Pacu or Piranha ID

[Cmb Mani]

Hey guys/gals
I recently bought 2 fish thinking they were red belly piranhas.. now i think they are red belly pacu's and am freaking out cos my tank is not big enough.

How important is the tail colour when differentiating between the two? or should i just stick to the head shape?
I checked on piranha-fury.com and it states that the tail colour is also important!


When does the "bulldog" appearence of head evident in young red belly piranhas too? the big one is abt 6.5 inches and the small one abt 5 inches. are they adult or young ones?

thank u in advance

 

[unknownuza13]

If you could post a picture of the fish you will get your id very quickly.

 

[cichlaguapote]

actually no need to post a pic.. which one does it look like? 1st is pacu.. 2nd is piranha.. notice the different mouth shape and piranha has teeth you can see without pulling the lip back..

By 6" it should be clearly evident which they are..

 

[rxracer]

there is also a stickied page at the top with a lot of info concerning this matter

 

[santoury]

He was asking about tail color.

The two are very similar in tail coloration, but a trained eye could tell a pacu's tailfin, but a photo would let us ID them immediately.

 

[me_wee_todded]

yea wqe kind of need a pic from you

 

[itstheiceman]

about 1/4 from the end of the tail is all black on a redbelly, pacu's have a solid color like what they're body is colored like

 

[santoury]

I'll have to disagree. Pacu tails can have two tones too.

 

[cichlaguapote]

I'll have to disagree. Pacu tails can have two tones too.

All he's looking for is an id.. no need to even get into tail color as it's so apparent just by looking at the head of the fish..

 

[santoury]

Cichla - he precisely asked about tail color.

As for head shape - he asks WHEN the head shape "bulldog" comes in.
As for that, your fish, at 5-6 inches should be starting to show this characteristic, and they still have a bit of growing to do.
Do they spend MOST of their time swimming actively to and fro, or do they like to rest in one spot of the tank? If it's the former, they are more likely Pacu.