The Rainforest Exhibit’s Piranhas Show No Inclination to Bare Their Teeth
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Despite the fact that red-bellied pacu (Piaractus brachypomus) living in the Tropical Rainforest Exhibit pertain to Serrasalmidae family, they excel as an example of peacefulness.
"In reality, the red-bellied pacu is an omnivorous fish," Ksenia Bezborodova, specialist of Freshwater Tropical Hydrobionts Keeping Department tells. "It means that chasing after its neighbors for food would be quite naturally. However, it is not happen due to they get food in good supply including bits of chum salmon, scallop, and special high-vitamin feed. Although the pacus are larger than their tank-fellows, they live together amicably and never fight even about food.” Specialists believe that there is no need for pacus to procure food by chasing in the tank because they feed on fish bites from being juveniles, in other words, they have not been motivated to chase because food itself falls into their mouths. A high animal-protein diet offered the red-bellied pacu in the Aquarium being extrinsic in the wild produces "loss of predatory instinct" allowing opportunistic piranhas to be kept with other fishes, even if they are smaller in size and which they regarded as food in the wild. The only what can happen is the pacu taking a nice bit away from its cohabitant.
Our red-bellied pacus were moved into a basin by the waterfall seven months ago and they have twice increased in size since. They live together with cichlids, tilapias, and oscars. Recently, they all have got another neighbour – a dollarfish ( Metynnis) belonging to a family closely related to piranha and pacu. This dollarfish just skipped over from the neighboring tank and we decided not to return it home. Piranhas are known for their razor-sharp teeth and relentless bite. The word piranha literally translates to “tooth fish” in the Brazilian language Tupí. The shape of a piranha’s tooth is clearly adapted to suit their meat-eating diet. However, pacu’s teeth are uncanny similar to human teeth being squarer and straighter because the pacu, unlike piranha, mainly feed on plant material and not flesh. Visitors may watch a feeding the peaceful pacu at 1 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The Red-bellied pacu is not only representative of the Serrasalmidae in the Primorsky Aquarium. There are also a black-finned pacu ( Colossoma macropomum ), other piranhas, and dollarfishes ( Metynnis) in the exhibit tanks.
For information: The r ed - b ellie d p a c u ( Pia r a c t u s brachypomus) is a c o m m o n n a m e o f s e v e r al species of omnivorous freshwater fish that are related to the piranha native to the Amazon and Orinoco basins in tropical South America. It is widely farmed and has been introduced to other regions . T he pacu can reach up to 1.08 m in total length and 40 kg in weight . Maximal recorded l ife span for Piaractus brachypomus is 28