Flying Pacu story

[Tightdog1]

I have 2 red-belied pacus in a 55g tank (i know overcrowded, in the process of giving them away, if u want em their yours), and they love to jump out of the tank probably because its way way too small for them.

Well the other night i was sleeping in the living room, and happen to hear a glass on glass sound, along with somew other intense sound thats is very continous, this woke me up so i run into my room and i find that i only have 1 pacu in my tank, i look behind the tank where all the noise is coming from and find "Gimpy", my smaller pacu at about 8" flopping around slappin into my blinds on my window so i try to grab him and after about 30 second of failed attempts at putting GImpy back in the tank i succeed. he swims circles around in the tank for a few minutes, to get air back into his gills but eventually gets back to normal operation. i find that he jumped out of the tank through to cover i have, he jumped at the hood and moved the glass off the tank so that he could jump out, they seem to jump out about every month it seems only at night and i get woken up every time. i have since placed bags of old aquarium rocks on top of the glass so theu cannot jusmp out anymore, but sometimes they still seem to get out.

[Tightdog1]

My Pacus, kind of a crappy pic but it works

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL14/878341/1595463/18713893.jpg

[VoodooChild]

You could fillet them. J/K. I actually talked to a guy once who said that he did that. They were apparently very soft.

[Tightdog1]

actually i have thought of that and was considering it because no one seems to want my pacus, and i have read that they are eaten in south america just like salmon are eaten here.

[Frameshift]

Aquarium fish are very nasty eating, mainly from swimming around in their own crap for their entire life and from any medications added to the tank. There is a high probability that you could get seriously sick. :eek:

You could always just let them go in some lake or river :p. (I know, bad joke.)

[ThirdEyE]

nice pacus

i have an 11 inch red belly and a 9 1/2 inch oscar in a 55g they've never jumped though

***frameshift, wouldn't that be the point of cooking of the fish?

i have heard of people who have eaten them, not that i would

[Roland]

You could invite your friends round for a meal....

[fishcube]

Where are you located? If near us, we would love to take them off your hands. We have a 300+g aquarium.

SK

[Harry Tolen]

Many medicines used in keeping tropical fish are known carcinogens, can cause birth defects, and are persistent in a fish long after the treatment is concluded. That is why they are marked "for ornamental fish only", and why you should never eat your fish.

These pacus are becoming skittish because they are being kept in far too small a tank. I had two in a 125 a while ago and had to upgrade them, first to a 280 and finally to a 400, because their behavior was becoming destructive. They can break heaters, chew through power cords, knock rocks through glass (especially in a 55, where the glass isn't all that thick to begin with).

I don't know why fish stores sell these things yet they do, often when they are silver-dollar sized, and people just don't know what they are getting. The number of hobbyists that can actually give these fish a home is very small, and public aquaria have all that they can handle already. If you can get them to Fishcube, you should by all means do so, as that is an offer that will not come along every day.

[andruboz]

they caught one in the mississippi river last year [ in southern minnesota] and the headline said "Man Catches Piranah!" evidently they werent looking at its teeth. somebody set them straight a week later.

[Tightdog1]

was changin water the other day and they broke my heater i was so pissed, it was the first time they did it tho so i guess im kinda lucky .

FISHCUBE: Im located in california, S/bay area to be exact.

HARRYTOLEN: yea i would like to give them to fishcube, my brother knows someone who has 2300g tanks in his garage and he only has 1 arowana and a oscar in each im gonna try to give em to him but if fishcube wants em and is close enough to me he can have them. and when i bought them i was an inexperienced fish keeper and was told by the aquarium staff that they only get like 6". but whatever i have em now at 8" and 9" respectively.

[cdawson]

on the topics of pacus, does anyone else's pacus REALLY jumping. I've got 3 juv. about 4 inches long and they're super jumpy. We can't even stand next to the tank while they're eating without spooking them.

[Tightdog1]

CDAWSON: what size tank are you pacus in?

[cdawson]

they're in a 30 gallon right now (they're only 4 inches right now). I'm going to put them in a 220 in about a month or two.

[Tightdog1]

good idea dont get screwed like i did. since the lady at the LFS said the pacus will only get like 6", and that LFS has lost all my business since then.

[cdawson]

I hate stores that do that, giving false information like that is just bad for business. It's no wonder you have to worry about a store not being there the next time you go.

[cacti]

Were you able to give them away? You could try calling many pet shops to see if they can temporarily take them until they can find someone with a pond.

[Tiburon]

My pacu is about 18" long and 12" tall. He can eat 3 hotdogs at a time.
6" limit my butt!:rolleyes:

Pics: http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/noisemaker77/lst?.dir=/My+Aquarium&.src=ph&.order=&.view=t&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/

[cdawson]

3 HOT DOGS!!!!! GOOD GOD!

[VoodooChild]

Could you get us a picture of pacu eating a hot dog Tiburon? Of course that isn't good for him at all (ichthyologist Mike)...but man, that's cool! (18 year old Mike)

[Tiburon]

Originally posted by VoodooChild
Could you get us a picture of pacu eating a hot dog Tiburon? Of course that isn't good for him at all (ichthyologist Mike)...but man, that's cool! (18 year old Mike)

I only feed him hotdogs once or twice a week and pellets the remainder. I do however break the hotdogs into sizes a little larger than marbles. But I guess I could get a pic of him carrying a hotdog around, if my clownknife doesnt get to it first.

[variable]

My pacu used to eat hot dogs as well, but his favorite was canned tuna. He loved to chow down chunks of Starkist!:D