# payara or piranha????



## kove32 (Oct 26, 2004)

I was wondering which one of these fish would you rather have? What one is more bold? Which one is more aggressive? And which is more active?

Please anserw these and to the people who have owned payara, how are they when feeder fish are thrown in? Are they very skittish? Thanks!!


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

when you say "payara" i assum u mean the "sabre toothed barracuda" or "vampire tetra"(vampires have big upper teeth not lower so i use the sabre toothed barracuda common name). if u are refering to these fish they are a very cool lil tetra(or should i say big







) that reaches about 7'. they enjoy company of there own species and arnt that aggressive, wont attack things bigger than themselves. the longest they have lasted in aquariums is bout 1 year, and after that they reach bout 1' and kick the bucket. it is believe that this happens because of there lifestyle.when young, they stay really close to shore, feeding off neons and rummys, and stay in 10ft waters. but once they reach about 1', they change there way of life and move out into the wide very fast flowing deep rapids and fish off larger prey. they speculate they die becuase we can not replucate there living conditions in aquariums, although i saw a pic of 3 18" specimens that were in a 300 with INCREDABLE current and the owner said that he was gunna put them in a 540, but i havent seen any updates. IMO there not a aquarium fish, stay wit the p's


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

i havent owned a payara, but i have piranhas.

my Ps are skittish sometimes, and bold as hell at other times. but they are still young. and most of the day they chill in a corner they seem to love.

i have heard that payara are skittish as well. and hide in the shadows waiting for prey to swim by. but ive never seen one hunt. just some friggin HUGE ones that were caught in the amazon.

IMO payaras look insane!


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## MR.FREEZ (Jan 26, 2004)

i just know paraya are hard to keep and misteryously die around the six inch mark

and a neat little picture for the hell of it


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## killerbee (Aug 18, 2004)

/\ actually the myth is said they die in the home aquarium at the 12" mark.

btw i did a lot of research on this fish before getting into p's and thats whats been written. I never had the pleasure of owning some payara due to the fact that they get big and i only had a 55 gallon at the time. So i went with pygos









do a google search. you'll find lots of info also waterwolves.com has some knowledgable people with experience on this fish


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## MR.FREEZ (Jan 26, 2004)

killerbee said:


> /\ actually the myth is said they die in the home aquarium at the 12" mark.
> [snapback]1034360[/snapback]​


awt ok, its been awhile since i read that info, thanks man


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## killerbee (Aug 18, 2004)

MR.FREEZ said:


> killerbee said:
> 
> 
> > /\ actually the myth is said they die in the home aquarium at the 12" mark.
> ...


any time bro


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

i love that pic of the payara. thats the most memorable payara pic ive seen.

makes me laugh when i think of guys who say, "man, my caribe/rhom/whatever (insert species of piranha here) could kill anything...its a mean mofo..."

i think to myself.... "no man, is your piranha tougher than THIS??? you see that fish in it's mouth...thats your piranha!!"


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## kove32 (Oct 26, 2004)

^^^^^^^ Actually if they both were the same size, I'd say the rhom would win! haha, but then again, I'd say that if a shark and a rhom were the same size, the rhom would win... The power that they pack at such a small size is insane..

I've decided that I had my mind set on piranha for how long, I might as well go with it!


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## rbp 4 135 (Mar 2, 2004)

The reason, at least according to some other sites that i browsed before i purchased mine, that they die around the 12 in mark is because of o small of a tank. the tank need to be well wider than the fish. a 12 in payara would require smewhere around at least a 24 in wide tank. As for my experince they are not at all shy, nor shy about eating in front of you. However mine recently died due to a small hispanic boy. story goes my house cleaner brought her kid again while she cleens, so he went down stairs to look at my fish like always. about one min later i hear him giggling and was like wtf is so funny. so i go down to find him swinging my fish around in one hand and the net in the other. the fish was of course dead, and i was of course pissed.








sorry just thought i would share.


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

Holy sh*t. I would've killed the little f*ck.

This is the exact reason why I don't let other people clean my house, let alone allow them to bring their children over.


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

RBP- why didnt you grab the kid and swing him around like he did to your fish????

holy crap, if that had been in my house, i would have told the cleaner to 'GET THE F*** OUT!!!" and deducted the price of a new fish from her pay.

and id give the kid a couple of clips on the back of the head. for being such a little sh!t.

like what the hell makes a kid think, "hey, why dont i grab that thing that's alive, and swing it around..."

ignore the fact that it wasnt even the kids fish....holy crap man....

when our cleaner comes, i ask her to stay outside of a 3 foot radius of my tanks. "please dont touch them...just stay outside of here" *shows the imaginary border*

there was one time when my parent's friends came over, and brought their ugly little beast of a son.

the kid was annoying. and followed me down when i went to feed my fish. he thought my Ps were cool. i said, "you like them?? they're nice, you can put your hand in and pet them." right when i said that the kid's mom came down. she wasnt too happy. but i thought it was funny, and my dad cracked up when i told him. damned little fat kid.


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

rbp 4 135 said:


> The reason, at least according to some other sites that i browsed before i purchased mine, that they die around the 12 in mark is because of o small of a tank. the tank need to be well wider than the fish. a 12 in payara would require smewhere around at least a 24 in wide tank. As for my experince they are not at all shy, nor shy about eating in front of you. However mine recently died due to a small hispanic boy. story goes my house cleaner brought her kid again while she cleens, so he went down stairs to look at my fish like always. about one min later i hear him giggling and was like wtf is so funny. so i go down to find him swinging my fish around in one hand and the net in the other. the fish was of course dead, and i was of course pissed.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


did u ask for rehembersement? i would and i woulda said like it was a 1000+ dollar fish. id make and print off a fake web page of like a online fish store stating that its a rare fish and they charge like 1200 bucks ur sumfin and make her pay it


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

^^^naw, just feed the kid to your remaining fish.

eye for an eye...hehehe


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

tibs...lawyers do their homework, and would get you a replacement for a lot cheaper than 1000 dollars. not only that, but you'd be brought to court in a countersuit for fraudulant charges...be nice, be honest, get what's yours.


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## mr.PIMP4969 (Jun 2, 2004)

I have a payara they are cool because of their teeth but piranha move a little more. they are the same practaly do best in shoals. but i would go with a piranha becase they can eat anything but parara only eat live food so thats it a risk of catching some stuff from the feeders. but it is awesome when i thow my feeders in the tank. my guy just swims like a shark and like does the thing like them and like curves side to side them kills the fish. mine is olny sometimes skittish but he swims with my silver arro in the tank and thinks that he is like his body guard its pretty sick. but thats only mine he is awesome tho. alright here you go peace easy man ~Dan


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## PunkRockSkater39 (May 31, 2004)

mr.PIMP4969 said:


> I have a payara they are cool because of their teeth but piranha move a little more. they are the same practaly do best in shoals. but i would go with a piranha becase they can eat anything but parara only eat live food so thats it a risk of catching some stuff from the feeders. but it is awesome when i thow my feeders in the tank. my guy just swims like a shark and like does the thing like them and like curves side to side them kills the fish. mine is olny sometimes skittish but he swims with my silver arro in the tank and thinks that he is like his body guard its pretty sick. but thats only mine he is awesome tho. alright here you go peace easy man ~Dan
> [snapback]1045381[/snapback]​


Dan u never had a payara!







lol o well keep bsin them


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## rbp 4 135 (Mar 2, 2004)

Puff said:


> ^^^naw, just feed the kid to your remaining fish.
> 
> eye for an eye...hehehe
> [snapback]1042090[/snapback]​


i like that idea


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