# The tank length and width matter but not height?



## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Maybe it is just my pygos but they are all over the tank, hanging 1/2 way up, sometimes at the very top, and sometimes at the bottom. I dont see a them staying on the bottom like I see some people post. 
If you look at the really big pygo tanks, 500+, those tanks are very tall and the p's are at all levels. I agree in the 20 long vs the 20 high, but I have a 125 with 7 pygos 4.5"-8"and they are all over that tank.
So my question is, do you think height is really not important and p's would be just as happy in an 18" tall as a 36" tall aquarium? I dont think so but thats just me.


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## Neoplasia_old (Jan 29, 2003)

Grosse, do you mean if the two tanks had the same footprint?


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

yes...I will concede that length and depth are more important than heigth but I think p's like heigth more than some give them credit for.


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## Neoplasia_old (Jan 29, 2003)

Granted they will use the space if it is there, but I think the more important issue is having adequate space to establish territories. If someone's deciding between two tanks and the only difference is that one is a little bit taller then I'd always suggest getting the shorter tank, if for no other reason that to save a few bucks.


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

The only territories I know about in my tank is the 8" yellow natt and a 4.5" wild red that are best friends and keep all the others out of the middle. Other than that, I dont know of any established territories, it looks like the rest are just free wheeling







. 
I am sure they have them and I cant tell but it sure seems like they are very chaotic.


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## MPower (Jan 29, 2003)

My P's utilize the bottom and length and seldom come up only for food.


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## Poseidon X (Jan 31, 2003)

This topic has come up before... and i know precissely what you are talking about with the larger tanks. I believed that the Piranhas arent neccesarily concerned about being close to the bottom as much as they are from leaving a certain amount of space above them. Maybe they do not like swimming near the surface because they would become easy snack for birds of prey. If you had a 10 foot tall Piranha tank... they would not be sitting on the bottom, you can really see this at the atlantis resort.


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## marco (Jan 2, 2003)

pygos like to swim the length of the aquarium. they useualy hang around the surface when there stressed or gasping for air.


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## Poseidon X (Jan 31, 2003)

That is just not true, and is a very general statement. They dont like the top because you arent giving them enough height to be comfortable with.


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## Xenon (Nov 15, 2002)

moved to equipment questions


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## Neoplasia_old (Jan 29, 2003)

marco said:


> pygos like to swim the length of the aquarium. they useualy hang around the surface when there stressed or gasping for air.


Not true. They do seem to prefer area like we've been saying, but they also do make use of the depth, albeit not as much and IMO it's of lesser importance. They will gasp for air if you don't provide enough oxygen, that's rather obvious, but if they do hang around near the top it doesn't have any special meaning unless some form of odd behavior is observed. Some people's fish will go near the top when someone enters the room expecting food.

When they are stressed they are more likely to find a hiding spot than to go near the surface which would further increase the level of danger to them.

It would be interesting to have two tanks with the same footprint and the same number of fish in them, one being significantly taller than the other and then see at what levels they spend their time.


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## Sir Nathan XXI (Jan 29, 2003)

piranhas are more of a bottom dwelling fish and seem to prefer not going to the surface much, tanks that are very deep will have piranhas higher in the water in it, they still arent any closer to the surface than a normal tank though, I think they prefer a comfort margin from the surface, if you think about the way they are made, (with the eyes on top of the head,bottom jaw heavily petruding, dark colored tops to camoflauge themselves, etc etc) they have most likely evolved to attack from below, which is what mine always do so it makes sense for them to stay lower


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## Poseidon X (Jan 31, 2003)

That is what i was saying basically, I dont think they just chill on the bottom of rivers in the wild, unfortunately most of us dont have the kind of height on tanks to observe their wild behavior. This does sound like a worthy experiment to conduct, to find if Piranhas like a safety margin from the top or are indeed a bottom fish.


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Nice replies all, I agree with most. I think that would be an interesting experiment for someone to conduct. I do think if you are trying to save cash, go for more length, but if that is not a worry, I think they like the added height and probably feel more comfortable. But then again, how would we really know.


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