a couple of my mature silver dollars have noticeable “pearly whites” maybe more visible because of all the pothos roots they have been eating lately… this made me think about this question… as a kid, and young man, I had piranhas for many years… back then you could buy them at the dime store… not knowing any better, and lacking in proper aquarium tools, I always caught them with my hands, to transfer to a bucket on cleaning day… back then I fed chicken livers, and a 100% water change, and tank cleaning was a regular weekly routine… I was given a group of adult fish, that could have easily take. off a teenage finger… but they never bit me??? then one day, a new one, I just bought for a quarter , that was the size of a nickel, bit me when I was scooping it out of it’s small tank, it locked it’s jaws, and wouldn’t let go… finally after shaking my hand up and down vigorously, it flew off somewhere out in the grass… the pain was much higher than one would expect for a blood draw pin prick sized wound… after that I switched to a short handled fishing net… I may have tried a big aquarium net 1st, but remember that getting shredded… certainly made sense to catch them with my bare hands…
over the years I’ve acquired a big pile of aquarium nets of several sizes , but I still tend to put my hand over the top of the nets, to keep fish from jumping out…
I’ll be moving those adult silver dollars to a 250 gallon this year, and seeing those pearly whites, made me remember getting bit all those years ago…
I have panda garra, that will come and sit on the back of my hands, if I’m working in the tank, but haven’t felt fish tooth since that dime store piranha…
I’ve had large cichlids like oscar’s that would bite at me, and breeding pairs of convict cichlids… but nothing else that ever latched on… any of you guys???
flashing a toothy grin ( or warning )
over the years I’ve acquired a big pile of aquarium nets of several sizes , but I still tend to put my hand over the top of the nets, to keep fish from jumping out…
I’ll be moving those adult silver dollars to a 250 gallon this year, and seeing those pearly whites, made me remember getting bit all those years ago…
I have panda garra, that will come and sit on the back of my hands, if I’m working in the tank, but haven’t felt fish tooth since that dime store piranha…
I’ve had large cichlids like oscar’s that would bite at me, and breeding pairs of convict cichlids… but nothing else that ever latched on… any of you guys???
flashing a toothy grin ( or warning )
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