[rday]

does this really go on? my lfs has two fairly large p's (about 5" or so) in a miniscule tank and one has teeth that look like they're straight from a t-rex skeleton... even my dumbass roommate noticed it and made a comment about how much bigger they are than mine...

 

[Neoplasia]

Yes, unfortunately people actually cut the lips off of piranhas.

 

[Sir Nathan XXI]

it used to be a common practice until individuals fell under heavy redicule for the cruel deed. it may look cool but its just not right

certain fishs' teeth hang out alot more than others though

 

[Petzl88]

That is not cool.

 

[MPower]

I would never to that to any of my p's thats just plain cruel.

 

[rday]

how the hell does someone go about doing that? i certainly wouldnt want to hold down a good sized p and put any part of me near his mouth!

on the topic of teeth, do they ever lose teeth and grow new ones? about a week ago i noticed that one of my rbp's teeth looked a little funny. two on the side stuck out a lot farther than ever before, giving it a kinda bucktoothed look to one side of its mouth...

 

[Xenon]

I think the teeth grow back in fairly fast.

 

[Neoplasia]

The entire row will fall out and be replaced. This makes sure the bite is perfect.

 

[Neoplasia]

Oh and no it shouldn't take very long for them to grow back.

 

[Mr. Hannibal]

Nonsense and extremely cruel!

Never do that if you really admire this fish!

 

[SERRAPYGO]

Over kill on this subject perhaps but, it's wrong in every way shape and form.

 

[rday]

i would never do that! i have enough interest in any animal, especially these, to go to any lengths not to abuse or mistreat them. for example, my roommate bought a p at the lfs's moving sale for $5. it was about 2 or 2-1/2" and had only one eye. they sold it as a rbp, but i have a suspicion it may actually be a medinai... anyway, he's got it in a 10 gallon and he takes pretty poor care of it. its now about 4" and looking really cramped. he keeps mentioning putting it into my tank (with my 2 7-8" rbps) to "see what will happen." his real motive is that he wants to buy an eel... i guess this is one of the contributing factors to 2nd most abused fish...

 

[GARGOYLE]

I think it's bullshit, that people do that to their p's.

 

[NIKE]

i think that is so stupid my brother had two p's and one had died so he had got it stuffed by a profesional and at that time he got the lips cut back that was fine, but alive eeeesh!

 

[hastatus]

I remember when this first appeared in Pfish a few years back. I had already written a topic on it about how cruel it was to cut the fishes lips off and took a stand on it and told people at Pfish that they should not tolerate it from any hobbyist doing it there fish. I'm glad to see this attitude against cutting lips is still strong today as it was then. Follow the link has many things about teeth etc. Some of it you may recognize from other people using the information.

Body parts of a pirana

 

[WebHostExpert]

thanks frank thats some really good information. Everyone read that.
MAD

 

[Atlanta Braves Baby!]

Thanks for the great information there Frank!

 

[DiXoN]

good info one day i will read all of your site

 

[Xenon]

I would like to somehow measure the bite power.

 

[hastatus]

I would like to somehow measure the bite power.

I contacted Prof. Markle (OSU) back in 1996 to see if his school could get the engineers to create a piece of equipment to test the bite. Unfortunately, nothing came of it and I think it was more of a safety issue than anything else. But largely, I didn't followup on it. I have been asking around among other scientists and majority of replies has been the fish bite power is equivalent to a shark and far stronger than a pit bulls. Again, this is not an accurate accessment, but probably not to far from the truth. According to Myers (1972), he said the bite power was equivilent to a bear trap with powerful springs and teeth made razor sharp that would clip off instead of hold a bear's foot. Pretty descriptive to me.