Blue Hole Piranha Pair Spotted

[DandyDon]

Well, they're actually "Fruit Piranhas," as they will eat anything. They're Large Characins, same sub-family as Piranhas - same family as tiny Neon Tetras and the Mexican Tetra found in Balmorhea's San Soloman facility as well as across Mexico and in the Cenotes.

I once had a Pacu in a 220 gallon tank that would eat ground beef, dead goldfish from the "feeder tank," grapes, whatever - except he spit the grape skins out. He got to 30 inches long before I donated him to the Dallas Aquarium. I think all public aquariums that will accept large fish donations have several of these along with Oscars and the like that hobbyists donate when they get too big. I never sold any, as I wanted my fish going to good homes and very few of my customers would devote a 200 gallon tank for such, but many are sold, then donated, released, etc. One was once caught in Lubbock "Buffalo Lake."

And it looks like 2 were released in Santa Rosa NM. I doubt my pics came out, as the viz sucked this weekend and the fish were shy, but I think that others who saw this pair, 8 inches long I'd say, will confirm them as the same as illustrated below...

Pacu: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacu_(fish)

Pacu (IPA: [paˈku]) is a common name used to refer to several species of South American freshwater fish that are closely related to the piranha. They are mainly herbivores, but will also eat small fish, insects, and meat on fishing lures[1] (see omnivorous). Their teeth, which may resemble human teeth, are used to cut through vegetation and crush seeds that fall into the water. Pacu and piranha are distinguished from each other by their teeth and jaw alignments; piranha have pointed, razor-sharp teeth in a pronounced underbite, whereas pacu have square, straight teeth in a less severe underbite, or a slight overbite.[2] Additionally, full-grown pacu are much larger than piranha.

Pacu are commonly sold as 'Vegetarian Piranhas' to home aquarium owners. With the proper equipment and commitment, pacu have been known to make responsive pets. One such example was Swish, a 30-inch pacu owned for over 20 years by a Seattle restaurant; one aquarium technician said of Swish....

The problem with this pair is that they will eat everything they can in Blue Hole - probably all the goldfish and all the crawdads. And they're such good swimmers that I don't think they could ever be netted. I think spear guns would be the only way to get them out - which might be difficult to get approved by Santa Rosa Parks Authority.

Or, if divers will feed them lean beef - I used bite size sliced beef heart, they could become 30 inch long pets, along with the carp that are too big for them to eat. Pretty harmless as long as you don't stick your fingers out to them - probably. I'd miss the crawdads and goldfish, tho.

Also see True Piranha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piranha Used to have a couple of Serrasalmus naterri, too - as well as an Electric Catfish and a Walking Catfish. The Game Wardens checked on me regularly, but I won't post the whole story here.

 

[DandyDon]

Okay this is the worst pic I have ever not deleted, but this is them. Surely someone got a better pic of them...??

And perhaps these are better ID pics from the net. Look more like the ones we saw...?

 

[robint]

We were there on Sat. and saw them, too.
I thought they were some kind of perch, maybe transplants from a local lake. I sure hope you are wrong!

It was so wonderful to see hundreds of crawfish all over the bottom again.


robint

 

[Divedoggie]

The BH shot sure seems to match the example shot.
Its kind of cool to see them, but stupid, too.
It seems that we either need to get a large fishing net and fetch them out of there, or try to feed them a few burgers every day in order to keep our goldfish and crawdad friends healthy.
Maybe each group could bring a few bags of goldfish each weekend, and replenish the characin's food supply, as well as our visual feast.:goldfish:
If all else fails, a late night spear hunting trip could be fun.

 

[DandyDon]

I've never eaten any, but some internet sources say that they're good.

 

[Divedoggie]

Could add a whole new light to the tailgating and grilling at the BH parking lot!

 

[RonFrank]

I saw them as well Don, on more than one dive.

I did not know what they were, but if you are right, something will need to be done, or we will loose the entire GF population to them.

I guess in the end, if they eat all the GF, then they will starve. But there sure are some nice, and huge Koi, and Goldfish at the Hole currently. I would hate to see them disappear.

Hey Gander Mountain has an entire aisle of Spear guns! Apparently when Divers Direct stocked them, they provided a bit of everything, and that included a huge selection of spear guns that are just NOT moving!

On a more serious note, maybe some of the more local BH divers can work a bit more at ID'ng these fish. If they are what Don thinks they are, and they sure look like it, than we should contact the BH administration (Park Authority maybe?) and see if something can be done. I think you could net them.

Boy DIG those DADS! I saw more crawdads, and larger DADS than I've EVER seen at the Hole! Nice! One reason may have been that the vis was so bad that they thought it was nighttime!

 

[robint]

Boy DIG those DADS! I saw more crawdads, and larger DADS than I've EVER seen at the Hole! Nice!

yeah, I was shocked how many little buggers there were! I didn't bring the video rig since my hubby was trying out his new strobe for his still camera and I was just being a good buddy. But once we got down there and the crawfish came running up to us I wished I could run home for my camcorder. One big bug grabbed the front of Ron's camera and wouldn't let go! Ron starts swimming around and the darned crawfish is just hanging there off the rig. I wish I had my camcorder!!! arrrggghhh! It would have been quite a funny little clip.

robint

 

[DandyDon]

Pacus, Silver Dollars, and even Serrasalmus Piranhas can resemble Perch in their younger stages, and while this pair is already large they are still developing into their adult stage. The best way to ID Characins is by their bulldog jaws if anyone can get a good pic.

As bad as my pic came out, I think the fin & body of the upper right one is almost identical to one of the web pics I found.

I don't think they'll go after the larger Koi and other Carp, but anything smaller will be targets. But when they get hungry enough...?