PIRANHA LAND






The first time I bought a piranha I was about 8 years old. I was at a pet shop and one of their aquariums had a sticker on the front glass which read “DANGER HANDS OFF, Donkey Castrator Piranha.” My eyes opened wide and in milliseconds, I knew I had to have it! The salesman placed triple bags, one inside of another, just in case it bit through the first bag. I was amazed: none of my guppies, mollies, or any other fish I had bought before had ever needed that! He also used a plastic kitchen strainer to catch it because he said it would eat the mesh off a regular aquarium net. I was so excited! I was buying a MONSTER!
Once at home I released him from the bag with extreme care. I truly thought it was going to jump out of the aquarium and bite me. It was a small juvenile Pygocentrus cariba (Black Spot Piranha), and after days of it hidden, frightened behind aquatic plants, and not tearing apart the raw chicken leg or half pound beef steak I threw in the aquarium, I made up my mind that they had sold me a defective fish. I wound up going back to the pet store, begged them to take back the defective fish and exchange it for Cardinal Tetras.