geoffknowsnothing

I recently introduced a red bellied pacu into my tank which is 2 1/2' length wise, 2' tall, and 1 1/2 wide. He is not eating, not moving a lot, but he spontaneously bursts and bashes his head into the side of the tank. All aspects of the tank are normal such as pH, nitrates, and nitrites. I know this is stress related, so I placed him into a quarintine tank so the other fish couldnt bother him. I have lots of filtration, a high amount of O2, and the temps @ 75. His tank mates in the bigger tank were a 3 in. giant danio, 2 2 1/2 in. rosy barbs, 3 in. tin foil barb, 3 penguin tetras, and a 3 in. pleco. Plz give advice on how I can keep him alive and how to re introduce him into the larger tank. ( the quarintine tank is 10 gallons f.y.i.) The red bellied pacu is about 4 in. Thank you for your advice in advance.

Dino

Pacu will need 400 gallons by the time it is full grown.
They get in excess of 3 feet long.
Also, they are schooling fish, so they do best in groups.

I wish this fish was not available for people to buy.

geoffknowsnothing

do u think buying more would help it then? The fact sheet on this website says that they grow to an excess of 24". I didn't ask for your opinion towards red bellied pacus, but I would much value your advice and opinion about how to treat this fish. Thank you

Dino

No, buying more would not help.

If possible, take the fish back.

Or buy a much larger tank.

geoffknowsnothing

Thank You very much. What other species fish would you recommend for my larger tank? They must be semi aggresive and over 3 inches. My danio is very territorial and in the past has eaten all my neon tetras(

Butterfly

Your tank figures out to about 55G. Your Pacu will outgrow it in a matter of months. When they get bigger than the cute 4inches it is now nobody will want it because they won't have space for a big fish. Fish stores won't take it back at that point. now is the time to return it. buying more Pacu will not make it happier if they are going to be crammed into a tank too small for them in a matter of months.
They are very gentle fish and get to be gentle giants, They also need alot of vegetation in their diet. I would think your other fish may be picking on it.
There are articles all over various aquarium related boards about Euthanizing Pacu because they got too big for their owner to house. Forgive us if we seem adamant about "take it back' if you can't supply it at least the size recommended tank above.
Carol

geoffknowsnothing

the 55 gallon tank he is in now is about 30+ years old my dad gave it to me I would like to buy a new tank but would 150-200 be OK i dont think I have the money for a 400 gallon tank. and roughly how much is a 200 gallon tank. I am willing to put the time and effort but I cant afford that large of tank.

COBettaCouple

your pleco will also get to around 18" or so.. and your barbs and danio would benefit from being in minimum sized schools. although even just doing that is more than a 55g tank would support so you'll want to consider returning the common pleco with the Pacu and getting a BN pleco.

geoffknowsnothing

what is a BN pleco

geoffknowsnothing

my pacu is new and it has been acting the same way since day one bad. so I have it quarantined for the last fem days and its sulking and not moving much and hiding. it sits in a corner kinda at a 30 degree angle. it is not eating flakes what kind off vegies should i give it

Butterfly

It's good that you have it quarantined.
The 200 gallon will do for awhile but it will even out grow that
Carol

Chief_waterchanger

BN pleco, if I am not mistaken is a Bristle-nose pleco, also called bushy-nose, by some people.

geoffknowsnothing

for the time being what can i feed it besides flake food that i would have laying around the house and how much does a 250 gallon go for. i think it may also be stress related what can i do to help releave that

Butterfly

yep your correct. they get 4-5 inches and have a very unique appearance.
Carol

geoffknowsnothing

are the BN pleco inadspensive and do places like petco and pet smart sell themcheap +less then 5$$

Butterfly

Leaving it quarantined will releave its stress but it can't stay in the 10G over a couple of days. see if it will eat any green peas (you know canned-rinse with water and MASH to split skin)
carol

geoffknowsnothing

I have 2 filters running at the same time to help increase oxygen

Amnagrla

lol by the way... I LOVE your name!! lol genius.

Butterfly

see if one of the stores will let you trade your plec in on a Bristlenose or even otos www.otocinclus.com . If you don't have algae you really don't need a pleco
carol

geoffknowsnothing

thank you thankyou very much

Amnagrla

you're welcome very much!

geoffknowsnothing

what do u think is cooler ottos or BN plecos?

Amnagrla

Well, the BN pleco can get to be 5inches... while an oto is only 1.

I personally don't have any room for a pleco of any size! lol I do think BN plecos are cool... but I think getting a little shoal of oto's would be wicked awesome. I have three in my 10gallon and that would be the smallest amount of them I would put together.

geoffknowsnothing

I personally don't have any room for a pleco of any size! lol I do think BN plecos are cool... but I think getting a little shoal of oto's would be wicked awesome. I have three in my 10gallon and that would be the smallest amount of them I would put together.
[/quote]
I will have plenty of room if, if ,if i get rid of the pleco and the pacu which i dont want to do

vin

geoff, as others have said, the right thing to do is return the Pacu....The stress he is under right now may very well kill him and I don't think that is what you want.

As for your comment about not being able to fit any sort of pleco - a bushy nose will only get to about 5"....slightly smaller than a shoal of 5 otos.....But the Pacu really should go back....

The current pleco you have will eventually stress as well and have problems of his own. You may like the fish you have but under their conditions - especially the Pacu as he is already showing signs of intense stress - they clearly aren't the best.

Not criticizing, blaming or saying you did this is intentionally - just being honest and trying to offer advice.

Amnagrla

lol he wasn't saying that... he just incorrectly quoted ME saying that.

vin

oops...

Amnagrla

lol that's alright!!!

vin

8)

COBettaCouple

part (if not all) of the pacu's problems are that he's extremely unhappy. A fish like him will feel trapped and confined without a LOT of area to swim in, on top of which he's feeling lonely and in danger being by himself. Those are beautiful fish and if he's returned to a tank with other pacu's, it will help him. he comes from a great family of fish and you could choose an entire school of another fish that's similiar but not so large, like serpae tetra, and still not need the room that the pacu would need.