Piranhas Get Teeth Into New Home

A shoal of piranhas have been taken in by Deep Sea World after rapidly outgrowing their owner's tank.

The seven red-bellied piranhas were facing an uncertain future until the North Queensferry attraction stepped in to save them.

They were being kept in a home aquarium in Dumfries and Galloway, but had outgrown their tank and the owner could no longer take care of them.

Deep Sea World’s Michael Morris said they are regularly contacted by members of the public asking if they can rehome exotic species.

He said: “Often the fish are bought when they are relatively small and people are unprepared for quite how fast and how big they grow.

“Sadly we are simply not able to rehome all species but fortunately we have a large piranha display here at Deep Sea World which is around seven times larger than their old tank and can comfortably accommodate them.

“The fish, which measure 10 to 12 centimetres in length, spent time in our quarantine area before being introduced to the main display which is home to a group of around 40 other piranhas ranging from captive-bred juveniles to fully grown adults.

“Adding any new members to a piranha shoal can be a risky task but we use many different techniques to make sure they fit in with minimal pack disturbance,” he added.

Found throughout the Amazon, the piranha is among the most famous and most feared inhabitants of the mighty river.

In the wild piranhas help to keep rivers fresh and healthy by eating animal carcasses. The name piranha comes from the Tupi Indian words ‘pira’ fish and ‘ranha’ teeth.

Only around half of the 35 species of piranha are carnivores, but when trapped in pools and lakes formed by drying rivers in drought periods, meat eating piranhas will attack and eat all that they can find, even resorting to cannibalism if necessary.