Had to euthanize Pacu's over the weekend

[graysilm]

Today I was looking at the fish in walmart (just looking, not buying) and they had some small red bellied pacus. On the description they said that the max size was 10"

 

[Warmaster259]

MY question is why would places like petsmart and petco even have fish like pacus when the majority of people have no way of housing these fish. They should leave these to special orders. Most people just go in and see a little shiny fish and buy it not knowing that it will become a monster.

 

[Larissa]

When I first set up my 55g a couple of years ago, I came so close to buying a shoal of red pacus from wal-mart. I came home first and did some research and boy was I glad I did. They're really attractive fish, but there is absolutely no way that I could properly house them

 

[Genral72]

So you call your self a "fish lover" and you rather kill a fish than release it?
Man, I dont care if is illegal or whatever, but I would never kill my fish. I fit came from the nature let it go back to nature, that's all that I'm saying.

Yeah and then the fish will eat all the local fish. Locals fisherman call animal control center massive cleanup costing thousands of dollars. Yeah go ahead and release in a nonnative place

 

[tyewag]

I don't think that the pet stores should be banned from selling these fish. I don't think that they are at fault either. Other people shouldn't be punished because some people go into a petstore to buy a pretty fish. If you don't ask questions about a fish, the seller more than likely isn't going to insult you by asking you if you know what you are buying. Just like everyone has mentioned already, people need to go do some research before they go to buy the fish. I wish you would have tried to sell the fish on ebay or aquabid or something else before putting them down like that.

 

[ej1698]

Sorry To Hear About Your Situation. I Just Bought 2 Of Them Myself A Week Ago Before Doing The Research And After Finding Out About The Size They Get I Brought Them Back This Morning And Got My $4.oo Credit At Petland.

Good Luck With The Other Fish

Ej

 

[Emg]

I was at PetCo the other day and witnessed the oh so common BS sell tactic of telling the customer that every fish they wanted was fine for thier tank.....a mom was in with her son, who obviously got a new tank for Christmas and was picking out his favorite fish. All I heard was..."How bout these here..will they be ok ? I'll take two...and two of those...and how bout these? Ok....2 of those too...."

I didn't hear what size tank this was, but it's in his bedroom and being a new tank I'm guessing 10gallons...I HOPE I'm wrong about that because they picked up a cute itty bitty common pleco.....2 irridescent sharks.......and a few other fish I didn't stick around to find out what. Never mind that the employee never mentioned anything about tank cycling..but I imagine they'll be learning before too long...

I myself at one time...noticed this BEAUTIFUL little black and white catfish at an lfs once. It was about 1 1/2 inches and it had the most eye catching black and white pattern on it. I was tempted....and asked the salesperson about it........she said it was a "RED TAIL" catfish...and to her credit....lol....she looked at me with this nervous kind of look as she told me it need a pretty big tank......I left it there...THANK GOD !! (my largest tank is only a 29)

 

[OrionGirl]

I'm locking this for now. Regretfully, too many members are deciding that they get to comment on the morality of the decision, rather than the guidance offered in terms of researching a fish prior to purchase.

 

[---MR.CLEAN---]

so sorry for what happened I had 2 pacu last week 6 inches both luckily I sold them both for $5 well next time I get pacu I better have a 300 gallon or huge pool in my backyard

 

[ct-death]

Extremely hard post to read, and I'm sure write... Sorry for your loss and painful experience

MY question is why would places like petsmart and petco even have fish like pacus when the majority of people have no way of housing these fish. They should leave these to special orders. Most people just go in and see a little shiny fish and buy it not knowing that it will become a monster.

Simple: They are in the business of making $. No more, no less. Once ppl understand that this is a business for most Pet Stores, and not an animal placement program, all will be far better off.

Fish like these are commonly brought into the store to attract unknowning would-be fish lovers into getting a small tank and a few fish (which they tell you to cycle with). once the first fish die, you buy more, and meds, and chemicals, etc., etc. When you fish outgrow your tank, you get one for a quote: 10" fish , when this doesn't work you get an even bigger tank.....and so the cycle goes :wall: