# Strange Behavior



## Scooby (Dec 25, 2003)

My piranha (Red Belly) has been acting real strange lately, He used to just chill behind a log i had in there but recently since he knocked it over and i refuse to stick my hand in the tank to fix it, He's been swimming side to side non stop and also flopping on the bottom like a fish would after being out of the water for a long period of time.... After looking up some info on it the only thing i found about it was they do this type of thing when they are ready to mate.... He is about 10 months - 1year old and in the tank with 3 pleco's but he's the only piranha....
i was just wondering if anyone could confirm this info for me just to give me a better understanding of my fish.... Thanks


----------



## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

doesnt sound odd to me. And I would not worry about fixing it, im sure he will not attack you. The easiest way to tell if a red is tinking about breeding is when they turn black with no other stresses to cause this....but I am not breeding expert so I could be way off.


----------



## Scooby (Dec 25, 2003)

Oh ok right on, i was told earlier in a post that if i put my hand in the tank with the size my piranha is i'd have a 85 percent chance of getting bit... and it nipped me once when it was small but still didn't wanna put hand in tank....
Thanks for the info


----------



## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Scooby said:


> Oh ok right on, i was told earlier in a post that if i put my hand in the tank with the size my piranha is i'd have a 85 percent chance of getting bit... and it nipped me once when it was small but still didn't wanna put hand in tank....


 The chance to actually get bitten by your piranha is almost zero: they are relatively shy fish, and usually anything bigger than them is considered a potential threat.
In most cases when people got bitten, they either had it in a flopping around net or cornered it in the tank - I've never heard of completely unprovoked attacks.
I have my reds almost 2 years now, and I have my hands/arms in the water pretty often: in all that time, the closest I got was one red brushing my arm, because it panicked. Usually they just sit in the opposite end of the tank and patiently wait until I'm done.

I doubt your fish is showing breeding signs when it's kept alone - as far as I know, breeding behaviour is (at least partially) triggered by hormones released by fish of the opposite sex, which seems pretty impossible with only one fish.
Not 100% sure about it, though....


----------



## HOLLYWOOD (Feb 6, 2003)

Scooby said:


> He's been swimming side to side non stop and also flopping on the bottom like a fish would after being out of the water for a long period of time....


 Might want to check water quality. Post this on the disease board. DonH can help you.


----------



## Scooby (Dec 25, 2003)

Hmmmm Ok ill try posting it on the disease board but i don't think he looks too sick or anything its just something the fish does like 1nce or so a day for like 10 mins....


----------

