From the Rio Tocantins in Brazil we received wonderful, 11-14 cm long Serrasalmus rhombeus. This species grows 35 cm, maybe even 50 cm long, making it one of the largest piranha species of all. One can recognize adolescent S. rhombeus quite well by the combination of ruby red eye, a shoulder spot which is not substantially larger than the eye diameter, the yellow anal fin and two dark bands in the tail fin, one of which is at the tail root and one limits the fin behind. Adult animals are uniformly black, see https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/fish-archives/gigantic_black_piranha_arrived__en/
The population from the Rio Tocantins is particularly colourful. In contrast to many other piranha populations, which are currently still assigned to Serrasalmus rhombeus, these animals have a beautiful red band on the gill cover.
These piranhas are solitary fish and feed in nature mainly on fins of other fish.
For our customers: the 11-14 cm long animals have code 292806 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesalers. Only available in small quantities!
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
