Thinking about quitting "monster"s

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
charles-n-charge said:
Guys when I say natural pond, I mean no filtration or anything. Its surrounded by trees and plants, and it packed full of aquatic plants. We live on about 8 acres of land out in the county, the pond is just naturally there and we go fishing out of it. It's 80 feet long, 40 feet wide, and 15-20 feet deep.

So there would be no heating, no filtration, no water changes, no nothing.

Just making that one clear
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It depends on how cold the water gets. According to this article they can tolerate water down to 17 C. (62F)

http://www.galvbayinvasives.org/Guide/Species/ColossomaPiaractus


If your pond gets in the 40s, the pacu probably won't make it.
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2010/jan/19/psl-pacu-eclipsed-world-record/
 
I know its a pain but I wouldn't release them into the wild. Not only are you introducing them into a non-native environment but you are also introducing all the microbes that they harbor as well. It could be a problem for the fish already there. Just my two cents. Good luck finding a home for these.
 
Pacu do indeed survive water that cold. My 3 were in a swimming pool outdoors for 4 months while I rebuilt my livingroom to accommodate their new tank. With 900W of heater in the pool, the water temps still got down into the high 50's on 2 or 3 nights. It wasn't a long exposure to teh cold, but they survived it. They stopped eating when the water got lower than 65 degrees.

I keep my pacu tank in the house at about 73 in the winter, in the summer it easily gets to 83.


Dumping the fish into your wild pond is a bad idea for about 40,000 reasons. They lack immunity to the local microbes and parasites. They probably house parasites from what ever facility they were hatched in and the other fish in that pond lack immunity to those. Fish get transported between ponds easily, either as eggs on the feet of ducks or by being carried off and dropped by birds of prey. If your pacu shared what ever parasites they have with other fish in the pond and those fish then get transported to another pond, its possible you could start a domino effect that would wipe out part of an entire ecosystem. Don't do it!
 
I would dump them into the pond, at least they would have a chance :)
 
I'm trying to find some local aquariums, zoos, fish-stores, or someone who'd be willing to take them.
If I have to get rid of them, I at least want to be sure they're going to a good home where they'll live a better life than what I could've provided for them.
 
kdrun76 said:
Dumping the fish into your wild pond is a bad idea for about 40,000 reasons. They lack immunity to the local microbes and parasites. They probably house parasites from what ever facility they were hatched in and the other fish in that pond lack immunity to those. Fish get transported between ponds easily, either as eggs on the feet of ducks or by being carried off and dropped by birds of prey. If your pacu shared what ever parasites they have with other fish in the pond and those fish then get transported to another pond, its possible you could start a domino effect that would wipe out part of an entire ecosystem. Don't do it!
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+1.... not to mention you would be breaking the law. no i'm not the police but i live in Montana where Northern Pike have taken over and destroyed entire trout habitats. these fish were introduced by "fishermen" who wanted to catch Pike and now that's all there is.

if you can't keep them and you can't find someone to take them, catch them and put them in your freezer.
 
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