can pacu's break your glass????

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matthewkingoftheworld

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 21, 2009
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bo'ness scotland
i keep pacu's. i love them. i have 3. one is 22 inch the other two are around about 15 inch, they are in a 220gal tank. which is begining to look small. not too worry cause the mrs has said yes to a monster tank when we get a house.


ANYWAY!!!

i made a post about an oscar problem and someone posted "pacu's will break your glass". to which i replied the glass is 12mm thick dont be silly. i know "amy" is big and ive heard a lot of bumping in the night but never considered for a second that they could brake the glass. heaters powerheads and filters YES but the actual tank???????



anybody know anyone who's pacu have cracked the glass or anything useful dont be shy.




thanks for your time
 
My 8 year old large pacus shattered the glass on my 220gal.. but not because of hitting it but because splashing water caused a short under the tank and the heat from the fire burst the glass on the bottom.. so i would be more concerned with fire..then actually cracking the glass from swimming into it.. check your wires in the cabinet and have them set on protectors and if possible its own circuit breaker...
 
man im really sorry that happened that is one of my biggest fears. so much equipment thats the last thing you want. when they were in a 65g tank a couple of years ago they soaked the floor a few times. all my cables run quite far away from the tank so i was lucky. 8 year old pacu must have been big?? so you think the glass is ok??
 
the only real reasurance i can pass on to you is about the glass not cracking is that it took a sledge hammer for us to break the tank up to remove it... that glass took the sledgehammer like nothing i could imagine, it just would not break with out some really evil force.. so although i had the same fears as everyone else that pacu were capable of breaking glass.. after that i had my doubts that they could ever swim hard or fast enough to break the glass... this was a year old tank... so i don't know if they made them better then the old ones etc.. but like someone mentioned i would worry more about the seams if it were an older tank.. so quite honestly there is no quarentee .. i cannot promice you that the glass won't break.. i am sure it has happened to someone somewhere along the line.. but in my opinion that glass is stronger then you think. my pacus were turkey platter size.. one 36 inches the other a bit smaller.. i miss those fish..and in my opinion out of all the fish i have ever owned they were the best!!
 
thats the kind of thing i was needing to hear not pacu's will break my glass nonsense!!! how did you stop them from eating your heaters. no word of a lie i think im on my 7th in about 4 years. and thats with them not destroying the last one til last week. i managed to get two years out of that one. !!!36inch!!! thats amazing! jesus how big was the tank and one more question 36 is that about as big as the grow?
 
My pacu ate the attachement to the hose.. it went right through him and ended up lodged in the anus half out and half in.. we took him out and actually released it with some delicate handling.. i then realized they love to chew.. they have big teeth.. so i started giving them raw carrots cut up small and peanuts.. just a few.. and zuchinni , grapes and even cut up small pieces of bananas.. they did not chew anything in the tank after that.. but instead waited and danced and entertained for their treats.. this is their natural diet.. they are vegetarians and like a little protein to round it out.. i was getting a new 500 gal in a month when this happened.. i had just put it on order.
 
did they not fight??? mine fight and chase every day. the big one has part of its nose missing. not so much since my oscar died. they are definately going the way of a 500g tank. they could eat all day i couldnt live without them. again im really sorry that happened to you
 
matthewkingoftheworld;4182797; said:
did they not fight??? mine fight and chase every day. the big one has part of its nose missing. not so much since my oscar died. they are definately going the way of a 500g tank. they could eat all day i couldnt live without them. again im really sorry that happened to you
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no mine did not fight..one chased after the other as if to play.. i think mine were a pair...but you have three.... so that is different... you could have two males with one female.. thanks for your kind words.. will miss them always.. good luck with your guys..
 
All of the equipment on the Pacu's tank is located in the sump. Before that they figured that if it wasn't food it was a "chew toy". Airlines, overflow tubes, plastic plants etc.

They will eat algae wafers , peas. string beans, as well as wtat has been previously mentioned. Grapes should only be an occasional treat (sugar content) they shouldn't have very much, or very often.

I only have 15, all rescues & they will always tell me that they are hungry. They get fed once a day, feeding more often can lead to additional water problems.
 
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