Wimple piranha

Care at a glance

Overview

The wimple piranha is best kept singly, because it will nip scales and fins from tankmates and can be nasty toward its own kind. If you try a community it must be with fast, large scaled fish, and even then damage is likely. Give it cover, warm soft water, and expect an unusual, specialized feeder rather than a typical community fish.

In the wild

Lives in slow rivers, creeks, and flooded areas, often among vegetation and submerged wood. It is a specialized hunter that shadows other fish and darts in to feed. The water is usually warm, soft, and slow moving.

Good to know

Catoprion mento is a scale eater, or lepidophage, that rushes other fish and tears off a mouthful of scales to eat. Its heavily built lower jaw is packed with outward angled teeth suited to the job. It stays small for a serrasalmid at around 15 cm.

Did you know

It makes a living by biting the scales off other fish, a rare feeding style that only a handful of fish worldwide have evolved.

Related species

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• 

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• 

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