Nesting pacus????(kinda long)

[Erika]

Does anyone know anything about the spawning/nesting habits of red-bellied pacus? I have a pair that I beleive are a m/f pair and are about 8" long. They are in a 125 with 2 balas, 2 nics, 3 plecos and 1 clown knife. The "male" is vividly colored and the "female" is less so. Two days ago the male started moving the gravel around and chasing everyone else out of his part of the tank. Then the pair would swim toward the side and as they got near the edge would dive and shimmy by the side wall. They would continue this about a half dozen times and then would go back to their normal behavior.
BTW my ph is 7.2, ammonia and nitrites are 0. I do not have a nitrate kit, but I do a 25% w/c every week. I use an aquaclear 500 and a hot magnum 350 as well as the undergravel filter with 2 penguin powerheads attached. They pump 145 gph each.
Because of the undergravel filter we vac the gravel with every w/c and add Nutrafin Cycle to restore any bacteria we might lose to the vac.
Thanks in advance for any info.

Erika

[beviking]

Hey Erika, sorry I can't help with the pacus, but I wanted to say that you don't have to add Cycle just b/c you vaccumed the gravel. The bacteria don't just fall off and get sucked up so easily. Just trying to save you a buck. If it makes you feel better, go ahead and continue to do it though.:)

[cdawson]

I agree, don't waste your money on that garbage. The only product that helps bacteria is bio-spira, which IS bacteria. I'm not sure, but I don't think pacus can spawn in an aquarium. The vancouver aquarium has several pacus in a very large tank and they've never even spawned. They need ideal conditions to spawn. Unless you've got your own section of the amazon river in your backyard you can pretty much rule out your pacus spawning.