Raising Red Bellied Pacu Info !!!!!

[Mean and Green]

For those who are interested in raising Red Bellied Pacu, here are a few pointers that will help (hence my mistakes and what you should do to avoid my mistakes).

1. Never ever ever mix Pacu with any type of fish breed, I don't care how aggressive the other fish is the Pacu's will kill it.

2. Expect Pacu's to grow a lot. Example, mine started off as 1 inch fingerlings and three weeks later they are 6 inches in length.

3. Pacu's need high protein food (48%protein), also as they get older they tend to eat more vegetables. Expect to feed them a lot ( 2-3 times a day) monitor the amount of food given and gradually increase it weekly. These fish need tons of nutrients, and will pack on weight very fast!

4. Pacu from my observations and keeping do well with other pacu, as long as the pacu are of or near the same size.

5. Never ever stick your hands near or in the water. These guys once they get larger, will bite your finger off ( in the wild they crush brazilian nuts in their mouths).

6. When considering buying pacu, be responsible for it. People will not take them back (dealers), so expect to follow through in taking care and providing for the fish.

7. Harvest size varies to feeding amount, normally 9 months around 1.5lbs, and one year to a year and a half 3-5lbs. Fast growers, super lean meat.

8. Ways to cook pacu? There are recipes on the web pertaining to cooking pacu ribs, it will show you how to fillet and cook the meat. From what my brazilian friends say, it is better than tilapia and has the texture of catfish so be prepared for a large tasty meal.

9. Pacu's do well out in open ponds and lakes, even outdoor systems. I've recorded weekley water temps of up to 92F and the fish are super active. Although as for a pet i'd recommend 72-84F because warm waters will shorten the pacu's lifespan (about 60yrs in the wild and anywhere to 40-60lbs). But for commercial aspects this shouldn't be a problem if you are just using them as produce to sell ( based on a yearly cycle). Just make sure that your breeding pair are well taken care water temp's wise to decrease genetic defects in their offspring.

10. Males do not hit sexual maturity till 3yrs and females 3-4yrs. Red bellied females have to be placed into hormone induced water in order for her to release the eggs to be fertilized by the male. Other pacu such as the Black Pacu do not need hormones to release eggs.

Well I hope this helps people, i've learned a lot through my mistakes, but i'm definately going to continue raising pacu. They are definitely the fish breed that demands patience.

[Pugo]

I had a pacu and an Oscar together for maybe six months. All they did was fight for a while then stay at the opposite side of the tank and this happened every day, fight and then rest. At the end of the six months the Pacu gave up the ghost, and my old Oscar won the battle in the end.. But I think the pacu died of stress because they were evenly match as far as size.. But Pacu are definitely a formidable species. It was 50 gallon tank I though it would be big enough for the two of them..However I learned that they just can't live together.

[Mean and Green]

Yeah it's weird! They are great with each other, but man they sure do hate other fish. But once they become adults they stop their killing spree.

[Mean and Green]

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Red Bellied Pacu, 3wks later. I purchased these three weeks ago at 1inch and now they are 6inches. Phenominal growth

[Mean and Green]

At 5wks old i have 1/2lb pacu's that are 7 1/2in long. On the downside they have nearly killed all of the other fish, sooooooo immediate plans of building new tank is in the making.

[mhaigh]

Have you eaten any of the Pacus yet, curious what you thought of the taste.
Have you found a good source for fingerlings?
Any idea yet what the minimum water temp is for these guys?

[tpilk]

I've eaten several varieties of Pacu and the taste is fine, however, I would disagree that they are better than Tilapia. They are mild and quite pleasant, but I do have one issue - the bones are a real pain. They are long, small in diameter and plentiful and there is no easy way to avoid them. Even the largest Pacu I've eaten (we've got huge Pacu here in Thailand) are packed with them. Once again, the taste is very good but they are not worth the effort for me when we've got other fish which are more easily prepared.

[Mean and Green]

Really Bad day!!! Woke up this morning after it rained really hard. I found that one of the greenhouse panels had fallen off due to the wind last night. Temps dropped below freezing. As a result all of my pacu died.....each weighing in around 5lbs at 6months old...... really bad day. On the upside my convict cichlids, bluegill, and plecos are still alive.

[tpilk]

Hi M&G,

I'm really sorry to hear about you losing your fish.

I meant to post these a few months ago when I first replied - as I mentioned, they're pretty common both here in Thailand and in Indonesia. I had a lot of fun fishing for them as they will hit artificials really well - plastics, wet and dry flies, pretty much anything they can get in their mouths. You can see how nasty their teeth get. Will cut braid quickly...need steel leader or else...

This fish is average, not big for what I've caught in the past. I always toss them back because of the bones, but the meat is really mild and tasty.

Hope you get another batch going soon.

Chip
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[Pugo]

Now that looks like Asian fishing Nice pictures