BlackGold2

I have just just purchased 3 fish 1. tiger Oscar, the other two are pacu. Of the two fish which is the the most aggressive? From my reading it's been suggested the the red belly pacu with more red on it belly is the male, is this a fact or a guess? What size tank will i need in a year? It appears the the oscar is smarter than the pacu, just by it's behavior...

Chief_waterchanger

Atleast a 200g within a year, and atleast 800 gallon within 2-3 years. And pacu should be kept in schools of 5-6 which would need 2400 gallons within 2 years. They grow to over 40 inches in length, and need about 400g a piece at adulthood. The oscar gets to 15 inches, and would need a 75g tank within a year or two.

Chief_waterchanger

Oh and welcome to the site.

armadillo

Waw, black gold, you'll need to sell your house with tanks that big.

jsalemi

Or turn his house into the tank, and live inside tunnels within it.

Chief_waterchanger

It is a sad thing when fish stores sell a fish that quickly get to the length of a 5 yr old human and weigh around 60 lbs. (pacu being that fish)

COBettaCouple

welcome to fishlore. don't feel bad - this is like at least the 3rd or 4th Pacu dilemma we've seen in the past month. i don't know why stores sell them (well yea, i do but greed is sad).. they're really just too big for home aquariums. you'll definitely want to return them and ask the store why they'd sell you a fish like that knowing you couldn't have a tank big enough for them.