Photo 8.1 : Red Bellied Piranha
Hi all, I think it’ve been a quite a long time since the last vids post. Currently, I am too busy designing jigs and fixtures for new model that will be coming soon. I think I’ve not yet telling what kind of job I’m doing right now. Well, I work in a factory that assembles VCM for hard disk drive. What the hell is a VCM?? It is a device where the hard disk ‘readers’ are located. Using magnetic force, the VCM function is to move the ‘readers’ when ‘seeking’. ‘Seeking’ is the process where the ‘readers’ is searching something like files, folders, blah blah blah...enough. The customer is none other than SEAGATE U.S. As a designer, it is my responsible to make sure the VCM assemblies can be shipped on schedule by designing, setup and troubleshoot automated fixtures. My motto is, ‘Never Fail Any Shipment’. If we fail to ship the parts, the workers in our customer site will have nothing to do and they have nothing to produce. So, the company where I work right now must pay for their workers salary on that particular day. Quite tough don’t you think??
Talking about shipment have remind me on this type of fish. The infamous Red Bellied Piranha. Are you man enough to swim with this fish?? Go ahead, nothing will go wrong (“I hope”- Elham). Some says ("not me"- Elham), their reputation as man-eaters is not true. Believe it or not, there are no reports of a person being killed by a Piranha. Piranhas, in the Amazon are a common food fish. If a fisherman gets a bite from them, its shows that the fisher is careless and the fish is actually defending itself. Outside the water, they are quiet harmless. Other than ‘play dead’, the Piranhas defensive action is done using their razor sharp teeth. Their lower jaw is so powerful just like the crocs and the gators, so please bear in mind that if you’re bitten, you will lose small chunk of flesh of your own with the Piranhas shear-action-interlocking set of teeth!!!
This fish is so common in the Amazon basin and usually found swimming in schools. When raining season in the Amazon, flood will happen and during this season, the fish will be able to swim to their doorstep thus giving the local people some free meal.
Red Bellies comes from their appearance. Their belly and chin is glowing in red and on their sides glitters with flecks of gold and silver. They are mainly carnivorous while some of them feels more comfort as a vegetarian feeding on fruits and nuts. Did you know that other than scoop the flesh of their prey, their teeth will also comes handy to crack nuts. Did you also know that mainly the Piranhas is a hardcore fin + scales nippers. Yes, they mainly take a bit of a fish’s scales or fins as their source of protein.
The Piranhas may grow from 30 cm to 60 cm long with their weight more than 1.5 kilos. When breeding, the female may produce up to several thousand eggs at one time. If you want to keep them as pet fish, just go ahead. But please make sure that your tank can filled up to 100 gallons of water with heavy duty filtration, bogwood and few robust decors. The fish should live in a tropical condition with the water temperature from 24°C to 27°C with the water should be fairly soft or slightly acidic but preferably avoided. Of the 18 piranha species, only four are considered dangerous. The Red Bellied Piranha is one of those, because it will bite when it is underfed, overcrowded or threatened. They also bite anything that moves where blood is present in the water. Fishermen have lost fingers by pulling a piranha out of the water in a net and then allowing it to throw itself around on the bottom of the boat. Some species of piranhas actually have a mostly vegetarian diet, eating seeds and fruit that fall into the water. Piranhas are sold as pets, but they are extremely shy aquarium fish and only come out at feeding time. Most piranhas cannot be kept with other fish, because they consider them food. In the wild, they live in large packs and because of their enormous appetites, spend most of their time searching for food. For your information, Piranhas is prohibited in Malaysia. Here’s the proof from Royal Customs of Malaysia. (Prohibition of Piranhas Import, etc. Regulations).
The Piranhas may grow from 30 cm to 60 cm long with their weight more than 1.5 kilos. When breeding, the female may produce up to several thousand eggs at one time. If you want to keep them as pet fish, just go ahead. But please make sure that your tank can filled up to 100 gallons of water with heavy duty filtration, bogwood and few robust decors. The fish should live in a tropical condition with the water temperature from 24°C to 27°C with the water should be fairly soft or slightly acidic but preferably avoided. Of the 18 piranha species, only four are considered dangerous. The Red Bellied Piranha is one of those, because it will bite when it is underfed, overcrowded or threatened. They also bite anything that moves where blood is present in the water. Fishermen have lost fingers by pulling a piranha out of the water in a net and then allowing it to throw itself around on the bottom of the boat. Some species of piranhas actually have a mostly vegetarian diet, eating seeds and fruit that fall into the water. Piranhas are sold as pets, but they are extremely shy aquarium fish and only come out at feeding time. Most piranhas cannot be kept with other fish, because they consider them food. In the wild, they live in large packs and because of their enormous appetites, spend most of their time searching for food. For your information, Piranhas is prohibited in Malaysia. Here’s the proof from Royal Customs of Malaysia. (Prohibition of Piranhas Import, etc. Regulations).
Photo 8.2 : Red Pacu, often mistaken as a Red Bellied Piranha
Photo 8.3 : Pacu, another Piranha look alike
Well, that’s the time I have for now. Got to go, right now it is raining here. A wonderful time to get some sleep. Tomorrow is Monday, sigh…same old Monday, curse you Monday!!!
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