Breeding Red-Bellied Piranha (Serrasalmus Nattereri) In The Aquarium

Location

This freshwater fish lives in tributaries of Amazon and Orinoco Rivers.

Body description

Body of the fish is laterally compressed. Colour of the body is gray-brown with silvery-gold shine. The under-side, pelvic, pectoral and anal fins are red. Other fins are dark. The caudal fin is forked. The species has strong and powerful teeth and fleshy lips. Female is thicker in the ventral parts compared to male. Her under-side is yellow-orange.

Temperament and behaviour

You should keep this species in a single species aquarium. It is aggressive fish. This aggression is stimulated primarily by blood, open wounds and splashes of water. Young and hungry fish nibble fins (especially the caudal fins) of other or even their own species. These fish can eat each other starting from the weakest fish. They can bite aquarium equipment so you should secure all the equipment in the aquarium. These fish lives in large groups. If you do not have big enough aquarium you should keep a pair of the fish - male and female.

Aquarium decoration

This species prefers a spacious tank. Aquarium should have dimmed light, hiding places among rocks, roots, floating plants, soft substrate, effective filtration system, space to swim. The fish see poorly and they prefer to swim in the middle water level. A partial water exchange should be done regularly (every 10 days). The plants should be strong and because the fish can damage plants which are treated as obstacle by them. You may also keep these fish in the "black water" biotope tank. You must be careful when cleaning the aquarium.

Breeding

This is an oviparous species which breed in the rainy season. You can stimulate the fish to spawn through increasing water temperature and increase partial water changes. Female lays up to 1000 eggs in the previously prepared nest in the substrate. Male protects the roe. The eggs hatch after 2-3 days. Then the parents protect the larvae. The fry starts to swim and feed 2-3 days later. You should separate the offspring and parents but you must be very careful. The fry grows fast but it is very sensitive to decrease of the water temperature and oxygen.