Had to euthanize Pacu's over the weekend

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jagarundi

Bonafide, 100% Cichlid Lover!!
Oct 6, 2004
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It is with a very heavy heart that I post this thread. I also hope that it serves as a lesson to anyone wanting to keep certain types of fish without first doing ALL OF THE RESEARCH pertaining to tank size accomodations, the maximum size the fish will reach at adulthood, etc. I purchase 2 Red-belly Pacu's from Petco 9 months ago. They were no bigger than if you put your middle and thumb finger together to form an 'O' I bought them home and first placed them in a 20 gallon tank. They flourished there, along with baby GT's and Oscars. 2 months later, the Pacu's, along with the Oscars, had to be moved to a 55 gallon tank because of rapid growth. At this point, the Pacu's had grown to small tea saucer size. Each week, they appeared to grow at least half an inch to an inch. The growth rate of these fish can be EXTREMELY RAPID, especially if water changes are frequent. In my case, I was changing between 30 - 50% each week. At the end of the 4th month, these fish had grown so large, I had to purchase a 120 Gallon tank to house them. At this point, size limitations in my home prevented me from buying anything larger. Within 4 months, these fish had reached 18 inches in length and were physically stronger than any fish I've ever dealt with. They were literally moving huge rocks with the current they created when swimming at break-neck speed through the tank. Each day when I awoke, I had to keep adding water to the tank due to the HUGE amount of water that was splashed onto the walls and floors by them. I began going around to various LFS trying to see if anyone would take them and no one wanted to touch these fish. After 2 months of trying to find homes for them went unsuccessfully, I had no choice than to humanely put them down. I chose the quickest method available to me for fish this large. I wrestled them out of the tank, one by one. In the process, the smaller of the two, managed to take out my 32 inch television by sending a huge splash of water onto it with a swipe of his tail. I wrapped them in newspaper and used a cinderblock dropped from the third step onto it's head. Death was instant. I was very fond of these fish and because of my lack of research when I first purchased them, I had to put down two very beautiful fish. I would like for anyone reading this post to learn from my tragic mistake. Pacu's need at LEAST 300 gallons of water to thrash around in. If you can't furnish that for them, or some type of large pond, LEAVE THESE FISH IN THE STORE!!
 

Timmain42

Disturbed Quasi-Genius
Jan 4, 2002
662
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D/FW, TEXAS
www.xmenclan.org
I feel your pain. Putting down a pet is always hard.

On the brighter side, leave your TV off for 24 hours so that the electronics can fully dry, and try turning it on again. I offer two examples:

1) Moving out of an old apartment, I thought I killed my Xwife's computer monitor because I had accidentally dripped water from the 20 gallon fishtank into the cooling vents on the top. After a day of drying without trying to start it up, it came back with no problem.

2) My brother, who for years was in computer hardware technical phone help, used to get calls from people who had spilled Coke or other liquids onto their keyboards. His solution was to unplug the 'board, pop it into the dishwasher, run with cold water and detergent only, remove and let dry for 24 hours. Lo and behold, it actually worked consistently.
 

Dangerdoll

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Aug 27, 2002
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ugh, so sorry about this painful experience jagarundi....
I agree with Dawson, this needs to be made a sticky as there are so many people who see these fish (as well as others) and are just amazed at the store and "have" to get a couple..... see that they grow quickly and upgrade (or not) each spirt of growth only to find that they just keep on going..... This is a major reason for doing the research first.
 

Nuriel

AC Members
Sep 6, 2004
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Seattle, Wa. USA
www.43things.com
Sad Story- Good Post.
At least you know now what you didnt before, btw, any plans for new fish?
 

AquaGhost

AC Members
May 10, 2005
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Sorry for your experience, and thank you for such an honest and very "hit home" post.

IMHO, I think Pacu and fish such as red-tailed catfish should not be offered for sales to the regular public at all. If the fish trade or stores expect all those fish to get killed before reaching full size then we do have another issue with ethics...

Again, it must be very hard and heartbroken for you doing those things...Most people would just go the lazy way of ignoring the fish and let it dies slowly and painfully with either hunger or water poisonning. Regards,
 

Beeker

Aquariaholic
Oct 8, 2004
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I'm so sorry for your loss. You did the right thing.

The pet stores shoud post on each tank a sort of species profile for the customers to read so that people can know what they are getting themselves into. I would have great respect for a store that has that. It is unfortunate that many people buy fish thinking that fish are fish. They are all taken care of basically the same. They need water and food. That is it. And, most of the pet stores tend to promote that way of thinking! No mention of the cycle, tank requirements for size, current, tankmates... etc. Important things! And then you are on your own which leads to sadness such as this.

Again, I'm sorry you lost your friends, but you did what you could, and then you did what you had to do.
 

zazz

AC Members
Mar 29, 2005
669
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I'm sorry you had to go through that.
Beeker said it right: You did what you could, and then you did what you had to.
Thanks for posting. I also think it should be a sticky.
 
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