my red belly pacu

[lordofthejewsjr]

wow you have some huge pacu. so i can get a carrot and just throw in the tank? i dont have to rinse the carrot?

 

[lordofthejewsjr]

yip, just throw it in. Carrots, apples, pears, nuts are good, too. Make sure there isn't anything in the tank with a power cord either (powerhead, heater, etc.) because when people say they will eat anything, they mean anything.

i have my heater in the middle of the tank what should i do? should i bring it to the top?

 

[Amazon_Addict]

Make sure you have a stealth heater. Mine almost killed himself when he broke the glass one I had.

 

[pacu mom]

wow you have some huge pacu. so i can get a carrot and just throw in the tank? i dont have to rinse the carrot?

Feed them bite-sized pieces--whatever they can fit in their mouths. I always rinse off fruit and veggies before giving them to the fish. We put in big pieces of stuff because we like to watch the pacu eat, wrestle with the food and with each other.

I love Leonardo's jaw action in this video. This is the tail end of that carrot. He manipulates his food very very well. He doesn't need hands and fingers to move his food around!
http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s29/pacumom/Pacu/?action=view&current=MVI_0005.flv


On another note, their regular diet consists of pellets. You can see how messy the water gets when the pacu shred veggies. This translates into a much higher and faster nitrate rise. We have a small tank (300 gallons) right now, so the nitrate concentration rises faster than if they were in a bigger tank. I am convinced that the reason these wonderful fish (lifespan 30+ years) are living 2, 3 years in small tanks is because of high nitrate levels. It is much easier for us to keep nitrates below 20 ppm when we don't throw a lot of garbage into the tank. It sure is a lot of fun to watch them eat, though.

Our pacu shred and destroy everything that enters their tank. Nothing is safe in the tank. They love biting air lines. The idiots. They even destroyed the line to the emergency airstone that was placed in the tank during a power outage. They managed to ram and break off one of their poop sucker pipes that was rigidly plumbed into the tank. Fortunately for us and them, the heater is in a plumbed off overflow tank, so they cannot get to it to destroy it. There are 2" long scratches in the acrylic that could only have been done with their teeth. I'm not complaining. They are wonderful lovable rascals. Check out the haiku competition tonight. I bet you'll be able to figure out which are my haiku.


We really love our two big boys

 

[lordofthejewsjr]

Make sure you have a stealth heater. Mine almost killed himself when he broke the glass one I had.

will do.

 

[frnchjeep]

will do.

Yes, and keep it at the surface so the cord is unaccessable from in the water.

 

[dragonfish]

Yes, and keep it at the surface so the cord is unaccessable from in the water.

Or hide the cord so he cant reach it. In the pond I put the heater and the electric cords inside pvc pipes so they can't eat them.