Pirahnas In Thailand!

[350torana]

I read in yesterday's Bangkok post about a fish dealer getting busted selling piranhas as aqaurium fish(pretty sure they meant red bellied Piranhas) . Bit of a worry because I imagine they could breed here quite easily . Are the for real or is it a case of Thais calling animals by different names , eg.. a Leopard called a Tiger or a Python an Anaconda?

I wonder how long it would take the little buggers to strip a water buffalo to the bone

[wolf5370]

Could be fun in the paddy fields!

My brother-in-law (18) had a tank of Goldfish. In the Talart one day, this guy offers him a couple of tropical fish (being that it is LOS, he didn't need to heat the tank). He comes home and dumps the new fish in with the Goldfish. In a few seconds faster than it took him to recatch them, the new 'guys' has eaten a full tank of gold fish.

He had bought "toger oscars" - kind of cichlid

(from a tropic fish site: Comments. Like many aggressive fish, Oscars do well in large groups in large aquariums, but they'll quarrel if there are just a few of them. So it's best to keep one Oscar or many Oscars, but not just a few. In other words do not keep 2, 3, 4, or 5 Oscars in the same aquarium. Keep 1 or keep 6 or more..."I had 3 Oscars that got along well, but then one of them attacked the other two for no apparent reason.") - they even eat each other!

His dad - my father in law, made him take them back. These would live quite happily in the wild in LOS, makes you wonder what they would do to normal fish and molusc stocks if someone dumped them in a river somewhere!

[maerim]

A few years ago there was a report that some had been found swimming in a river in Bangkok a small piece in the Bangkok post and that was the last anyone heard of it.

Same as anything you read in the Post never any follow up.

As to non native species take a look at what the water hyacinth did in Florida this was introduced from South America,probably seemed a good idea at the time.

Also in Fiji they introduced the mongoose there to get rid of the rats that came with the settlers unfortunately the mongoose had other ideas on how to earn a living and rats played no part in it.

Not quite sure how Farangs being transplanted here will go down in a couple of hundred years from now, I should worry.

[toddy]

Oscars are a South American Cichlid but live and breed freely in the outdoor Singapore fish farms. I bought five Oscars and they now live in a stagnant paddy next to our house. If I feed the 'Pla Duc' (Clarias Catfish), I see them from time to time. I assume they will breed in here too! No doubt Piranha will also live and breed easily if released and look so similar to 'Pla Charamet' which is a Thai native.

[chingy_]

I read in yesterday's Bangkok post about a fish dealer getting busted selling piranhas as aqaurium fish(pretty sure they meant red bellied Piranhas) . Bit of a worry because I imagine they could breed here quite easily . Are the for real or is it a case of Thais calling animals by different names , eg.. a Leopard called a Tiger or a Python an Anaconda?

I wonder how long it would take the little buggers to strip a water buffalo to the bone

yes those were real piranhas, the one that eat flesh, i seen them sell many time from different people, people just don't understand how freaky these fish are, once it get to the river, you're screw.

[chokrai]

I have four oscars in my large fish pond with about 20 other kinds of fish bigger and smaller then the oscars. They seem to get along fine for now but when they get a little bigger i think i will have a problem! Strange thing is i dont have any baby fish like i do in the other ponds,,,hmm wonder why?