Pacu

daisycutter

i noticed while looking around an aquatic shop for my dwarf frogs, tanks containing a large number of pirahana like fish which i read from the label were Pacu for only £1.50 each now this is asking for trouble all the details about this fish were reduced to one sentence - "grows big!" grows big is an understatement these are HUGE fish that a very select few can come close to housing as i understand it these fish are bred as food fish and therefore young are cheap and the store had hundreds so im pretty sure they had intended to sell them all and i boubt that any of the people that buy these fish know what there in for and its down to the shop owners trying to turn a few quid and shows a lack of concern for the customers
some members of this forum have repeatedly broght up the fact that any buyer should do there homework first..very true but i have heard all manner of crap spouted by staff in less reputable shops in order to make a sale and in the end most people just give in to the seller

should shops be selling fish like the pacu to the general public?

Attached Images

freshwater%20pacu.jpg (28.1 KB, 45 views)

willow

wow!! that certainly is a big fish.
that man is amazingly strong to be holding it with one hand.

Lupin

More or less, a permit as a requirement.

iamntbatman

I agree 100%. I really don't understand why these monster fish are so cheap. Even more ubiquitous and inexpensive (here in the U.S. anyway) is the iridescent shark. Babies sell for $3 a piece and grow into three foot monsters.

I was at the Pittsburgh Aquarium recently - they had a huge tank (I would guess maybe 75,000 gallons or so) stocked with a bunch of huge fish including pacu and gigantic red tailed catfish. Funny enough, every one of the monster fish in that tank is readily available at your local Petsmart for a couple bucks. It's a shame.

willow

darn right cruel too,if you ask me.

daisycutter

most of these very large fish are farmed as food and bred in large numbers released into large outdoor lakes and harvested when there size is optimum the problem comes when stores in the uk/us start buying up these fish fry at minimal cost to sell as pets with a pacu or redtailed cat baby costing less wholesale than a Neon Tetra! im sure if you had yourself a tank/pond (in a warmer climate) of 10000g+ you wouldnt be picking up stock at a cheap retail outlet anyway
just watch the free-ads for ads from people trying to re home these things in a year or so,ive even heard about people releasing them into british waterways which will pretty much kill them outside of the summer months

releasing things into the wild is a another thread entirely

Lupin

LOL...They're always very cheap. Heck, I just saw someone with his girlfriend picking over 10 pacus. It had me wondered if they're buying a trailer sized aquarium or if they already have a pond.

aquatramp

There is always that unusual wild caught fish that is a monster and not the size they would grow in home fish tanks but still grow very, very large. Problem being you tell a young kid it needs a big tank and they figure you are talking a 55 gallon! These fish need 1000 gallons. Ofcourse I feel the same about fish stores that sell bala sharks and clown loaches to the unsuspecting person who has no clue of the size they grow.