Banned, piranhas are still sold rampant

As an exotic animal originating from South America, endangering the natural ecosystem and banned from entering Vietnam, but piranhas are still being sold publicly by many ornamental fish shops and markets on the Internet.
The piranha is known as tiger fish, tiger fish, saber fish, serrated fish and is also known as “freshwater killer”. They have sharp teeth, live and prey in swarms. Piranhas are omnivores whose main food sources are raw or dead fish; They also eat insects, reptiles, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. The danger of this fish to the environment may be even more terrible than many alien species introduced to Vietnam such as yellow snail, leech, red-eared turtle, crayfish …

One person offered to sell tiger fish for nearly 20 million VND / fish Assessing the danger level of piranha to the ecosystem, since 1998, the Ministry of Fisheries (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) has issued a directive banning import and farming of this fish. However, in Ho Chi Minh City, the fish that often appear in these horror movies are being sold publicly. At a selling point of ornamental fish in P. Linh Dong, Thu Duc city, a tank full of tiger fish is located in the middle of the store. The owner of the store, Hoang Hai, said that the tank currently has about 500 red belly piranhas with a length of 4-5 cm, each costing 90,000 VND. “Due to the large number, we have to feed the fish with bran, but there are always a few other fish species in the tank for them to whine when hungry. Just two more months, they will grow about 7-9cm, then they develop very slowly in length ”- Mr. Hai added. According to him, currently most piranha breeders choose red-bellied species because they are easy to breed and easy to keep. Yellow belly piranhas are difficult to propagate and must be hunted in the wild, so the price is always many times higher than the red belly piranhas. When we asked about the natural hunting ground, Mr. Hai refused to answer. At a selling point of ornamental fish in Binh Thanh District, the owner of a shop named Thuan said that this place sells mature red-bellied piranhas, as big as an adult’s hand. VND 500,000 / child. This same species, but with a hump on the nape is called a “hump” fish, costing a million dong each. Mr. Thuan added: “Rarely, the yellow-bellied tiger fish, 32cm in length, 17-19cm in size, costs 8 million VND / fish, and when grown up, it costs about 19 million VND / fish. In order to keep the piranhas, at least five need to be stocked in a tank ”. All piranhas at this store come from the Amazon region of Brazil, he said. “The movement to raise tiger fish from 2018 has been maintained until now. People who play unique ornamental fish like to hunt for piranhas to raise because they have eye-catching colors, many types, small body but very aggressive and aggressive. Newcomers of tiger fish often raise red-bellied tiger fish or Newbe, Manu, Mac, Cariba, then “upgrade” to the most aggressive species, Black Diamond “- owner of an aquarium shop in District 7 named Tinh, said. According to Tinh, tiger fish do not eat pellets, dry or frozen food. To limit the aggressiveness of this fish, some people replace raw meat with vegetarian food when they are young. However, when changing the diet is not suitable, the fish can “go crazy”, eating fellow meat. “Piranhas can bite people. Many of my clients often suffer from fish bites bleeding or scratching their hands when changing seaweed, taking things in the tank “- Mr. Tinh said. Not only selling publicly in stores, but also available for sale on the internet, most popularly via Facebook. Most of the website owners promote an unlimited number of fish, including red and yellow belly piranhas, the average price is from 90,000-170,000 VND / fish. Talking to the reporter of Ho Chi Minh City Women’s Newspaper, Mr. Dinh Minh Hiep – Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development – confirmed that tiger fish are in the group of alien species, not allowed to import and grow; All forms of raising, trading and importing are in violation of the law: “Any locality that detects it, it will confiscate, destroy and sanction based on the level of violation”. (According to Women HCMC)