Am I A Bad Pacu Keeper?

[hervoicewasgray]

So, I saw the story about the 41 year old pacu and everyone was upset because it was deformed.
But I couldn't really...tell what everyone was talking about.
But everynight since, I've been super worried that my Pacu looks like two fish sewn together.
I've tried so hard to be a good keeper, really! I know how big they were going to get, and well, getting into ownership got botched because I really had to sweettalk my LFS guy into ordering them for me, because he quit because they get so big (how responsible!), but when they came in, they were a litttttttle bigger than either of us were expecting.
And I knew they grow fast, I had heard 1"/month. Which would be fine, plenty of time for me to get a pool and set it up.

He's grown, like, 6" in a month.
When I got him in August:

On September 21:

He eats kiwi, pomegranate, peeled/seeded grapes, algae wafers, and I think he nibbles at the Amazon sword. But he hates carrots, and cucumber, and anything that doesn't go sinking by his face that they're supposed to love.
And I'm not going to lie. He loves Massivore Delite pellets, but between the added amount he eats and because it's supposed to be bad for them, I take great care in only feeding the other fish when he's preoccupied with eating his own food. And I watch him, and stand there, until the catfish and bichirs ate up, so he can't go steal it all, because he will, even if there's lots of pom, grapes, and/or algae wafers on the bottom, too.
It's why I named him Spanky.
He's gotten smart, he knows better now. I can even drop in the Massivore Delite pellets first or when he's not eating, and he just sits and watches. You can tell he wants to go for it, but he just looks at me and knows better

But anyway, back to the root question.
Is he stunted/in bad shape?

Just be gentle, because I do love my fish and the idea of being a bad mommy makes me cry. I didn't get him with the "I don't care" attitude. I got him with the "by the time you start getting too big, I'll have a nice big pool!".

*sigh*

 

[justonemoretank]

I don't think you are a bad fish mommy. You have obviously done your research and are intent on feeding a balanced diet, providing for him in the right way, etc. And, as an aside, I have never seen that much red on a red-bellied Pacu. LOL he must have jumped in the Pacu paint can or something... my guys hardly have any red at all. You know what you have to do, and it looks like you're doing it (from your tank setup). However, just keep in mind that by Spring, he'll likely have outgrown this 75 gallon, especially since he has tankmates. You might want to look into a either a stock tank, or just picking up a 125 off of Craigslist as cheaply as possible, and building a DIY filter. When you finally finish your pond, maybe get him a buddy or two. Mine like to hang out together. He looks fine to me, and don't worry about the Massivore. Pacu are omnivorous more than vegetarian. I feed my guys pieces of market shrimp and fish filet when I feed it to my RTC, and they eat a lot of the massivore that he eats, as well. They also love the algae wafers, and that has fish meal in it. They also eat grape and cucumber. So, just feed them what they'll eat, as long as it isn't mammal meat or feeders, and I think they'll be happy. If you'd like to see pics of my guys, they're in my gallery.

 

[hervoicewasgray]

Aww...thank you! That's most reassuring.
And I've been keeping an eye out for larger tanks, it's just not been easy. They're either smaller, or complete reef setups for several hundred dollars.
Okay then Thank you!

 

[hervoicewasgray]

PS. Saw your fish, they're cute how they all swim together, even with your RTC!

Maybe yours don't have much red because they're girls? I heard girls don't have much red...
Ours can make beautiful babies XD

 

[armac]

You feed him well but you bought a giant fish, and you knew in advance it would huge. I will leave it at that.

 

[Noddy]

It looks healthy and not stunted.
I like, good luck with your pond!

 

[hervoicewasgray]

You feed him well but you bought a giant fish, and you knew in advance it would huge. I will leave it at that.

True enough. I should've already had the pool. Planned for the worst-case scenario.

 

[hervoicewasgray]

So, I'm offering to trade my 75 gallon setup for a 125. Or looking for a cheap 125 to pick up. Just until I have the pond. It was kind of the initial plan, but then I figured "money and time would be saved by just putting it towards the pond"

 

[justonemoretank]

Maybe mine are all girls... which would be funny, because they're named Mr. Pacu, Oscar, and Little Pacu (guess LP could be a girl's name). I totally understand what you're saying about putting money toward the pond. I usually tell people who buy a fish who's going to get gigantic not to just plan on upgrading slowly. By the time you've bought and outfitted a 30, a 55, a 125, a 210... etc. Might as well just build the thing. On the other hand, if you really can't build the pond until Spring, a cheap CL setup or a stock tank would work pretty well. Believe me, he'll keep growing (my last Pacu, a 20 inch, lived in a 55 gallon tank for his whole life until I got him... must not have stopped him LOL) but i worry about the other tankmates. They shouldn't have to put up with his crap (literally). Also, most of the people who complain that their Pacu have become mean and aggressive are keeping them in tanks that are too small, so this could be a problem, too. Do you have room in the house to set up a kiddie pool?

 

[IKeepPacu]

read through the indoor pond section on here. many of us, including myself, are using intex kiddie pools as ponds.

i purchased the 1100g pool, the wood and insulation for framing it and a pond filter and pump off ebay for just over $500 total.

if you can screw things together with a drill, you can make the framing. its rather easy, and alot quicker and cheaper to build than you may think