Pacu Tankmates/Compatibility
- Thread starter Vizux
- Start date
I have my 18" pacu with a school of danios as dither fish, a 2" pleco and a 3" rafael cat. He doesn't bother with any of them.
jdeeks;1479637; said:
Thats how my 32 inch and 27 inch pacu were..i had an african cichlid in with them and they loved him..i lost the pacu because of tank exploding but they were in a 220gal..i was about to get 500gal just before this happened..the pacu did not do it ..s short in the wire caused the fire that exploded the tank..pacus are so sweet.. mine did not eat live food at all so they had no idea to do that.. they liked their grapes and bananas and squash and peas etc and pellets,,i had them 8 years.
We had our Pacu with a Black Arrowana, Tin Foil Barbs, 2 ID Sharks, and a TON of Africans....he never bothered anyone. Again, it depends on the individual fish...ours was a sweetheart...there are some who are more aggressive and territorial. I think generally, you'll find the Red Bellies are more aggressive than the Blacks. It may also make a difference in growing everything together, rather than introducing smaller fish into the bigger and established Pacu's territory.
The problem with pacus (other than size) is they are playful. They aren't agressive, but sometimes they don't know their own strength. A few weeks ago, one of my pacus decided to play with my florida gar. Pacu grabbed it by the snout and broke it's jaw in three places. Can't be mad at the pacu for it, it's just how they are . They will also make toys out of heaters, filter tubes, pond liners, etc (the way a dog will make a toy out of anything it can get in it's mouth). They are awesome fish, though. Just be careful when deciding what to put with it.
I kept mine about 30-36inches in a 750 gal. His friends were 5 hungry oscars, 1 midas, 10 tinfoil barbs, 2 10" pacu. Best tank I ever had! Until he ate one of my heaters and shorted the entire garage. Killing the entire tank. I miss piggy.
salsa;1551265; said:
oh how sad ..i know how you feel.. i lost my two pacus from short underneath tank which led to tank bottom exploding ... you had the perfect home for him so this is really sad.. they do get into trouble once in awhile..mine ate the clamp and it passed through and was lodged in his rectum..we pulled it out carefully and he healed..very sad for you.. you cannot help but miss the pacu..they get into your heart..
The 1 i have now is just 5 inches(a baby),but my last Pacu was a miserable SOB,he nipped every other fish in the tank.All my fish looked awful because of him!!!I had to get rid of it.
Vizux;1471429; said:
Don't have any pacu currently, but did have a few red bellied pacu in the past. The only think they killed were some baby soft shelled turtles I got at a reptile show. I have had soft shells with fish before and there was never a problem as long as the fish were larger and the turtles well fed. However, the pacu bit them in half like cookies after they were only in the tank a few hours. Pacu grow so fast and are such pigs they are off my fish list!
