Tinfoil Barb?

[donnadac]

about a year ago i purchased four small fish two tiger barbs and supposedly 2 tinfoil barbs, One of the tinfoil? barbs grew quickly and i soon saw that it was a pacu as i looked it up on the web. the other one stayed small but was a much darker color with the red belly . Soon the smaller one grew and i then saw that i have two pacu though one is still smaller and darker than the other. One is about 6 inches and the other about 5. I only have a 29 gallon tank and i would never have purchased pacu fishif i knew at the time that that was what they were. I even went back to the store i got them at and told them they had them misnamed and asked if they would take them back but they wouldnt. Now the bigger and lighter colored one is starting to chase and tear up the fins of the smaller dark one. I dont know what to do it seems impossible to get anyone to take them and a larger aquarium for me is out of the question. I feel like i need to seperate them until i can come up with a solution, but am afraid i will stress them out and they go crazy when something scares them. I live in the northeast so releasing them or putting them in my small fish pond would be out of the question. Does anyone know of some place that rescues these guys. I would hate for them to have to be put down, as they are beautiful, but i cant stand to see the one getting so beat up. I also see on the internet that there are a lot of people trying to find homes for theirs. Any help would be appreciated. thanks donna

 

[erk628]

Put them or craigslist for free or ask some other fish stores around you. Theres no way you can keep them if you only have a 29.

 

[donnadac]

Put them or craigslist for free or ask some other fish stores around you. Theres no way you can keep them if you only have a 29.

thank you for your reply. I hope i can find someone to take them , but i have seen so many advertised on the internet. I guess a lot of people get them and then they outgrow their aquarium. I was a little put our when the pet store that advertized them as tinfoil barbs would not concider taking them. they were quite small when i got them so i had know idea they were pacu until the one started growing so quickly. I havent seen any photos like my black one, He is black with the red on his belly. I cant stand to kill them. I was told at one pet store to put baking soda in with them and that would humanly do away with them. again thank you for taking the time to answer . thanks donna

 

[erk628]

Call around to all the pet stores that you would be willing to drive to and see if they would take them. Do you have pictures of them.

 

[Danbarb]

Did you get any fish stores to take them in the end? Please say yes! I have never killed any of my fish intentionally. I always took them back to LFS... I had guppies, and platys, and rummynose tetra and they all went back to the LFS. I know Pacu are different but still, there must be a fish store that will take them