Before we added
the forums we would allow people to contact me via email to
answer questions. Here are many of the responses. We have
added each of these to the forums as well so that people
can respond to them.
Most frequently asked
Question:
My pacu has (have) outgrown my tank and I am
out of space. What should I do with it (them)?
Suggestions?
Example 1:
Hi im Eric an 11 yr old who owns a red-bellied pacu. My
parents will not get me a tank any larger than 20
gallons!I really love this fish and do not know what to
do with it once it gets too big. I do not want to sell
it to a pet store because i love him! I named him Mimic
cuz he looks like a pirahna! AINT THAT A GREAT NAME! Im
currently feeding it wardley tropical flakes and he
seems to enjoy them. When it gets bigger im going to
feed it greens and neon fish! He is only in a 1 gallon
tank noww with a filter but i am in a couple days gonna
get a bigger tank and a heater. but i know he'll out
grow it! WHAT SHOULD I DO? :(
Example 2:
I HAVE TWO
PACUS THEY WERE THE THE SIZE OF MINNOS WHEN I BOUGHT
THEM THERE IN A 40 GAL TANK AND BY SUPRISE 5 MONTHS
LATER
THEY GREW TO 11 IN,s I HATE TO JUST DUMP
THEM BUT I HAVE NO SPACE
FOR A BIGGER TANK WHAT SHOULD I DO
Answer: I have answered
hundreds of emails and this is
actually the most common question I get. The answers I have found are: look for a
friend who wants them and is an avid fish keeper, see if a
pet store will take them back, talk to an animal shelter
or society to see if they can take them. Some people have
to put them down after a year because of space and
maintenance issues. Some will taxidermy
them. Some actually eat them as though they were raise for
the purpose (they are
considered a staple food in parts of Brazil because of
size and culture of the people.
Those are the options that I am aware of. It
will depend on the attachment you have to the fish and the
amount of time you can spend to relocate them. If you ever
find a place that is a sanctuary, please let me know
because I have many people asking where they can find a
new home for their fish.
I just lost my pacu his name was pac man he was my buddy
as I would clean the tank he would rub up against my
hand or let me pet him. When we were gone for a few
hours he jumped and some how jumped out of the tank. I
had the tank covered with the normal glass and lighting
but he pushed it aside he was 20" long his buddy
bubba who is 12" seems to be very depressed I have
put stress coat in but he is just looking so sad. I
am looking for another couple of pacu I have a 100
gallon tank and if need be I can get a larger tank
looking for red belly or black if you know of any one
trying to find a good home please let me know I
live in Michigan thank you Hanna
--- Richard
--- mp177@yahoo.com
Note from the
editor of this site regarding this email response: This is
by far the most amazing Pacu setting I have heard of. Some
day...
Hi - I really enjoyed reading about all the other
people who enjoy the Pacu.
We have a Half Black that we bought in 1979 - that makes
him 25 years old!
He started out in a 10 gallon tank with numerous
tank-mates, but soon
graduated to a 55 gallon, then to a 412 gallon, which he
was in for the last
17 years or so. This spring my husband built a new home in
our family room
for our Pacu - a 3240 gallon tank! It's 12' long x
6' high x 6' wide. We
use 3 swimming pool sand filters and a 3hp pump to run
everything. The tank
is framed and sheeted with plywood, and sealed with
fibreglass matting,
resin, and gelcoat. It has two 5'x3' x 3/4" window
panes in the front. Our
Pacu loves his space! He's about 36"long, about
12" from belly to dorsal,
and weighs about 30 - 35 pounds. He eats beef
heart, shrimp, Hikari
pellets, grapes, watermelon, strawberries, figs, carrots,
and his favorite -
Milk Bones! He has a surprisingly good nature for his
size - he shares his
tank with a 3' Tiger Shovelnose Cat, a 3' Black Arrowana,
4 full grown
Tinfoil Barbs, an 8" Tilapia, an 18" Iridescent
Shark, four 12" Plecostamus,
3 Synodontis Cats, and what started out as about 20
African Cichlids, but
has turned into 50+ as they have been breeding like mad. Our
Pacu
recognizes us and will swim to whatever side of the tank
we are on. My
husband has to physically get inside the tank with a
mask/snorkel to clean
the inside of the glass, and when he's in there, the
Pacu is always right
beside him, will even let Miles pet him. He is truly our
baby! We have
heard that the lifespan is around 60 years, so we are
almost halfway there.
Our tank is quite a conversation piece and we always have
people coming over
to see it - we believe it is the largest home aquarium in
the province
I have had nearly the same problem as you. I had a glass thermometer
which my two red bellies broke chasing each other around the tank. When I
purchased a new tank I bought two new titanium heaters, here is the
URL:
http://www.foryourfish.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/
FYF-HC-H8.htm?sid=1cdAk00@hCSAAoq-04104580931.83by no means am I saying this is the only place to get these great heaters
from but gives people an idea what is available. I've had mine for a year
and no problems at all
i just wanted to let you know that i own 4 pacus
all red belly one is 14" 13" and two
6"
i noticed they do love to play chase but but
what i really wanted to talk about is that they
will bite tank mates i almost lost a pacu
because the other one beat her up so bad that
she had no scales on either side and she was
bleeding and they were raised together i had to
nurse her back to health and separate them i
just thought you should know but i do love your
site and please reply
I have never been asked the gender of a Pacu.
The most often asked question is "will
you take my pacus?" A Chinese
gentleman came in this Monday and made me take
four of them. He could not speak much
English, but I couldn't speak ANY Mandarin.
So now I have 11 of the monsters. (And
still have no clue how to sex them.)
Sorry for the mistype on the site.
If you can speak Portuguese, you may get info
out of Brasil. They have lots of Pacu
sites.
Try the standard tetra sexing. Males
larger and more colorful. Females
chubbier. Look at them from the top.
Hi,
I really like you website, but do you know they live much
longer then 10 years? My friend has one that is over 17
years old.
Thank you,
Valerie.
I really appreciate all the work you did to provide
information for those of us who would like to know
more about our fish!
FYI, oscars often attack heater lights. It is
possible that your friend's fish and yours were
attacking the light that comes on when the heater is
on and that is how the heaters broke. An easy fix is
to position your heater so the light faces away from
inside of the tank.
Jon
Hi,
Just thought I would write in to tell you that your's is the
best
website so far that I have found on this fish. Most don't
even list them
under "oddball varieties" I started working in a
feed and pet supply store
in Feb. and we have a fish dept. One day this very nice guy
comes in with a
problem, it seems his fish have out grown his tank and he
needs to get rid
of them. Being a big softie I told him I would be glad to
take them in. (At
this time I had a 20 gal tank just sitting on the deck that
my husband
bought me) After I asked what kind of fish, he told me they
were a albino
tiger oscar and a pacu. My mother had one of these fish when
I was very
young, so I figured no problem.(ha ha) Now we have
"Fillet" she is
beautiful, her tankmate went to a home with other tiger
oscars.She seemed
lonely at first so I brought home a small feeder, he would
either be a buddy
or dinner. Well 4 months later the feeder whose name is
"Buddy" loves her
(her dorsal is mostly rounded and I read that males have a
sharper point to
their dorsal fins) he goes to which ever part of the tank
she is at and even
rubs against her at times. My husband has given in and let
me purchase a 135
gal tank for her and I now have another person who wants to
give me a long
finned albino tiger oscar who is half her size. My girl is
about 14 inches
long and very active, she likes bannanas and she plays
with whole unshelled
hazel nuts, I only give these to her rarely as I don't
know what it does to
the water. I have heard of Pacus cracking the shells of
Brazil nuts and
eating the nut.
I first would like to introduce myself. My name is Colleen.
I really must
say, that of all the Pacu websites, your's is the most
accurate. Kudos to
you! I currently have one red belly pacu, named Pacman. He is
literally my pride
and joy. I have several other fish, including two oscars
and two red devils
to name a few. By far, Pacman is my baby. I am currently
moving him into a
90 gallon tank. My husband and I are custom building a table
for his tank
(he is well versed in construction). I am also looking at
adopting two
teenagers to go with Pacman, but I am still undecided. My
lfs know I am
well versed in Pacu's and received them from one of their
other customers.
They were well taken care of, in relatively good condition.
I am only
having the dilema, whether I am willing/able to provide the
room all three
of them require. I am well prepared for Pacman, but was not
planning on
adding to my joy.
Anyhow, I am also glad to see that you feed yours a well
rounded diet.
Pacman gets a well rounded diet. His staple food is New
Life Spectrum Jumbo
formula, supplemented with cooked chicken, beef, beef heart,
spinach, baby
carrots, cherry tomatoes and an assortment of nuts from the
local health
food store.Much of the Pacus that I see either in
the local newspaper or
pet stores are malnurished. I would love to do a Pacu
Haven so to speak,
but I just don't have the money and space. I am truly
troubled to know that
so many of our beloveds end up like that. I do my best to
educate the pet
stores of the Pacus. They mostly argue with me, especially
when they try
selling a red belly as a black pacu. OOOO that gets me mad.
It is ironic that you prefer the Emporer Systems to canister
filters. I
preferr the canister for two reasons. The supreme biological
filtration,
low maintenance, easy cleaning. In addition, you can change
the media to
your liking. I have used both. The Emporer, while it
does clean well,
needs weekly maintenance (even with the weekly water changes
I do) which I
feel suppresses the biological colonies which are required
to cycle the
tank. In addition, Pacman continues to disconnect the
downtube (hehe),
which he has not disconnected the downtube on the Fluval
yet. Accompanied
with this system, I use an ugf, with 30% water changes per
week. I do have to say that I agree with you about the plants.
I have four Amazon
Swords in the tank with him, and he LOVES to hide in them.
He doesn't eat
them, but they do get battered quite a bit from him freaking
out. I think
if I can find plastic ones that are tall enough and
"look" realistic, I may
go with them.
Now that I have chewed your ear off, I will depart. I would
love to stay in
contact with you to swap stories, or just to get a second
opinion on stuff.
Thanks again.
Really a great site. I have seven pacu's only 8 cm. but
my tank is not too big. maybe small. 70 liters. is there
a serious problem keeping them alive?
Hello. We have had our Pacu since he or she was very
small.Since he or she has grown it has killed our Osker
which was bought at the same time.and any fish in the tank
besides the Algea Eater.We now just have him LOL We love
him but I had a question.First is there a way to tell male
from female and also I feed him little fish.He will not
eat them in from of me though or like during the day.AT
night well the next morning you can see he has been busy.DO
they just like to hunt in the dark, Or is just something
some do and some don't.
hi again,
i was just at my local pet store, the same one i
bought my pacu from, to get a new heater, mine broke,
and i learned some surprising news. when i bought him the
lady that sold it to me was a pathological lier and she told
people anything to sell the item she was selling. she was
fired because of this but she lied to me about the pacu......its
a red bellied piranha. i was shocked so i went home and
looked at pictures of pacu on the web and i realized pacu
don't have spots piranha do and my fish has spots and the
distinguishing black triangle on the gills. anyway do you
have any sites where i could learn about piranhas? please
help its starting to get big and require more
food........including the other fish in my tank.
Hi,
Thanks for responding.
Guess what? Between the
email I sent you and your reply our 300 gallon glass
aquarium developed ahuge crack in the front
panel. Our son woke my husband and I up about 5 am
saying the aquarium
had cracked and was leaking.
My first thought was to get the fish out of there before
it broke and
killed him. Fortunately we had
kept his 100 gallon aquarium and had to move it back and I
called
the local fish guy who came
over and moved Pac back into the 100 gallon aquarium.
Naturally
he (she) is not very happy
about this.
The store where my husband
purchased the 300 gallon called the manufacturer who said
of
50 tanks he's made that size
ours was the 3rd to crack! What a bummer.
So now we have ordered an
acrylic but it has to be custom made because of the width.
Meanwhile it's hard to explain
to Pac why he's back in the smaller one. Poor guy.
I have a few questions for you. First i just
bought a Pacu and it was about an inch within a month
it grew to nearly 5". Is that normal? Its on a
diet of flake food and any insects that crawl in to the
tank or that i put in it and some times blood worm from
the bala sharks i have in the tank. Second question. How
big and how fast will my Pacu grow. Third question, you
said they were train able does that mean the can be
trained to do tricks? My final question is what size
tank will i need in the end. I have two bala sharks
that can get up to 13" each and 4 zebrafish which i
think might be eaten before i get a new tank. Right now
i have them in a 20 gal. tank what do you suggest?
Matt C
hi,
I was just at your website about pacus.
I was reading your taxidermy paragraph. That is true, they
are not in high demand, but actually they can be
replicated through fiberglass molds.
I am a taxidermist, and a college student, who right at
the moment is working on a 24" pacu mount. I am making
it for a local pet store. If you would like me to send
a picture for your website, when the mount is completed,
just let me know. My web link is www.marinecreations.com
if you would like to check out my work or link up sites.
thanks for your time,
mike
Great website man, its good to
see some interesting informative material on the net. I
just graduated college and my obsession with tropical fish
grows by the day. What began as a bowl holding a beta soon
turned into the 100 gallon that i am now looking to
upgrade even further. I have 2 pacus, two tiger oscars,
green terror, 2 parrots, and some other ciclids. My pacus
are about the same size as yours and they act exactly like
you descibe them.
We have a Pacu that we've
had for about twelve years.
This month we purchased a
300 gallon aquarium for him (her). We had him in a 100
gal.
Of course, he broke heaters
(fortunately never electrocuted I was surprised about
your
story) knocked the top glass
panels off the aquarium, with them landing either in his
aquarium or broken on the
floor--what a character. Good thing we have hardwood
floors.
We are very attached to him
and talk to him every time we walk past his aquarium--he loves attention.
The question I have is are
there any toys, like balls or rings we could use to
train him
or that he could play with?
I'm worried that he gets bored. Every so often we buy
him
plants from the fish store
which we know he'll tear up but we figure it gives him
some-
thing to do. He started out
with Oscars but did away with them rather quickly. So
we've
given up getting him a
companion. He is trained to get his grapes stuffed with
pellets
by swimming from one end to
the other. My son is worried that I give him too many
grapes and he will just get
bigger. He gets a total of 8 grapes a night and every
other
night I stuff them with
Cichlid pellets. I didn't know you could get sinking
pellets. He
also likes strawberries. No
veggies thank you.
I was just in a pet store
today and saw a really large Pacu. The store has
been in business since 1969 and claims that this Pacu
has been alive since 1974. If this is the case,
then they have a potential lifespan of 30 years, give or
take a few. And who knows how much longer he'll be
around?
Just thought I'd mention
that since your website said they had a 10-yr lifespan.
Thanks for all of the other interesting information
The one thing that I wanted to
share with you, they now make a titanium heater for fish
tanks. I absolutely love them. The temperature
gauge is on the outside of the tank with a dial. My
Pacu broke the glass heater I had so I had to get
something fast and I am very pleased with this new heater!
I don't remember the brand off the top of my head but the
2 heaters are in the wet/dry filter, so there is now
clutter in the tank! Well thank you for the
wonderful webpage.
I recently bought two pacu's
from my local pet shop after the guy in the shop told me
'' Oh yeah, these are a great wee fish' you could easily
keep four of them in tour two foot tank. No sweat at all
''. So after what I thought to have been a genuine
salesman I took his advice and bought them, I only bought
two of them though, thank God! As you can probably tell
ive found out how big these fish can actually grow but I
don't want to get rid of them cos ive become quite
attached to them.
Hi,
Had
an unusual afternoon of fishing at Takanssee Lake.
I was only there for about hour (2:30pm to 3:30) and as
always my main goal was largemouth bass. I was using a
white skirted spinner bait with silver willow blades, I
caught 1 pickerel about 12" and hooked a nice LMB
that shook the hook about three feet from shore, looked to
about 2 to 3 lbs. But here's the kicker, just after I lost
the LMB I saw something break water just to my right. I
sent my spinner bait out in the vicinity and BAMM!!! The
pole bent and drag whirled and the fight was on. Holey
Moley it was fun. I got the fish to shore just as a father
and son duo stopped by to see what kind of fish it was. I
had no idea and neither did they. It was big! So I put it
in a box and brought it over to Steven's Bait & Tackle
in L.B. Brian said it was a sunny, this fish was 17 or so
inches and weig! hed 4.2lbs. I'm having a hard time with
that conclusion and would appreciate any input into what
kind of fish this is! Is it Red Belly Pacu? A picture was
taken at the tackle store and is now on my website. It can
be viewed at http://www.schoolroadeast.com/big
sunny.jpgThe best part is after all of that, I got the fish back to the
lake and it swam off just fine.
I can't seem to
access the forum board so here is my question. I
have a single pacu in a 90 gallon tank. He is about
21 inches and I have noticed the outer edges of his gill
are puffy and floppy. Do you know what this is?
What causes it? How to get rid of it? Is it
because the tank is too small??? Any information on
this would help. Here is a picture of him. You can
sort of see the clear puffiness on the outside of his
gill. It has gotten worse since the picture.
<<My
Reply>>
Your fish is awesome! Your
tank seems well-kept. Congrats on raising such a cool
fish.
I have noticed the same
occurance with the gills of my pacu. I searched around a
bit have not seen any documentation on this but I have
noticed that as my pacu breathe and they take in water
that the flimsier part of the gill becomes like a suction
cup so that the fish can take in water. They then exhale
and the gill opens up to allow the passage of water. With
this in mind I have assumed the occurance to be a natural
thing.
I don't think the tank size
causes what you are seeing. Something you may consider are
the chemicals you add to your water. I have heard that
some chemicals are not as friendly to fish as others.
Another observation to make: can you tell if the abnormal
growth is coming from inside the gill or is it part of the
outer gill? I'd recommend going to a pet store and hearing
what they have to say (PetSmart has really treated me well
for aquarious qurestions).
If you are questioning the
tank size you can use this as a formula (as received in a
coversation in a local petstore) Tank size (in gallons)
less the amount of substrate and other tank contents (measure
in gallons if you can) so that you know the amount of
water. You shouldn't have more than 1 inch of fish per net
gallon of water.
Thank you for
your site- just wonderful. I have a black pacu in
Sydney, Australia. I believe it is a female - the
most wonderful fish ever. BUT she is 1 metre long (3
foot) and about two foot high. She lives in a large
3 metre x 1 metre x 900 wide tank with other large fish.
Her body is like a large ball. This species of fish
is so misunderstood. I wouldn't dare introduce
another pacu to the tank in case of problems.
