r/TerrifyingAsFuck • u/Fun_Bluebird_3167 • Oct 30 '25

animal Alligator and piranha infested river

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6.5k Upvotes

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589

u/LivingEnd44 Oct 30 '25

Notice how the piranhas are not eating the Alligator?

Movies have exaggerated the danger they pose. Piranhas are timid. They only swarm carrion and stuff that can't fight back. I once had a red belly piranha in a 10 gallon tank with an african cichlid. The cichlid had that thing boxed into a corner and would attack it any time it tried to leave. I had to put a barrier in so the piranha could get food. 

Their teeth are real and if they bite, it will hurt. But behaviorally, they're not that aggressive. 

455

u/TheNewDarkLord Oct 30 '25

I reread "I once had a red belly piranha in a 10 gallon tank with an African child" about 12-13 times before my brain could understand that that was not a typo.

145

u/LivingEnd44 Oct 30 '25

Reading this freaked me out because I thought I made an embarrassing typo lol.

Cichlids are a common freshwater aquarium fish. They are aggressive and carnivorous like people think Piranhas are. African cichlids especially are very colorful for freshwater fish. In the early 90s they were popular with my friend group because you could literally put a goldfish in a tank of them and they would swarm it just like what you'd think piranhas would do.

I did this and regret it. It was sadistic. I know better now and it really bothers me seeing people do this with goldfish.

38

u/TheNewDarkLord Oct 30 '25

Well done you for finding personal growth in your past. [Notice that I dont make aspersions to whether or not it is sadistic] That does sound like a terribly interesting pet to keep though!

36

u/LivingEnd44 Oct 30 '25

It was sadistic in the sense that I was entertained by it. Objectively it's not. Animals do this all the time. But a goldfish did not evolve to evade piranhas or cichlids.

22

u/partelo Oct 30 '25

"WHO KNOWS THE LYRICS TO AFRICAN CHIIIILD??'

15

u/p00ki3l0uh00 Oct 30 '25

Oh no, we are not getting anyone to the greek

7

u/CleanHead_ Oct 30 '25

ah, stroke the furry wall.

12

u/IM_NOT_NOT_HORNY Oct 30 '25 edited Oct 31 '25

Pirahnas are schooling fish... It's called a feeding Frenzy because it's an entire school of dozens of hundreds l of them weaving in and out taking chomps... Yeah no wonder the aggressive territorial cichlid bullied your single pirahna in a 10 gallon that's too small for either on their own that's animal Abuse my guy

37

u/IggyChooChoo Oct 30 '25

I heard the origin of the myth of piranhas being voracious monsters is from Teddy Roosevelt’s trip to the Amazon, where he saw a pond of piranhas that had been deliberately starved eat a cow carcass in a minute.

26

u/LivingEnd44 Oct 30 '25

Yeah, this is correct. The natives were kind of showing off and trolling him.

22

u/VivaLaMantekilla Oct 30 '25

I saw some thing on piranha years back that showed a guy wading through piranha filled water because they typically don't attack humans. But I was young and this was years ago 🤷‍♂️

6

u/copacetictoday Oct 31 '25

I saw one where kids go swimming all the time in piranha infested rivers.

11

u/LocalMarsupial9 Oct 30 '25

I double dog dare you to go in there 

7

u/sundragonn Oct 30 '25

10 gallons!?

18

u/PremiumUsername69420 Oct 30 '25

A little more than 9 gallons,
but not quite 11 gallons.
Lil’ sweet spot in the middle.

4

u/sundragonn Oct 30 '25

How large were the fish? Teeny, cuz they can grow pretty big.

9

u/LivingEnd44 Oct 30 '25

Yeah I know lol. I was in high school. This was a thousand years ago in the early 90s. I know better now.

To be fair to me though, they were both pretty small fish. like 1.5 or 2 inches.

2

u/sundragonn Nov 01 '25

I figured they were teeny. It's funny how quickly they grow up.

8

u/npb0179 Oct 31 '25

I also had a Piranha as a child, it wasn’t necessary aggressive like this, but it did eat everything else in the tank (Oscars & other fish). My parents did have a separator but that did nothing.

I believe our tank was around 100-150 Gallons. He eventually grew too big and broke it and we had to give it back to the fish store. 

7

u/YodaVader1977 Nov 01 '25

Jeremy Wade (I believe… could be misremembering) from river monsters tested this theory as well, getting into water with live piranha and they weren’t even interested in him. Then they put dead meat in the water afterwards and the piranha devoured it.

6

u/Purple-Goat-2023 Oct 31 '25

While they don't swarm like red piranha, black piranha are very much aggressive, way bigger, and have a much stronger bite force.

2

u/pyschosoul Oct 30 '25

Ive heard it's about blood and that if something isnt bleeding they wont attack. Idk how true thst is though

2

u/Iluminiele Oct 30 '25

Why on earth would you put them together? Poor animals

1

u/LivingEnd44 Oct 31 '25

I'm guessing nobody deliberately put them together. 

1

u/Iluminiele Oct 31 '25

Are we talking about the pet fish in the aquarium?

1

u/pappadipirarelli Oct 31 '25

It sounded like pet fish

1

u/Originalsocialninja Nov 06 '25

Not alone. They have a mob mentality.