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!!
