How Many Fish Can I Fit in My Tank?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
boxingscene said:
The tank is 4 feet high, a little over 3 feet wide and 8.2 inches long. Has a 180 gallon sump and some solids pumps etc on it.

Photo found below. Hard to take a full pic, tank is too massive to fit in my camera for a good shot. A lot of these guys look small in the photo but they are very large. The size of the tank makes them look tiny.

View attachment 1057295
Click to expand...

Okay yeah, I'd say definitely pass on the pacu. Even if the tank were empty, it still might get a bit cramped for a fully grown pacu.

I'd call that a fully stocked tank.
 
boxingscene said:
Pacu has a very small mouth and are actually cowards when confronted by fish half their size.
Click to expand...

This has not been my experience with pacu. I had one for about 3 years that bit chunks out of my silver arowana's anal fin at least twice a week, and eventually went on an all-out murder spree, killing a 6" senegal bichir, 2x 9-10" lima shovelnose cats, and 4x beefy bala sharks ranging from 9-11". He would rip them in half and only eat the tail half, for whatever reason. I think part of it was that my aquarium was too small, which may have contributed to the aggression. He got to 22" in my 24" wide tank, and it was very tight quarters. This is the problem you will start having once yours gets up into the 30-36" range. I really wouldn't keep a pacu again in anything smaller than a 12'x5' footprint.
 
jclyde13 said:
This has not been my experience with pacu. I had one for about 3 years that bit chunks out of my silver arowana's anal fin at least twice a week, and eventually went on an all-out murder spree, killing a 6" senegal bichir, 2x 9-10" lima shovelnose cats, and 4x beefy bala sharks ranging from 9-11". He would rip them in half and only eat the tail half, for whatever reason. I think part of it was that my aquarium was too small, which may have contributed to the aggression. He got to 22" in my 24" wide tank, and it was very tight quarters. This is the problem you will start having once yours gets up into the 30-36" range. I really wouldn't keep a pacu again in anything smaller than a 12'x5' footprint.
Click to expand...

Usually I don't care much for them. This one however, was such a nice looking Albino that it really caught my eye.

I think it depends on the Pacu. I bought a Mubu Puffer once, a decent sized one. The store owner was concerned that he would start ripping chunks out of other fish, but he was very timid, just stayed in his own space and never even came close to bothering anyone. Eventually I had to place him in another tank because the other fish were eating his clams before he could get to them.
 
^ to be fair, MBU's are known as the gentle giants in the puffer world, try the same thing with a fahaka and chances are things would have turned out very differently...
 
boxingscene said:
I was looking at an Australian Arowana, but there is a risk he will fight with my Asian. Not looking to take the risk as both are pricey fish. I was also offered a snake head, but he might kill everyone in my tank. Pacu has a very small mouth and are actually cowards when confronted by fish half their size.
Click to expand...

Thats a real risky statement to make on a public forum with your location set stateside lol.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom