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Hi, I live in Aus and I found recently some spotted silver dollars for sale. They look very similar to juvenile piranhas and was wondering if they are the same fish?

Milkyboy

No, just from the same family of Characins. Related to each other, but distant cousins.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

In my own experience, Silver Dollars are actually mild-mannered and timid.

Id agree with bruce they are typically very good and even tempered but I did see a large one in the LFS get nipped by a sheepshead acara, and it turned round and took a chunk out of the acara that was deep and wide and eventually fatal. I know this because the guys at the lfs gave me the acara for nothing when I bought the other 3 in the tank, and while I got it to survive for another 2 months it did eventually die from osmotic failure, the bite must've taken a chunk of the liver with it.

They have the same touch that rainbowfish do. Peaceful until attacked , then WOW.

Its worth remembering that sometimes primarily vegetarian fish have bite power that rivals predatory fish. Plants are tough!

Kind of like Bugs Bunny with fins...

But the Solver Dollar I have experience with -- in a tank I was maintaining in a local business -- hid in the corner all the time; judging from small bitemarks on him, somebody was picking on him. After a few weeks, I took pity and found a fish store ready to let him heal up and then resell him.