They bite! and when it's more than just your hand in there, there's a
lot more of a target.

They are pack animals and quite jittery. It's not hard to shoo them away
in a normal sized tank. Also the smaller their numbers, the less they
are a problem (generally speaking).

In a large tank in larger numbers (7), they get understandable larger
and bolder. They will still shoo away, but they are much more daring and
quicker to return. The OP wants a 300-1200g river tank with them as the
main fish!

I've read articles where they were kept in larger tanks (ie:200g) and the
owners complained that they could no longer do ordinary maintenance for
the fear of getting bitten, and the larger the fish, the larger the bite.

The OP just has to do some research.
--
www.NetMax.tk

"CanadianCray" wrote in message
. ..
Actually there has never been a recorded case of Piranhas killing a
human.

"NetMax" wrote in message
. ..
"Sean" wrote in message
...

Someone in another group posted this link

http://www.oregonreef.com/



Nice. My tank is going to be freshwater. Saves a pile of money.
Basically I want to re-create a section of a junglescape river scene.
Piranha are going to be the main fish with some frogs and other fish
from the same type of aquascape living amoung the Piranha. I know
the Piranha are going to nip the fins of the other fish but that's
what I am trying to do, re-create the river in my house. If I can I
am going to try and have a large number of aquatic bugs too. The
list goes on.

Sean


If piranhas will be your main fish, then you'll probably find your
other fish choices severely limited. Piranhas do not 'nip' fins.
They assume a position above and behind the victim and lunge, turning
their body 90 degrees so that they can wrap their teeth around the
adipose fin (or the area behind the dorsal fin). The will then do a
quick twist and swim away with a chunk of fish the size of their jaw.
If their prey take to the upper waters, then the Piranhas repeat the
behaviour aimed at the anal fin. Whatever fish you have, if they
survive the assaults (and large fish frequently do) they will have
chunks missing behind the dorsal fin (even losing the adipose and
dorsal fin completely), or chunks missing underneath them (though as
soon as the intestines start pouring out, they don't usually live
longer than about 2 weeks).

Another minor point, is that humans are not compatible with deep
Piranha tanks which require people to climb in to do maintenance. Do
you think they are just going to watch you? Are you aware what their
eventual size is? (which they *will* achieve in a 1200g tank). Of
course you'll be feeding them a lot of meat to get them to that size
($$$), and if you don't, they will simply eat each other (problem
solved). I think you'll have a lot of research ahead of you, and it
certainly sounds like an interesting project.
--
www.NetMax.tk