has ant one heard of a red belly

[Angel Lady]

I was at this walmart super store and before everyone starts preaching this was the cleanest walmart fish tanks I have ever saw. But anyway ythey had three of them in the tank and the sign said that they only get a bout 6 inches long . I swear the fish looked like it had teeth to me I was going to buy them but I figured I would run these by you guys be4 I I got them.

 

[heresmike]

Yes I've heard of them, but I think they get more like 24" long.

And yup, they've got teeth.

 

[FrankSlapperinni]

Yes, they get 24" long and need around a five hundred gallon aquarium, plus they are schooling fish.
If the sign said that they only grow six inch's, and you could realy see the teeth, it was most likely a red bellied piranha, almost identical to a baby pacu.

 

[Sorrell]

I would guess it was a pirahna too. Pacus teeth don't generally become visible until they are about five to six inches, but piranhas show much earlier. Pacus are an awesome fish, but definately not one that most homes are equipped to house.

 

[Perky]

Pacus are like a vegie Pirhana. They grow bigger than 24 inches I think and definatley need at least a 500g

 

[ladynaoko]

my cousin used to keep Pacus.

That guy had so many fish tanks it was like heaven... and he only collected big fish (and usually "nasty" ones..heard one heck of a horror story from him yesterday)

 

[Loupe]

Do tell...

 

[ladynaoko]

Well, he used to be really into predatory fish.

He went out and spent £150 on a type of catfish (fully grown, don't know the species). He took the fish home, got it used to the water & released it into his tank. He walked out of the room for a few minutes and when he got back the tank was red with blood - one of the fish in the tank had literally ripped the catfish to shreds. I don't remember what fish it was.. I think he referred to it as a "Jaguar" and it hunts catfish in the wild. After that he read up on his fish before buying them..

 

[drobbins27]

150 punds! Whoa, thats like 450 Canadian

 

[juanveldez]

Jags don't hunt catfish in the wild spcificly, they are considered a guapote which is a group of highly preditory fish that includes Parachromis Dovii( wolf cichlid), and Parachromis Motaguensis ( both regular and red tiger motas), and in all truthfulness Jags are the least agressive of the three.

 

[ladynaoko]

Jags don't hunt catfish in the wild spcificly, they are considered a guapote which is a group of highly preditory fish that includes Parachromis Dovii( wolf cichlid), and Parachromis Motaguensis ( both regular and red tiger motas), and in all truthfulness Jags are the least agressive of the three.

really?

In all honesty I know nothing about them - just saying what I was told.

 

[juanveldez]

I didn't say that isn't what you were told, just a little cichlid lesson before I said that I have seen red belly pacus too, can't say that I have ever kept them.

 

[R.T.Cat]

Pacus are like a vegie Pirhana. They grow bigger than 24 inches I think and definatley need at least a 500g

Pacus are supposed to be vegie but i know of a couple of pacus that quite happily eat lancefish (frozen) and are quite aggressive.They always have this look about them like "I'm about to cause some trouble!!" I'm sure they are related to the pirhana.

 

[Opcn]

You can keep a pacu alive for months on just feeder fish ... but It is a stupid thing to do they are omnivores they are closely related to pirahnas and have similar jaw structures but they tend to use theres to crush nuts (toss in some shelled brazzil nuts its great!) not bone.

Opcn

 

[Sorrell]

When I worked at the LFS here we got so many dumper pacus that we didn't have anywhere to put them so my brother-in-law who owns a glass shop built us a tank that was about 450, and we had three pacus that people had dumped (one had been in a 29 he was only 5or 6 months, but he couldn't even move ) Anyway, ours were very peaceful and ate bananas, mango, corn, peaches, etc They also LOVED algae wafers.
I'm not reccomendeing them or saying that my tank wasn't grossly overstocked, but I think we gave them a much better life then what they would have had, and they are still my favorite fish to this day.