killer pacu?

[Tentacles]

have a pacu in a 55g with a gold gourami and a cory catfish, hes a pretty decent sized fellah, workin on a new home for him in a larger tank. anyway hes never bothered anything in the tank until today. at one point I had about 15 small wild caught crayfish in there and it slowly whittled down to 2 of the largest ones, about 3'' each. i figured the larger ones had killed the smaller ones and eaten them- id seen each of the big guys with one in their grasp before eatn away, but that was alot to eat for 2 crayfish. one of them poked out of his rock today and sort up swam up into the water real fast when the catfish swam by, and the pacu caught sight of him and nipped at him, ripped a claw off, and then completely destroyed him, ate every last morsel, i didnt know they were that carnivorous? maybe hes the reason all the crayfish are gone?

 

[Puriti]

I think someone told me once that Pacu's are just...vegetarian pirrahnas ^^; maybe he went back to carnivore pirrahna lol. I don't know if that's true though. Maybe he just saw the oppurtiny rise and just...ate 'em up.

 

[BrianNY]

Pacus are closely related to piranhas. They are in fact omnivores with a voracious appetite and will eat anything that suits their fancy.

 

[squawkbert]

A friend saw a large pacu eat half a ham sandwich - owner just tossed it in, it was gulped down in a couple of seconds. Once they get big, they're swimming garbage disposals.

 

[Jaybird]

Pacu's will eat anything. They eat mostly vegetable material, love fruits, but will take advantage of whatever they can.

In Argentina they catch them using mangos as bait, but some people swear by salami. Anything that puts off a lot of scent into the water.

 

[rhetor]

I have a HUGE Pacu.

It will honestly eat anything that it physically can.

It ate a $20 blue crayfish. Funny story though. The pacu wasn't really hungry, he was just curious, but since he's such a moron, he went over to check out the crayfish and swam up so close to the cornered crawfish that it just nipped him ever so slightly in the nose. Bad idea for mr. lobster. The pacu freaked, swam to the other end of the tank shaking its head, then turned around and came back, bit its head and claws right off. It then sat there confused as to why the crawfish was dead, then ate the rest of it a few minutes later.

We always toss the pacu scraps after making salads. He'll eat bell pepper stems even. I've fed him treefrogs. He will eat steak and hamburger but it leaves an oily film on the water so i don't give him that any more.

The best thing to do is this- get a leaf of romaine lettuce, the entire leaf. They are usually 12-14" long. Put it into the water and watch him start at the root end of the leaf, and slowly munch while you hear the crunching noise, the leaf slowly vanishes into his face.

The Pacu is like a floppy, clumsy puppy. He puts everything in his mouth, poops every where, is very excited and full of energy but at the same time can be extremely skiddish and random things will freak him out.

The phone will be ringing all day long, and he doesn't mind until someone leaves a message (the answering machine is close to the tank) and sometimes the message will freak him out and he'll splash water on it.

 

[Tentacles]

hahaha, how big is he and what size tank?

 

[rhetor]

He is FAR TOO BIG.

currently in a 125g. I tried to get rid of him and found a few people that had accomodations for him, but my father is emotionally attached to the fish.

We are currently devising a plan to either flood the basement or make a heated fish pond for him. My father is crazy.

Every day the Pacu looks more and more appetizing though. I can just see him cajun style in a frying pan....

 

[Puriti]

Every day the Pacu looks more and more appetizing though. I can just see him cajun style in a frying pan....

8O LOL That's quite a fish you got

 

[coldmachineUK]

lol! Great story rhetor, I love it! Never been a big fan of large fish like pacu, but yours sounds quite a character!