red belly pacu
- Thread starter TWiST
- Start date
TWiST;3631241; said:
I am not sure about putting a 3' long fish in a tank that is only 3' wide. The height of this new tank would worry me too. These guys are well over a foot tall, your fish would only have 6 or 8" above and below him if he was centered.
You might want to consider a slightly larger tank.
kdrun76;3678532; said:
agreed. its almost certain your pacu will be ATLEAST 24" long, and 12" tall. that gives the fish almost no room to turn, and barely any room to move up or down for food.
if you want to commit to having pacu, realize you could need something bigger again in another couple years once they get over the 2' mark.
if you can fit it, go as big as possible now. i recently spent over $500 building my pond, and will have to spend even more than that in a year or so once i move to build an even larger one, because i just couldent fit it in my current house.
Alright, im sorry but I really do need to chime in here. How many of you have seen RED Pacu over a solid 24 inches? I dont mean one youve tried eye balling in a zoo tank with nothing as a size reference. Even in zoos the largest your going to see is 24 - 28 inches. A 36 Red Pacu would be a record in the wild, let alone in any tank in captivity. You have to realize that a 36 inch maximum size doesnt mean that all the specimens in the species are going to get that size. Look at fishbase.org. The wild maximum is stated at 34 inches. Thats MAXIMUM. Im not saying fishbase is the all defining resource but its better then some one eye balling a fish at the zoo or from pictures theyve seen on the internet. Personally a tank of 10 feet by three feet wide is perfect for a Red Pacu. Chances are that unless your either very, very lucky or your feeding the thing steroids youll never need to upgrade. Plus, either way you look at it, its better then the 35 gallon most end up in.
shawntraviss;3694675; said:
a pacu larger than 24" is not unheard of, as theres several of us on here with young pacu that are just at, or over the 2' mark. And yes, there are pacu in public aquarium that most definetitly seem to be over the 2' mark based on pictures and comparisons with other fish in tanks.
The thing is, most of ours are still young, and will grow more over the next many years. You dont see large pacu in home aquaria, because most will never have the care they need to make it mor than a couple years.
just because they may not come around all the time, does not mean he shouldent be prepared to house a fish that grows to over 2'. its better to play it safer, than sorry, and end up needing a larger pond/tank in a few years when the pacu's face is all bashed in from hitting the sides of a too small enclosure. that just wastes $$ building a second enclosure.
better to do it right the first time, and prepare for any, and everything
Im unsure where your getting the idea that im suggesting that Red Pacu cannot get 24" or larger. What I said was that the average for even the largest home aquarium is going to get in the area of 24 to 28 inches. What I am saying though is that giving some one the idea that their fish is going to get 36 inches when a fish of that size would be a record for the species is either a scare tactic or based on bad information. Never once did I say that you should expect the fish to get 24 inches or less. I did say that your average person eye balling a fish in a zoos aquarium with nothing for size reference is how you end up with rumours of 3, 4 or 5 foot Pacu. Plus the average person cant tell the difference between Red and Black Pacu, which also leads to problems with supposed maximum sizes.
