Piranhas At Walmart

Shelly_Otterkin · Mar 27, 2006

I was looking at the fish today at Walmart and in with the red belly pacu are 4 fish that have no spots with a much bigger underbite. As they are not a legal in the state of CA I was a little shocked. Talking to there fish guy he looks in and bags them in a hurry and tells me that they come in all the time! :crazy:

When they come in they are to just flush them and not say anything. This guy has a tank at home with 9 in there and a couple buddies that also have them. He was going to call his girl friend at break and have here come in and buy them. So if you are looking to find piranhas and can not get them in your area don't over look Wallmart! :sly:

Wonderboy · Mar 27, 2006

Wow. Thanks for the heads up. :blink:

Now I'm keeping my eye out. :sly:

Ben · Mar 27, 2006

im not sure if you know this, but Pacu arn't pirahna, closley related though
much more peaceful but get to over 2 feet, bigger then most peoples tanks.

EDIT:i see this is the red bellied, which is said to get 12 inches only, woops, but big none the less!

Behemoth · Mar 27, 2006

that's odd for wal mart to carry them, are they real piranhas because i have seen a few stores in the past selling imitations.

AMS · Mar 27, 2006

Piranha are very close relatives to pacu, but are actually herbivores in the wild (but considered omnivores in captivity). The are legal in all states I believe, which is a shame as most are thrown into local rivers because they have outgrown their tanks. Piranhas and Pacus are very similar in appearance, in the wild red bellied pacus and red bellied piranhas are actually known to shoal together!

Shelly_Otterkin · Mar 27, 2006

Piranhas are not legal in the state of CA. Alot of pet animals that are legal else where are not here.

From what I understand WallMart does not "carry" piranhas. They come in with the red belly pacus as pacus.

riverman444 · Mar 27, 2006

It's a miracle they didn't have them stored in the Guppy tank.

Walmart is a horrible place for fish. :sly:

Teelie · Mar 27, 2006

AMS said:
Piranha are very close relatives to pacu, but are actually herbivores in the wild (but considered omnivores in captivity). The are legal in all states I believe, which is a shame as most are thrown into local rivers because they have outgrown their tanks. Piranhas and Pacus are very similar in appearance, in the wild red bellied pacus and red bellied piranhas are actually known to shoal together!

Most of the temperate Southern states ban them since they can theortically survive through the winter in some areas.

AMS · Mar 27, 2006

Most of the temperate Southern states ban them since they can theortically survive through the winter in some areas.

Yes, piranhas are illgeal in those states, but from my knowledge pacus are not.

This maps shows where Piranhas could survive overwinter in the US, this applies to pacus as well.

blitztidus · Mar 27, 2006

I live in Wisconsin and never see any in Wal-marts around here. I see them at pet store often though

Mikaila31 · Mar 27, 2006

I had a ped belly piranha once, I least i think it was one. I was young at the time and we didn't know anything about fish. It got really big ate all the other fish in the tank except for a full grown silver dollar. It really scard the silver dollar up though. We eventully gave it away to a school.

Teelie · Mar 27, 2006

Pacus are legal. I misread it as meaning Piranha being legal though. There's a shop here with a huge Pacu in a 100g tank and no room to move around. It's stuck with an equally large Oscar. I never go to that shop.

Dorkhedeos · Mar 27, 2006

i dont think those were real piranhas, as if they were, they would be in big trouble. if you actually confirm that they are real piranhas, im there :lol:

im kinda glad that piranhas are banned from ca and most states that are really populated. im pretty sure that some jackasses will stick some other fish with piranhas just for the hell of it if they were legal.

Synirr · Mar 28, 2006

This may be a daft suggestion, but perhaps they were black pacu? It seems unlikely that anyone with such a desirable fish as piranha would give any to Walmart, considering the ridiculously low prices Walmart pays for their fish. For the record, I believe juvie red-bellied piranha have spots like red-bellied pacu do.

Shelly_Otterkin · Mar 28, 2006

Synirr said:
This may be a daft suggestion, but perhaps they were black pacu? It seems unlikely that anyone with such a desirable fish as piranha would give any to Walmart, considering the ridiculously low prices Walmart pays for their fish. For the record, I believe juvie red-bellied piranha have spots like red-bellied pacu do.

Do they have spots? I did not think so. :huh:

I do know they are not Black Pacu. From what I understand about the fish trade when large batches come in from over sea. They are not vary carfully looked at. For that same reasone you can find HM betta in WallMart once in a great while. The LFS here in town got a shipment of fish the other day marked as fresh water mix and they opened the box and it was all high end salt water stock. :hey: