top predators, which explains the large amount of mercury in these animals.
It's similar to why in the 70's and 80's large amounts of birds of prey died because of high concentrations of DDT, that got into their systems by consuming large amounts of prey animals that ate DDT-ridden insects that were supposed to be be killed by the insecticide in the first place.
So mercury, DDT and similar substances are passed on through the entire food chain, until it gathers in animals without natural predators. It's the invisible fall-out of chemical pollution.


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## kamekazi (Oct 7, 2004)

You are right Judazz. A lot of what you are saying was in the reading material I used in my research. Whales and sharks consume a lot of fish which explains the higher percentage of mercury in them.


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## Guest (Feb 7, 2006)

Judazzz said:


> Wouldnt there salt content in the sharks tissue?


Yup, but what about tuna, mackerol, cod, mussels, squid, shrimp, and all the other commonly used food items that originate from the sea?
[/quote]

Judazzz you are such a prick...









Good point!


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

DannyBoy17 said:


> Wouldnt there salt content in the sharks tissue?


Yup, but what about tuna, mackerol, cod, mussels, squid, shrimp, and all the other commonly used food items that originate from the sea?
[/quote]

Judazzz you are such a prick...









Good point!
[/quote]
Sucks when the answer is that obvious, huh?


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## ITsPennywise (May 26, 2005)

So what's the final verdict on this...Should I not feed my Piranhas shark meat any more?


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

I think for safety's sake you may wanna lay off the "jabberjaw" until you can get a good confirmation either way.


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## PaNo617 (Jan 31, 2005)

But isn't shark meat oily?? I say ditch the shark meat just for the fact that it'll make your water messy...but wait, what am i saying, seeing some of the other "stuff" you used to feed your piranha's this is clean


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## ITsPennywise (May 26, 2005)

Pano617 said:


> But isn't shark meat oily?? I say ditch the shark meat just for the fact that it'll make your water messy...but wait, what am i saying, seeing some of the other "stuff" you used to feed your piranha's this is clean












But yeah I did mention in my original post...that shark meat is oily...But you're right...I have fed worse...hehe...But I only leave it in there for like 5 mins. max.


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## Guest (Feb 7, 2006)

Im sure the fish are just saying...

"f*ck it were hungry".

Buy the cheaper catfish.


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## ITsPennywise (May 26, 2005)

DannyBoy17 said:


> Im sure the fish are just saying...
> 
> "f*ck it were hungry".
> 
> Buy the cheaper catfish.


Speaking of which...I did feed them some catfish nuggets last night...and they loved it...I think the reason was...I started off dropping in some sinking carnivore pellets...and only one of my reds is actually smart enough to eat them.

It was funny as hell...because the others were confused and pissed at the same time...They saw him eating...but didn't know where he was getting the food...So they were like swarming...pissed as sh*t...So finally when I dropped the catfish in there...it got tore up real nice.


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## quickdeath (Jan 15, 2006)

Sharks don't hold much mercury at all, since they have no endoskeleton, they can't lock in merucry like boney fish can. I have eaten a sh!t load of raw shark meat myself. I have been to asisa too, and frankly.. all the food over there makes me sick! I would be concerned about how oily the meat is tho.. I'm not sure, just thinking.. I would imagine that would spike your balance.. let me know how it turns out

good luck
QD


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## Guest (Feb 11, 2006)

quickdeath said:


> Sharks don't hold much mercury at all, since they have no endoskeleton, they can't lock in merucry like boney fish can. I have eaten a sh!t load of raw shark meat myself. I have been to asisa too, and frankly.. all the food over there makes me sick! I would be concerned about how oily the meat is tho.. I'm not sure, just thinking.. I would imagine that would spike your balance.. let me know how it turns out
> 
> good luck
> QD










Someone told me the only edible part of a shark (for humans) is the dorsal fin. Is this right? If so, maybe you should stop killing sharks for a stupid fin!


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

i know humans arent supposed to eat more than 2 cans of tuna a month or you can get mercury poision too, and tuna is smaller than whales... maybe thats the bottlenosed dolphin in there that contains mercury?


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## divinelawyer625 (Dec 12, 2005)

I heard ppl cover salt over shark meat and dried till it's rotten... inorder to extract mercury.... then they would cook it for rich ppl as somekind of hoilday meal or something like that... i saw that from discovery channel. might help!


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

Piranha Prince said:


> I heard ppl cover salt over shark meat and dried till it's rotten... inorder to extract mercury.... then they would cook it for rich ppl as somekind of hoilday meal or something like that... i saw that from discovery channel. might help!


yea, i saw that too... mmmm...rotten meat... they hang it on a hook in the sun or some crap... the funny thing is... ill bet you its actually really good! not as good as a bloody steak or shrimp or chicken wings etc... but im sure it doesnt taste like rotten eggs smell.. its because mercury is extremely desne... actually i have a small vial that weighs around 5 lbs its incredible...


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## Guest (Feb 12, 2006)

((( J2 ))) said:


> Sharks don't hold much mercury at all, since they have no endoskeleton, they can't lock in merucry like boney fish can. I have eaten a sh!t load of raw shark meat myself. I have been to asisa too, and frankly.. all the food over there makes me sick!










AGH! More wrong information. People please do a little research before posting your "facts".

Here is a CNN article regarding mercury content in shark meat. I personally don't make any feeding decisions based on mercury levels, but I do limit the amount of fish* I * eat based on it.

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/indepth.food/mea...cury/index.html


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## ITsPennywise (May 26, 2005)

Thanks Bullsnake...I think now I will just limit shark meat to a once a month feeding...Great article btw.


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