Originally Posted by facialfreak

Piranhas are pussies ...

They eat once every 10-14 days, and are agressive while hungry, but I used to own 4 eight inch piranahs (affectionately names INKY, BINKY, PINKY, and CLYDE) ... and I used to put my hand in the tank, and they would swim up to investigate, and I would actually rub their sides ... they were quite fond of this!

My putting my hand in the tank was actually a way of gauging how hungry they were ...
The 4 of them ate 2 dozen feeder goldfish every 10-14 days ... Because feedings made such a mess, you want to wait until they are good and hungry, so they actually eat the fish, and not just play with them and dirty the tank ..

By placing my hand in the water (and 'petting' them!) I would know if they were getting hungry or not. If they made no attempts to nip me, then I knew they were not at all hungry, as they began to get hungry, they get a bit more agressive, and would just lightly nip at the sides of my fingers ...

But as the nips start to actually leave marks grabbing my flesh, I knew that they were only a few days away from a feeding ... and I would not stick my hand back in the tank until 12 hours after they had fed.

You could also see their aggression increase in their swimming patterns too, but my interaction with them with sticking my hand in the tank, was the best method to gauge their hunger.

I bought those fish at 5 weeks old, and they were smaller than a dime, with no visable red markings at all ... and raised them for 3+ years .... I eventually moved into a new apartment with a girlfriend, and it was not possible for me to keep them, so I sold them to the same pet store I had bought them from 3½ years earlier.

I paid $5.99 each for them, and sold them back for $120.00 each! not a bad ROI considering the companionship I got from them also ...