Red Belly Pacu Fish

The Red Belly Pacu fish looks very similar and is sometimes sold to customers as the Red Belly Piranha. However, they only look like piranha as juveniles. The red belly pacu will grow rather quickly and may reach 12 - 24 inches (30 - 61 cm) if properly taken care of. Given their potential adult size you will need an enormous tank to keep one at home, at least 250 gallons (940 liters). You will also need an extremely efficient aquarium filter to filter the tank water.

The Red Pacu will accept flake foods in the home aquarium but will need to be given pellets as they grow in size. It's probably best to keep them in tanks without live plants because they may eat your live plants.

Use caution when selecting tank mates for this fish. Even though they are herbivores, they may go after smaller fish in their tank. They can potentially be kept with arowanas and plecos.

The Red Bellied Pacu one of those fish that is best left to the advanced freshwater aquarist with a very large tank.

Picture

Red Belly Pacu Piaractus brachypomum
Photo Credit: Debra Mayo

Freshwater Fish Species Profile and Care Information

Scientific Name : Piaractus brachypomum

Common Names : Red Pacu

Red Pacu Care Level : Moderate - Difficult (because of adult size) and they need an excellent aquarium filter.

Size : 12 - 24 inches (30 - 61 cm)

pH : 6.5 - 7.5

Temperature : 75°F - 80°F (24°C - 27°C)

Lifespan : 5 - 15 years or longer.

Origin / Habitat : South America, Amazon River

Temperament / Behavior : Generally peaceful and will take care of themselves against more aggressive tank mates. They may also eat smaller fish species if kept in the same tank.

Breeding / Mating / Reproduction : Egglayer, not common in home aquariums.

Tank Size : 250 gallon (946 liters) minimum but preferrably much larger tanks and ponds. This fish is best left in the wild or in public aquarium displays.

Compatible Tank Mates : Because of their huge adult size there are very few common aquarium species recommended. You would need to keep them with large fish making the aquarium size requirements difficult to attain in the home. One that may potentially be kept with them is the Common Pleco but you would need at minimum a 350 gallon tank to provide both of them with adequate water volume as adults. Arowanas are sometimes kept in the same tank as well (must be a huge tank). Sometimes sold mistakenly as the Red Belly Piranha.

Fish Disease : Freshwater Fish Disease

Diet / Fish Food : An herbivore - provide a varied diet with pellet food and frozen food.

Tank Region : Mostly middle

Gender : Difficult to determine. May only be possible to determine gender differences in mature adults. Males may have more red on the belly.

Gallery Photos : Pacu Photos

Similar Species : Characins

Fish Lore Forum : Pacu Forum

Buy Online :

Red Bellied Pacu Tips

From: Ray
I bought two red belly pacu from the pet store at about the size of a quarter. Not knowing there potential for growth I placed them in a fifty gallon tank. They are 30 cm long each now in under a years time. A truly beautiful pair. I feed them cucumber, and lettuce and they love it. Definitely listen to what people say these fish have the potential for being tank busters, and boy can they jump. I would definitely recommend starting with at least a hundred and fifty gallon tank if you plan on raising more than one of these amazing fish.

From: Lois
My husband also bought two at Walmart the size of a quarter about 7 months ago and they are now both approx. 8" long! They have outgrown the 20 gal tank; we moved them to a 30 and now bought a bigger tank. They grew up with other fish as we did not know they would eat other fish and everything was fine until the 7th month and then one Pacu started to nibble on some of the other fish. When we moved the Pacus, we bought 14 feeders and in 2 weeks only 4 remain. They also eat pellets. They won't eat veggies. They still wanted a few of the old tank mates and would not settle down until they where moved too! We love our Pacu's, they are beautiful, peaceful and graceful. I would love more if they were not so large. They are my favorite of all our fish!

From: Brenda
My husband also bought one from walmart! He is now about 18" long. We have him in a 150 gallon tank. Our pacu likes to be hand fed alge discs, so he can be pet. He loves to be touched. We also feed him zuchini and cucumber.

From: William
Bought my two pacus from a pet store about the size of a quarter. raised them in a 29 gallon hex and moved them to a 55 gallon show. They are now about 18 inches and the other 21 inches. They eat algae disk and pellets. They splash lots of water when the play with each other and their tank mate is an oscar. It takes three filters to keep the water clean. Undergravel filter and two outside filters. Sometimes they are so calm and other times the spook very easy.

You need a much larger tank to keep these three fish. They are way too cramped in a 55 gallon tank.

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