Got myself a small red belly pacu.... then found out it will get massive.. :\

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
NeonFlux said:
*sigh* I got so excited too with this little guy thinking he/she would be such a great special addition... taking so many pics of the little pacu and all that. Alright.. well, I guess I'm going to take the advice you guys gave me and take it back to the LFS where I got it this afternoon. It's the best thing to do.. I don't want to have to deal with rehoming/stunting the poor little pacu one day once he becomes a 42" monster or something.. I've done even more research and, I'm really convinced now these guys will get way too large enough for me too handle far into the future anyway.. besides, I'm pretty stocked in my 250 gallon and really shouldn't be getting anymore fish.

Thanks a lot for all the help guys. If you all still want to discuss about the pacu I have, or pacus in general, feel free to.
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Unfortunately, the majority of pacu are doomed fish. As they get bigger, it becomes very difficult to maintain excellent water parameters if they are in a small tank. These fish which can live 30+ years in the right environment survive about two years in a 75 gallon tank before they die suddenly without appearing to be sick. It is possible to keep pacu in a small tank for many years. Our poor pacu have been stuck in a 300 gallon tank for 8 1/2 years. They desperately need their bigger tank which has not been set up yet. (We are in the slowest tank upgrade in the history of fish forums). About a month ago I took two pictures for someone asking about pacu. There was too much daylight in the room to get a good picture. Our pacu are longer then they appear to be as they are constantly turning and at an angle to the front of the tank.

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In this picture you can see how little water my Leonardo has to swim in (he is longer than he appears to be) Not only are they long and tall fish, but they are also extremely thick fish. Our pacu are more than 4" thick. They are very solid feeling--like tire rubber.
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There are not enough large tanks for all the pacu to be rescued, so most will die prematurely. A 30+ year commitment to a fish is a long term commitment. Unfortunately, most of us get in without knowing the full ramifications. It can be rationalized that the pacu was going to die anyway, and that I gave him the best care I could while he was living. A few years ago, albino pacus were the rage, and quite a few members of this forum were posting pictures of their albinos. These were members who knew how big pacu get. Interesting that none of them ever posted update pictures...

Our pacu are very personable fish and constantly interact with us (more than the "feed me, feed me" moves of most fish). Because pacu are so inexpensive, many fish keepers equate them with feeder fish with very short life spans. I wish pacu cost $1000+, because people would think long and hard before buying, and would provide suitable environments for their pacu to protect their initial investment. Unfortunately, no one buying a pacu thinks "this fish could live more than 30 years. Am I up to caring for this fish for 30 years?" We certainly didn't know about pacu when they came into our lives, and we've had to make adjustments ever since.

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I just returned the pacu as trade-in to get something else.. thinking about a red hook silver dollar 'luna' when they get them in.. Which is a pretty good substitute, eh? :)

Hello pacu mom,

Whoa, those pacus are huge..! Thank you very much for sharing your pics, and your long time experience with pacus. And yeah, I agree.. these are fish are pretty much doomed when kept by your average aquarist with regular affordable tanks, because they are not very suitable for the home aquaria, and not really a good at-home aquarium fish.. Only if you actually have an enormous tank similar to those at aquarium attractions with massive tanks and ponds only then you may be able to keep one or some for a very long term with a lot of care.

Hope you find a bigger tank for them soon one day, pacu mom, good luck and nice pacus.
 
We have their big tank. Five years ago we ordered their new tank. We did a huge addition to our house initially just to house the tank, but our remodel took on a life of its own. 2 1/2 years ago, we thought of an idea for the background for the tank. After struggling with polyuria sheets that would not work, we switched gears and decided to use foam panels covered with epoxy. In May we finally got the background panels to our artist. Our 85-yr-old artist is critically ill right now, so the project is on hold. The pacu really need their new tank. The tank has black lamination on the back. We originally were going to go with black background with black pipes for filtration. If we had not thought of the background, the fish would be in their tank. Unfortunately, since we will have to look at the tank and at the fish for the rest of our lives, we now need the background, or we won't be happy.

The tank is only 15' x 4' x 4', but it will be adequate for our two fish. It was a happy day when our fish room build had progressed enough that we could bring the tank home (it sat in a storage facility for a year.)
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It seems that for a long time we have been close to setting up the tank. I sigh when I walk past the tank.
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We have a 405 gallon fiberglass tank which will be used as a sump for the main tank. It has been collecting dust all these years.
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Our set up will be about 2,000 gallons which should be adequate for them, and much better than the 300 gallon tank they are in now. When we started the upgrade, I thought the whole thing would have been done in six months or less. I was wrong. If my husband knew what he would go through, (nearly 3 years of his life building our addition), I doubt that he would have picked up the pacu when he passed that yard sale and saw them in a 55 gallon tank.
 
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Wow, awesome.. Glad to hear you guys already have the tank already. Must be a good peace of mind and relief once you now have a adequate size tank for them without any future issues. Sorry to hear about the artist. That sucks.. and hope he/she pulls through and gets the job done. Can't wait to see updates on that tank with the pacus, I'll be like having a piece of the local aquarium attraction tank at home.. will be quite a sight.
 
Yep. $26.00 for about a five inch size.
 
My lfs had em this morning for $5 for a 3 incher

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Those are the spotted variety sd's, so yeah, they generally stay pretty small.. Those are actually mine before lol I traded them in. They caused quite a fin-nipping ruckus to my other regular sd's and my other fish, so there they are at the LFS. Couldn't stand the excessive fin-nipping anymore, drives me insane.
 
Shame on the LFSs for even trying to sell these fish. I think it is partially their responsibility for not adequately conveying the proper information when a customer tries to buy this monster. I, like you, was duped into buying one of these fish in high school. I remember going to petsmart and reading the description of this fish and it said 12 in max...
I don't know if they changed that stat since then, but the woman said it would do fine in a 120 gal. yeah..
I returned it within the same week.
I guess the moral of the story is research before purchase :/
 
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