Buttkiss, the 41 Year Old Pacu

[frnchjeep]

How do you know the true lifespan of pacu, you or Jeepguy? There are cases of koi living over 200 years..........where do you guys get your information on the longevity of a fish, do you pull out of somewhere?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/balcer17/2255019328/

Am I Jeepguy? I don't remember ever claiming to know the life expectancy of anything. All I said was, given the evidence, there is no way this fish is the claimed age. It is in a tank that is way too small with visable water quality issues, has been fed a nutritionless diet it's whole life, and it is obviously stunted. If this guy thought goldfish was a proper diet for a pacu, do you really think he knows what he is doing? My pacus are 5 and wouldn't even fit in a 75. Their dorsal fins would dry out unless they swam sideways. That fish has room to spare (depthwise). That fish is NOT taken care of, it never was in it's whole life. Reguardless of it's life expectancy, I would put money on it not being 40.

So, it seems the only thing being pulled out of anywhere is your accusations.

As for the fish being 40, take the "F" out of "Way", and there is your answer.

You can argue with me untill you all are blue in the face... you WON'T convince me that this fish is A-OK.

 

[frnchjeep]

Well, this isnt about me. I dont like Pacu. But lets face it, there are many fish that are not for the public fishkeeping. The pacu, no matter how you look at it, is alive. Many fish are treated much worst. Pacu are very cheap and readily available in the fish trade, its just the way it is. 99% of the buyer cant/will never be able to give the fish a proper home

Well, we agree on something (although I like pacu). I don't think they should be in the trade at all. All I was asking is if you would be proud of such a thing. Personally, I would be embarrassed if I were him. Maybe thats just me.

 

[mach_six]

I'm surprised his pet store is still in business for so long when better ones have went belly up.

 

[ausknife]

pretty dissapointing to see it in that tank after reading the article. i expected somethin good. as for longevity... who REALLY knows? we put fish in a tank and feed them man made foods for as long as the fish can stand and when they all die we work out the average and thats their lifespan. hahaha.
heres an interesting article on that 200 year koi. http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=34936

 

[MadBob]

I may be new here but I have a few points on this that no one has brought to the table... Assuming that this story is factual.

I've worked in LFS before, more than a few of them, when we got big pacu from customers, we don't even bother trying to keep them alive, ever, the guys who carry knives beheaded them in the back room, the guys who don't or don't care throw them into back of the frozen food case. Like it or not that's what happens here in the real world, an LFS is a bad place to be a pacu.

The fact that this guy chose to keep the fish alive at all is remarkable.

In that same vein, his shop is on bloody manhattan, I used to live there, rent on that island is insane and has been for the 24 years I've been alive, there's no way this guy could have put that fish in a bigger tank without hurting his business more than he is by dedicating a 75 to something he's never going to be able to sell, and if he lost his business dozens of hobbyists would probably be put out of their favorite shop, afterall he's been there for 40something years serving the hobby.

All things considered, the guy keeping that pacu is doing the best for that fish he can without killing it, he did better by that fish than anybody else ever has. Anybody who wants to criticize him for what he's doing needs to realize that any other fish shop would have killed that fish 41 years ago by default, and it's absolutely phenomonal and a testament to the dude's ability and empathy as an aquarist to keep that fish alive period.

 

[MadBob]

gah, 10 pages of replies made me mentally relocate his shop from queens to manhattan

rent isn't so bad there but the facts remain the same

 

[Fish Room Plus]

I think he is in Queens NY. HHuge difference in rent. Thats why is was able to stay open for 40+ years

 

[Adhlc]

I have seen the thread i think, its a large glass tank in the middleish of the shop with a center overflow.

So again reading and comprehension has a way of sorting its self out.
METABOLITES --- read up you may learn something.

And all the same stuff can be said about that pet shop. Like they replace them weekly and the owner is a liar and all that other garbage. IMO

Also 35 doesn't equal 40. I think its 5 off.

You ever seen a human die of old age? The last 5yrs have major changes.

I never commented on the guy being a liar, because I don't know him.

Also I'm pretty sure you just compared human development to fish development, which is absolutely hysterical. Like those particular five years is going to make that much of a difference once it's already been alive for 30.

I'm not arguing in favor of the guy who keeps this fish or against him, all I'm saying is don't generalize and claim you know that no one on this board knows anything about what a 40 year old Pacu MAY look like. Especially on a website such as this..

 

[krichardson]

Yawn.

 

[ausknife]

hahaha who cares!