Further research and collection data needs to be conducted in the field with laboratory examinations as well as aquaria(ecology) documentation of habits and activity. Pygocentrus ternetzi is from Argentina and Brazil. There is still much discussion about this fish and its classification. Since the Fink and Machado paper was printed non-scientific, web-based viewpoints have led people to believe that the name Pygocentrus Ternetzi was an invalid species, but in fact the paper does not state that to be the case, it merely states that insufficient data and specimens were available to be able to substantiate ternetzi as a valid species of its own. It goes further to say that if sufficient data could be established for the southern (yellow) variant of Pygocentrus that they felt the best naming convention would be the ternetzi and therefore Fink left the name as avaialable to the southren variant if it were determined to be a species of its own. I will quote the information from the paper here when I update this page and hav ethe document in front of me.
In Aquaria
Adult Size
TL Minimum Aquarium Size:
40 US Gallons Temperature:
78-81F PH:
6.6-7.1 Food:
Will accept any live freshwater fish used as a normal feeder fish, thawed frozen fish fillets, shrimp and other meat products. General Information:
A wonderful fish to keep in a large tank.
Aggression: ( 6 / 7 )
The fish is not capable of being shoaled in most instances.
Breeding:
I have not been able to verify any claims to captive brreding of this species. No known instances of aquaria breeding.
A large 12" TL specimen
Insights from keepers of this fish
This is not a difficult fish to keep. Best kept as a shoal of at least 4 piranha per tank.
