Maintanace programme for Red-bellied piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri)
A maintenance programme for Red-bellied piranha at the lab was also nominated, the system and the maintenance tasks for the species was undertaken in a period of 6 weeks. Its scientific name is known as Pygocentrus nattereri. Unlike the C. leucas ,the Pygocentrus nattereri is only a freshwater species and therefore maintaining the species within a tank requires a great deal of maintenance especially when all the other species within the ‘Wet lab’ in the Falmouth Marine School are marine species. Figure 10: below shows the piranhas within the tank system donated from a range of fish keepers and business from all around Cornwall.
Falmouth Marine School are marine species. Figure 10: below shows the piranhas within the tank system donated from a range of fish keepers and business from all around Cornwall.
In order to maintain any kind of species that survive in water a set of equipment are needed to make sure the species are well nourished, well fed, adapting to its new surrounding to minimise stress levels and mimicking its natural surroundings in order for the species to feel at home.
Many water species kept in tanks serve all kind of purposes, some of which include aquariums (for entertainment purposes) and attract tourism and even local awareness of learning about different species either endangered or not. Some are in our homes as pets, others in schools, colleges, universities for educational purposes all to serve the purpose of learning how to conserve and learn more about the species. The ‘main’ question arises, ‘What is conservation?’ and ‘What purpose does it serve?’ The red-bellied piranhas have yet to be classified by the IUCN. Meaning they are not endangered and yet is to be known about them (Bristol Zoo Gradens, 2010).
Figure 11: below shows the tank within which these piranahs call ‘home’ at the Falmouth Marine School ‘wet lab’. The tank measurements are 149 cm (L) by 61cm (W) by 61 cm (H) and holds about 554 litres of water
Many water species kept in tanks serve all kind of purposes, some of which include aquariums (for entertainment purposes) and attract tourism and even local awareness of learning about different species either endangered or not. Some are in our homes as pets, others in schools, colleges, universities for educational purposes all to serve the purpose of learning how to conserve and learn more about the species. The ‘main’ question arises, ‘What is conservation?’ and ‘What purpose does it serve?’ The red-bellied piranhas have yet to be classified by the IUCN. Meaning they are not endangered and yet is to be known about them (Bristol Zoo Gradens, 2010).
Figure 11: below shows the tank within which these piranahs call ‘home’ at the Falmouth Marine School ‘wet lab’. The tank measurements are 149 cm (L) by 61cm (W) by 61 cm (H) and holds about 554 litres of water
The maintenance of the piranha’s tank includes temperature, salinity, light, water quality, filtration rate, ammonium content, food supply and recreation of a habitat like structure to mimic the piranhas' natural habitat of the lower Amazon River
In order to asses all those requirements it needs the equipment’s as seen in figure 12. where A: shows the filter tank. The dimension of the filter tank was measured to be 104 cm length(L) by 37 cm width (W) by 38.8 cm height (H). It is divided into 4 compartments and holds about 140 L of water.
B: shows the filtration system, there are various filtration system that could be used, for this particular tank a aquamanta (EFX 1500) [prime] and advance pressure filter (Aqua one) [Aquis 1050] are used. Figure 13 below shows the advance pressure filter (aquis 1050) layer, filtration stages, starting from wool, to sponge (black) 35 ppl, to sponge (blue) 15 ppl to finally BioNood.
The aquamanta (EFX 1500) [prime] has a high powered yet quiet and energy efficient design, integrated self-priming pump, max flow 1500 L/hr, aquariums up to 450 litres, only 60 Watts, includes all suitable filter media, includes all fittings required for easy set up on any aquarium and integrated quick release tap system means mess free maintenance
The advance pressure filter (Aqua one) [Aquis 1050] suitable for aquariums up to 250 Litres. Max flow rate: 1000l/hrMax head 1.8m Filter volume 6.5 LitresOperating votage: 240V/50HzWattage Motor: 20.5W.
C: shows the UV florescent light fixtures are the coolest in temp and work well, for both the tank and any plants. For the plants to photosynthesis and also for the piranhas although they are used to live in murky waters in the wild and have adapted to live with very little or no light penetration..
The temperature of the tank was set to 24 degrees Celsius, the salinity 19g/L, the light produced by the UV light was 17V DC. The ammonia alert level was safe indicated by a yellow colour in the middle of the chart as seen in figure 12 A. and figure 14 below, showing how to read the ammonia alert levels.
The advance pressure filter (Aqua one) [Aquis 1050] suitable for aquariums up to 250 Litres. Max flow rate: 1000l/hrMax head 1.8m Filter volume 6.5 LitresOperating votage: 240V/50HzWattage Motor: 20.5W.
C: shows the UV florescent light fixtures are the coolest in temp and work well, for both the tank and any plants. For the plants to photosynthesis and also for the piranhas although they are used to live in murky waters in the wild and have adapted to live with very little or no light penetration..
The temperature of the tank was set to 24 degrees Celsius, the salinity 19g/L, the light produced by the UV light was 17V DC. The ammonia alert level was safe indicated by a yellow colour in the middle of the chart as seen in figure 12 A. and figure 14 below, showing how to read the ammonia alert levels.
Piranhas are omnivores and the piranhas in the wet lab are fed with frozen fish foods bought from the market from squids to mackerels. They are fed once daily or 3 times a week and the excess food not eaten floating around, were removed as they would decay over time and change the water quality. Piranhas like to live in shoals (Bristol Zoo. n.d.). Red-bellied piranha. Available: http://www.conservationpark.org.uk/red-bellied-piranha. Last accessed 14th March 2014.) which bring a sense of safety, so in this particular tank the number of piranhas initially introduced was 8 and are now down to 6 due to fighting frenzy during spawning and two died in the process.
The tank has been provided with driftwood like structure to provide a hiding place for the piranhas, in the wild they would hide in crevices or rocks away to protect themselves and feel secure. The driftwood was added in to provide that comfort and security and reduce their stress levels. A plant has also been added to provide a place where the spawning area can take place and also used for maintaining good water quality, including removal of carbon dioxide. The substrate used is sand for the bottom of the tank, the PH range from 5.5-7 always remain constant. NO added salt included just normal tap water.
The algae that grow around the tank is also regularly cleaned by using an algae magnetic scrub. The other thing to consider when buying a tank for the piranhas is the footprint of the tank, this is the area of the base of the tank occupies, as long as you have a reasonable depth and a bigger footprint is the way to go.
Water changes are essential as they remove nitrates from the tank or at least dilute them, also water change helps replace the minerals and salts required by the freshwater piranhas.
The filters regulate the water by pumping water around the tank via an inlet and outlet. Within its different layered chambers it contains some bacteria that help in waste removal from the water, i.e the faeces of the fish.
The first step into cleaning the external filter is by turning it off and also turning off the heater. Siphon off some of the water out about 15-20% from the top into a bucket. That water would be used to clean off the filter media. Then you lift the stop leaver up to prevent air from getting trapped into the system. Next is to pull the horse connector out, lift the lid off and then take each compartment out and into the bucket with siphoned water. Then empty the filter bucket as it would have dirty murky water from the waste products. After that add water into the filter bucket by using water from the tank, if you use tap water instead it would kill off the bacteria on the filter media and would not do its work properly. The cleaning of the canister is recommended one a month, to maintain the nitrates level low and clean up the waste.
The tank has been provided with driftwood like structure to provide a hiding place for the piranhas, in the wild they would hide in crevices or rocks away to protect themselves and feel secure. The driftwood was added in to provide that comfort and security and reduce their stress levels. A plant has also been added to provide a place where the spawning area can take place and also used for maintaining good water quality, including removal of carbon dioxide. The substrate used is sand for the bottom of the tank, the PH range from 5.5-7 always remain constant. NO added salt included just normal tap water.
The algae that grow around the tank is also regularly cleaned by using an algae magnetic scrub. The other thing to consider when buying a tank for the piranhas is the footprint of the tank, this is the area of the base of the tank occupies, as long as you have a reasonable depth and a bigger footprint is the way to go.
Water changes are essential as they remove nitrates from the tank or at least dilute them, also water change helps replace the minerals and salts required by the freshwater piranhas.
The filters regulate the water by pumping water around the tank via an inlet and outlet. Within its different layered chambers it contains some bacteria that help in waste removal from the water, i.e the faeces of the fish.
The first step into cleaning the external filter is by turning it off and also turning off the heater. Siphon off some of the water out about 15-20% from the top into a bucket. That water would be used to clean off the filter media. Then you lift the stop leaver up to prevent air from getting trapped into the system. Next is to pull the horse connector out, lift the lid off and then take each compartment out and into the bucket with siphoned water. Then empty the filter bucket as it would have dirty murky water from the waste products. After that add water into the filter bucket by using water from the tank, if you use tap water instead it would kill off the bacteria on the filter media and would not do its work properly. The cleaning of the canister is recommended one a month, to maintain the nitrates level low and clean up the waste.