# Red Belly Pacu



## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

Hey guys, I just bought a small red belly pacu for my 29 gallon tank, the person at my LFS said they will eat flakes now but when they get bigger they should have a mixed diet of flakes/feeder fish, I have a 60 gallon tank I can move him into when he grows but now he is pretty small. Is there anything I should know special about these fish? Any info is much appreciated!!


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## MaelStrom (Jun 24, 2007)

Anything special..... He will grow to two feet minimum. And feeder fish are unhealthy, stick with a pellet/veggie/frozen diet.


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

thanks i also read they can eat any type of fruit and will eat from your hand when they get used ot you.


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## karazy (Nov 2, 2007)

well,im just gonan break the bad news. 
your not going to have a big enough tank for one. even when moved to a 60 gallon.

PM clerk and ask how big the biggest one he has seen is


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

When it gets too big, call the TV station and tell them you caught it on a hook and line in the creek, you get on the new with your "man eating fish" until they figure out its not a piranha.


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

lol, emc7, but when it outgrows my 60 gallon tank (which should take a few years) ill either get a big enough tank for it or give to an aquarium somewhere.

here are some images of my pacu


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

You really can't get a "big enough" tank for it. Pacus should not be sold. They are HUGE fish. You just bought yourself a whole lot of problems. Pacus are known to grow over 40". Take into consideration that a tank should be at least 5x a fish's length......that would be 200" long. Say it's shaped like a 15, which is 24x12x12, that would be 200x100x100...that would be well over 8000 gallons. 

Seriously, you've already got some problems in your tanks you need to fix (like separating your puffers from your pleco and putting them in a larger BRACKISH-water tank) and a pacu will only make more trouble for you. I'd return it to the pet store.

But hey, that's just me.


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## Guest (Oct 12, 2008)

Okay...You really should research your fish.

The pacu will outgrow your tank. Even the 60, and no, it won't take 'a few years'. It will outgrow your 60 in less than a year. I've seen it happen. And technally, your 60, isn't a 60. You have turtles in it. And unless your are inproperly taking care of your turtles, the 60 should not be more than 3/4 full, which would make it less than 50 gallons.


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

I knew origanlly I would have to give my pacu away, I just wanted to have the fun of watching it grow up, and my puffers, they have been doing fine for half a year now, no nipping or anything, and they are in completely freshwater, but yes, everyone is entited to an opnion.

Fishbguy, when I move it into my turtle tank(yes i am taking proper care of them) I will move the turtles to a covered(chicken wire lid) pond I built for them to bask in, and I will redo the 60 gallon tank for the pacu, and yes I researched my fish. As I said before I knew I would end up giving away my pacu.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

Pacus are very, very hard to get rid of once they are large. Many of my LFS will accept unwanted fish, but 2 of them specify: NO PACUS. If you want to see a fish grow up, and not have to deal with the reality that you'll possibly have to euthanize it yourself because you just can't get rid of it, look for a different fish.


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## frogman5 (Mar 13, 2007)

get rid of the pacu and they do not take that long to grow to a good size they are pretty quick growers when there on the right diet get rid of it


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

I know of an aquarium in texas that will readily take a pacu, and I have seen a red belly pacu before that was only 18 inches and was like 6 years old, and he was in the same 1000 gallon tank he was born in and to my understanding was properly fed.


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## frogman5 (Mar 13, 2007)

i highly doubt that but alright wat ever you say....well since u are keeping it remember to feed it no feeders and make sure to give it vegetables and fruits and good pellets


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## frogman5 (Mar 13, 2007)

yeh that pacu can double in size in 2-3 months so even a 65 gallon really isnt big enough...u should just give it back now....and im pretty sure u have no idea wat ur talking about pacus can grow fast just check on monsterfishkeepers.com and see how fast some of there pacus have grown


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

a little info for you...public aquariums and zoos almost never take in fish that have gotten too big for their owners tanks.although a few of my fish will most likely go to our zoo here;i have had to meet some rigid requirements.number one being that the particular species/sub species exists exactly in nature as the ones that i am donating.and there ate several others.there are several pacus in our tanks here;with a number of other large south american fishes.
it is very unfortunate that so many people think that when a fish gets too big for any tank they can buy or build,then they can just hand it over to the local aquarium.


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

I do know of a place that will take him for free, but i know no feeders because any disease they have will pass onto him, and i have some sinking pellets and plenty of fruit available.


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## frogman5 (Mar 13, 2007)

i really dont believe anything u say right now not a lot of place will take big pacus like loha said...yeh and a 18 inch pacu that is 6 years old that is complete bull these guys can go from 2 inches to 18 inches in months not years...lets make this easy and just give the pacu back


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

The place I would give him back to runs a small "zoo" if you will taking in exotic animals and fish and rehabilitating them for future release back into the wild.


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## frogman5 (Mar 13, 2007)

where is he going to release pacu is he going to take them back to the amazon river.....and still your pacu is going to grow quickly especially at first


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## ThatFishKid (Aug 9, 2008)

I've met the original curator of the georgia aquarium, and this may differ from case to case, but he says that "generally" aquariums don't appreciate people getting a fish expecting to give it to the aquarium when it gets to big. You could also do what I plan on doing....(years from now)...is building a greenhouse to house a heated pond for arowannas and shovel nosed cats. I personally think it would be great.

EDIT: if your local aquarium does except the pacu, just be sure you can transport it without killing it. The only way I've ever been able to transport a fish that big is as a fillet in a cooler.


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## Guest (Oct 12, 2008)

lmao...rehbilitating for relase back intot eh wild. That's bull.

A zoo that actually takes in pets from people, pets that have never been in the wild before, have no idea how to actually 'hunt', and then can afford to take them to where ever they come from and release them.

Yeah...Sure.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

You could always eat it. Prob. tastes like tilapia.


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## frogman5 (Mar 13, 2007)

lol prolly does


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

why has this evolved into such a big arguement, I just was asking origanally that I had a pacu and was asking if it need any special care, other than a huge tank.


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## frogman5 (Mar 13, 2007)

well im just telling you to give it back cause apparently you have no idea wat to do about it


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

> I just bought a small red belly pacu


that's why. It a pet peeve of many of us that stores sell fish like this at all. I think you should need a special "monsterfishkeeper" license to special order pacu, iridescent sharks and common goldfish.


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## frogman5 (Mar 13, 2007)

emc7 said:


> that's why. It a pet peeve of many of us that stores sell fish like this at all. I think you should need a special "monsterfishkeeper" license to special order pacu, iridescent sharks and common goldfish.


i agree emc


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

a license for goldfish? pretty extreme, carnivals give em out as prizes.


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## frogman5 (Mar 13, 2007)

yeh thats not the point they get huge just like ur pacu but apparently a guy will take it rehabilitate and put it back in the amazon 

am i right


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Yea, talk about an anti-prize. Something that costs the giver 10 cents and the reciever a couple thousand dollars to dig a pond.


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## frogman5 (Mar 13, 2007)

yep exactly


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

True Life - I once owned a red-bellied pacu.

Had him in my 75G. I thought Oh he's cute and only the size of a quarter!

Well about 2 months and a bunch of zuccini, peas, grapes, and an occasional earthworm later, he outgrew the 75. Literally, 2 months, and he was outgrown. Luckily I took him to a LFS who I knew just recently sold a huge pacu to a researcher from the new england aquarium gave me store credit for him, but I got lucky because I had a very good relationship with the owner.

Take it back, or you'll be eating Pacu in no time at all. I didn't listen to the same advice that the same people are giving you, and I regretted it.


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## Buggy (Oct 17, 2006)

The point is Albino, it's irresponsible to get a fish for your own pleasure (you said you wanted to watch it grow up) knowing before hand that you won't be able to keep it and then expecting someone else to take your mistake. That would be like getting a Saint Bernard puppy because it's cute expecting to give it to the humane society when it grows up because you live in the city in a two room apartment. Something else you need to concider...the fish may not ever get "too big" for the tank you have because it will stunt and stop growing before it reaches it's potential adult size. That is probably why you saw the 18", six yr old pacu. Had it been kept in a proper environment it would have grown much bigger and lived a lot longer.
And the point emc7 was making about the gold fish is that NO ONE should be allowed to sell fish that get that big to the general public because it does cause problems like this. Carnivals giving them as prizes is just as irresponsible as selling them in petstores. 
I'm not trying to bash you on this, I made the same mistake myself but I didn't know my fish would grow to be a monster when I got him. Had I known I would never have bought him. As a result, my chinese hi fin shark, that I had for two years, became stunted and stopped growing at around 10"...thats two feet short of what he was supposed to reach, and last week I lost him. I tried to give him to zoos and public aquariums but even though he is endangered and a novelty fish, no one wanted him. I kept him as long as I could and did the best I could for him but he died anyway. Is that really what you want to happen to your Pacu?
Giving him back to where ever you got him from may not be the best answer as they will just turn around and sell him to someone else that can't properly house him, but at least it will free you from the headache and hassle of trying to rehome him later when he gets so big no one will want him.
Some folks tend to be a bit abrupt and rude with their answers and explanations but most are truely just trying to help you avoid a bad situation and by ignoring their advice and arguing with them you are only showing that you don't really care about properly keeping fish....and that is a big no no around here where a lot of people make fish keeping their life.


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

the 18 inch pacu i told you about has been in the same 1000 gallon tank his whole life and is still living, he is 6 years old right now.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

also you are around the approximate time for kidney failure in your puffers. Freshwater just isn't suitable and its been documented time and time again.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

lets look at this in a more real world light.
humans have been capturing and keeping wild animals for thousands of years.even longer.it is not going to stop.to completely stop the sale and possession of creatures that we cannot properly maintain in a manner compliant with their original natural habitat;then none of us would have any kind of pets at all.all of the zoos would have to shut down as well as all public and privately run aquariums.
another point that was made..almost all creatures that have been kept and bred in captivity can not be reintroduced into nature.there are a number of species of african cichlids that are extinct or nearly extinct that are all over the place in our tanks.one would think that we could gather up tens of thousands of them and put them back in nature.first off...we don't,can't and/or won't feed them what they would eat in the wild.then comes the inability or unwillingness to provide them in the proper environment.and then..................there are diseases and parasites in nature that fish deal with on a daily basis.but when they are in our tanks,they become disease free.and being so for so many generations,they have lost the ability to tolerate them.
personally i really don't care what people put in their tanks.if you want to put that 2 foot shovelnose cat in your 20 long;go right ahead..your money your fish..and you are the one that has to deal with the consequences of your actions.one of the aquarium biologists for the cleveland zoo in a member of our club.he and his wife and some co-workers went to south america a few years ago.he brought back some amazing pictures.especially the ones of the marketplace..24 inch tigrinnis cats gutted and laid out for shoppers.fish that we pay large sums of money for,they will have for dinner tonight.
this is how things are.we can hide behind our ideals as much as we wish;but we cannot escape the real world.there are more different cultures than we can count.some are most certainly going to seem outrageously extreme to many of us...but do we really have the right to demand that they change to conform to what we believe..i should hope not.
i believe in the old adage of "live and let live".......
so,if you can live with the consequences of your actions then who am i to judge.
albino....if you can deal with the long term results of keeping the red bellied pacu;then you go ahead and keep him.they are a very cool fish;but they just get too big for the normal home aquarium....but......................................................if you can eventually provide him with a tank of about 4' x 8' x 4';he could actually reach his full size..but then again;did you know that they are a tetra and like to school???...now wouldn't that be a sight.
as far as feeder fish..buy them in quantity and quarantine them in a treated tank.then feed them.


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

Im not disagreeing with you lohachata, I just wanted to take care of a pacu which I already knew of a place to give it to, and watch it grow. When it gets big do you think it could live in a heated pond?


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

of course it could.just as long as the pond is big enough and you maintain temps in the mid to upper 70's.feeding it is the easy part.
you can intentionally inhibit the growth of a fish by reducing your water changes.and you can actually get it growing again by increasing them..but i doubt that it would ever reach full potential.
but these are just opinions based on my own personal experiences and not to be construed as absolute facts.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I agree you can't keep people from doing what they want to do. We can't even stop people from keeping gators and tigers in apartments and they are pretty obvious. It just drives me nuts to see plecos, pacus, goldfish, etc. in wal-mart next to the 1 gallon "complete aquarium systems". If you can't trust the vendor to educate the consumer, you need to restrict the vendor. I don't know like the government butting into our lives, but how do you stop stupid or greedy people from ruining the hobby for a quick profit. Every newb who kills 10 goldfish in a week and quits is someone who could have a wonderful tank for years and bought lots more food and supplies over the long term if they'd gotten good advice in the beginning.


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## frogman5 (Mar 13, 2007)

alright this pacu that is only 18 inches and is six years is complete bull**** and its pissing me off albino u are on wrong and ur lieing


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

Guys an hour ago I moved the pacu to my mom's friend's 2,100 gallon heated pond, and I replaced him with 3 small albino tiger barbs, I hope everyone is happy now.


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## frogman5 (Mar 13, 2007)

ok good albino


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## Guest (Oct 13, 2008)

Wow...that's a big pond. Got any pics?


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

frogman5, there's no reason to start yelling at people and telling them they are "lieing." We're advising, not telling people what to do.


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## TTTT (Dec 13, 2008)

I hope your Pacu is happy their...


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

Umm, nice thread necromancy this was two months old, thanks though.


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