Our 7+1 pacu
- Thread starter thebiggerthebetter
- Start date
Love learning and compiling knowledge nuggets from our peers!
An interesting tidbit on the pacu selection and behavior from this sales thread I picked up today: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/9-10-albino-pacus.741852/
Jjiang00
says:
" Hi, I have 2 albino pacu that I must part with. They are absolutely stunning and very passive - have kept tiny 2 inch datnoids as well as geophagus and the datnoids bully the much larger pacus haha. Great looking fish that cause no problems. They do not mess with my live plants, and do not spook at all. They always have come up to feed since day 1 and eat any and everything. Currently on massivore. Completely dewormed, no issues at all. Need them gone asap. Shoot me some offers and let me know.
... Haha that's why I want to keep them. My old pacu would jump into the walls all the time and spooked so easily even after years. I made sure this time to select the boldest of the bunch at the store (they had like 30-40 babies) and see which ones would come up and which would spook or shy away. My two were the boldest, so it's sad for me to give them away cause it'll be hard to find again. But unfortunately we live on a country club and our Home Owners Association disapproved our 3000 gallon, and so I gotta sell them. "
An interesting tidbit on the pacu selection and behavior from this sales thread I picked up today: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/9-10-albino-pacus.741852/
Jjiang00
says:" Hi, I have 2 albino pacu that I must part with. They are absolutely stunning and very passive - have kept tiny 2 inch datnoids as well as geophagus and the datnoids bully the much larger pacus haha. Great looking fish that cause no problems. They do not mess with my live plants, and do not spook at all. They always have come up to feed since day 1 and eat any and everything. Currently on massivore. Completely dewormed, no issues at all. Need them gone asap. Shoot me some offers and let me know.
... Haha that's why I want to keep them. My old pacu would jump into the walls all the time and spooked so easily even after years. I made sure this time to select the boldest of the bunch at the store (they had like 30-40 babies) and see which ones would come up and which would spook or shy away. My two were the boldest, so it's sad for me to give them away cause it'll be hard to find again. But unfortunately we live on a country club and our Home Owners Association disapproved our 3000 gallon, and so I gotta sell them. "
Love learning and compiling knowledge nuggets from our peers!
An interesting tidbit on the pacu selection and behavior from this sales thread I picked up today: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/9-10-albino-pacus.741852/
" Hi, I have 2 albino pacu that I must part with. They are absolutely stunning and very passive - have kept tiny 2 inch datnoids as well as geophagus and the datnoids bully the much larger pacus haha. Great looking fish that cause no problems. They do not mess with my live plants, and do not spook at all. They always have come up to feed since day 1 and eat any and everything. Currently on massivore. Completely dewormed, no issues at all. Need them gone asap. Shoot me some offers and let me know.
... Haha that's why I want to keep them. My old pacu would jump into the walls all the time and spooked so easily even after years. I made sure this time to select the boldest of the bunch at the store (they had like 30-40 babies) and see which ones would come up and which would spook or shy away. My two were the boldest, so it's sad for me to give them away cause it'll be hard to find again. But unfortunately we live on a country club and our HOA disapproved our 3000 gallon, and so I gotta sell them. "
Appreciate the mention, I should add the most determining factor for me was just a hand test. Idk how ethical this is, but I would wave the hand in front of the tank and most would spook, but I selected mine from the few that did not shy into the corners. I should also note they were two of the biggest in there, potentially because they were the boldest and would get more food than the others because they wouldn't shy away when the employees came to feed. Hope that helps, I've found it really helps because they stayed the exact same way, and my old pacu stayed the same shy tank buster that he was when he was just a few inches. He would come up to feed after a few years, but not to the same level. I think their personality slightly changes, but I believe selection helps a lot.
Beautiful collection by the way, and appreciate the knowledge you are able to gather that we can all learn from. Not many people are able to house all these fish properly and truly see max sizes. For a while we just went off of fishing sites on max sizes haha.
One 1 foot true black pacu had been adopted by a nice gentleman named Jack from Sarasota, Florida. The other remains.
At a couple moments in this video we discuss juvi black pacu vs adult Distichodus sexfasciatus interaction in a 240 gal and adult pacu vs adult Distichodus sexfasciatus and lusosso in a 4500 gal.
Plus two more 1 foot red belly pacu rescues from a local elementary school in Naples.
At a couple moments in this video we discuss juvi black pacu vs adult Distichodus sexfasciatus interaction in a 240 gal and adult pacu vs adult Distichodus sexfasciatus and lusosso in a 4500 gal.
Plus two more 1 foot red belly pacu rescues from a local elementary school in Naples.
Two more rescue pacu, 1ft, from Manatee Elementary School of Naples, Florida.
Alert: please, don't buy pacu unless able to provide an at least 5000 gal / 20,000 liter home. It had always been hard but recently it has been getting much harder to find properly sized forever homes and properly knowledgeable forever hands to take in rescue pacu.
A short run down of our pacu blog on MFK. How to tell the far most common red belly pacu from the rare black pacu.
Alert: please, don't buy pacu unless able to provide an at least 5000 gal / 20,000 liter home. It had always been hard but recently it has been getting much harder to find properly sized forever homes and properly knowledgeable forever hands to take in rescue pacu.
A short run down of our pacu blog on MFK. How to tell the far most common red belly pacu from the rare black pacu.
An interesting and potentially highly useful observation on pacu from our peer Mark Halliday (YouTube) from Australia as a comment to the above video, where I said that pacu bite fins, barbels, etc. of timid tank mates:
MH: Love the pacu, my guys get a mixed nut variety in their diet, for now it seems to curb their nibbling of the fins of their tank mates.
TBTB: Thank you. Really!? Had they bitten the tank mate fins before, then you started giving them nuts, and now they have stopped? Also, what tank mates are you talking about?
MH: I wasn't sure if it was the pacu doing the nibbling but the feeding of nuts coincided with no more fin nibbling. Tank mates are female Dovii, red devil's (2), flowerhorns (3), pair of peacock bass, 3 almost full grown sooty grunters, 2 plecos, and three Coatzacoalcos cichlids, oh and one very nasty Asian upside down catfish, believe it or not.
TBTB: Well, that's some company. I'd not expect pacu to be able to bite fins on any of these tank mates except maybe the pleco but that's on paper. In reality things may be different. Interesting fish this sooty grunter, a perciform. Just read a bit on it. Please continue observing and let us know how this develops. This could potentially be a useful observation of how to mitigate pacu tank mate problem.
Jason Chow: Could feeding nuts to a Pacu make them grind their teeth down the same way feeding MBU puffer fish clams to grind down their beak? That way the Pacu's teeth won't be so sharp and they can't do as much damage to other fish. Don't know about it this thought just came to my mind out of nowhere.
MH: J Jason Chow I believe there teeth are like human teeth in every way thus not needing to grind them down, correct me if I'm wrong. I believe (from my observations) it makes them happy when they get fed there mixed nuts which in turn makes them behave, just a thought i guess ?
MH: @TBTB will do Victor. On another note, they have a peculiar way of eating their nuts, they will grab a few at a time in their mouth and maneuver them around while chewing them up and when they get the bigger nuts like Brazil nuts they will shoot them out of their mouth (under water) causing the nut to spin around a few centimeters from there mouth, they will then suck it back in, take a few nibbles, spit it out, suck it back in and so on until they have eaten it, like i said very peculiar.
TBTB: J Jason Chow I had the same thought but i discarded it because Mark feeds deshelled nuts, and these are soft enough that I think they will not aid in any sort of grinding as the hard shell would. M Mark Halliday Haha... the good old happy = kind axiom
Yeah, IDK much about piranhas, never heard of them needing to grind down their equipment but could be my ignorance. For now, I agree with Mark, they probably don't need this. This is an awesome way they consume the nuts. Their Mommies taught them well it is not becoming to eat with a mouth full You got it on tape? If not, you should!
MH: Love the pacu, my guys get a mixed nut variety in their diet, for now it seems to curb their nibbling of the fins of their tank mates.
TBTB: Thank you. Really!? Had they bitten the tank mate fins before, then you started giving them nuts, and now they have stopped? Also, what tank mates are you talking about?
MH: I wasn't sure if it was the pacu doing the nibbling but the feeding of nuts coincided with no more fin nibbling. Tank mates are female Dovii, red devil's (2), flowerhorns (3), pair of peacock bass, 3 almost full grown sooty grunters, 2 plecos, and three Coatzacoalcos cichlids, oh and one very nasty Asian upside down catfish, believe it or not.
TBTB: Well, that's some company. I'd not expect pacu to be able to bite fins on any of these tank mates except maybe the pleco but that's on paper. In reality things may be different. Interesting fish this sooty grunter, a perciform. Just read a bit on it. Please continue observing and let us know how this develops. This could potentially be a useful observation of how to mitigate pacu tank mate problem.
Jason Chow: Could feeding nuts to a Pacu make them grind their teeth down the same way feeding MBU puffer fish clams to grind down their beak? That way the Pacu's teeth won't be so sharp and they can't do as much damage to other fish. Don't know about it this thought just came to my mind out of nowhere.
MH: J Jason Chow I believe there teeth are like human teeth in every way thus not needing to grind them down, correct me if I'm wrong. I believe (from my observations) it makes them happy when they get fed there mixed nuts which in turn makes them behave, just a thought i guess ?
MH: @TBTB will do Victor. On another note, they have a peculiar way of eating their nuts, they will grab a few at a time in their mouth and maneuver them around while chewing them up and when they get the bigger nuts like Brazil nuts they will shoot them out of their mouth (under water) causing the nut to spin around a few centimeters from there mouth, they will then suck it back in, take a few nibbles, spit it out, suck it back in and so on until they have eaten it, like i said very peculiar.
TBTB: J Jason Chow I had the same thought but i discarded it because Mark feeds deshelled nuts, and these are soft enough that I think they will not aid in any sort of grinding as the hard shell would. M Mark Halliday Haha... the good old happy = kind axiom
Yeah, IDK much about piranhas, never heard of them needing to grind down their equipment but could be my ignorance. For now, I agree with Mark, they probably don't need this. This is an awesome way they consume the nuts. Their Mommies taught them well it is not becoming to eat with a mouth full You got it on tape? If not, you should!
It makes sense that you got many pacus as rescues-- they are cheap, common monster fish which are commonly confused with piranhas, which are sort of the quintessential freshwater predator in the eyes of many. I'm sure lots of young kids see them in the store, ask their parents to get them the "piranha," and their parents, seeing the low price tag and not being awfully experienced in fishkeeping, cave in.
