Pond Finished

[philfreenode]

I got a 500+ gallon pond in my bedroom.. having buyers remorse now..

One concern I have is the pacu in there growing bigger and then biting holes in the liner or pump power cord At the moment I guess they could chew through it if they gnawed at it awhile but as they grow bigger their teeth are going to get big. What barriers could I put in there so they cant access the liner? someone at monster fish keepers said egg crate (light diffuser) but that's expensive. I'm thinking a box made from plastic chicken wire suspended in the middle might work.

Anyone have pacu in their pond? Has it bit your liner!

 

[DrCase]

I never had one
AS long as he has food to eat may be he will leave the chewy rubber alone

 

[DrDave]

Pacu AKA Piranha; Illegal in most states...
Your best move is to chop off it's head as the the US Fish and Game and Wildlife advises. Why would you want a fish that could be so distructive to our environment if allowed to populate our natural waterways???

They can grow to 5 feet in length and will eat anything they can bite.

 

[lauraleellbp]

While somewhat related in that both species are Characins, Piranha and Pacu are entirely different species. And Piranha are only illegal in some states, and in most states only a few species of Piranha are illegal. I've never looked up the regulations regarding Pacu, but I doubth they're as regulated even as Piranha as they don't have the same reputation. Pacu are herbivores, Piranha are carnivores. Pacu do have pretty heavy duty teeth and jaws though (they look like human teeth, actually).

No captive fish should be released into the environment, period, but that's just basic responsible husbandry, and has nothing to do with the discussion at hand...

I think egg crate sounds like a good idea too- and I think you may have been looking at the wrong stuff if what you found was expensive- were you looking at this: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...plastic+egg+crate&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&tbs=isch:1?

 

[philfreenode]

Pacu are sold at the local petsmart so there is probably no legal concerns with having them. They can't survive in the temperatures of water in my state so there is no chance of them infesting the water ways. But no way would I release aquarium fish anyway.

I looked at the wrong thing, I was pricing "light diffuser" that turned out to be a solid sheet of acrylic for going under florescent lights, not the egg crate.

 

[jethro13]

my son put a pacu in my upper pond this summer as a joke and it was a hoot.It did not bother anything that I can tell including the ten or so fancy gold fish in the pond with him.He would stay in the fish house alot and when it came time for feeding he ate the same pond pellets the gold fish ate except about five at a time at about a hundred miles an hour. the only problem is they are tropical thus need warm water so day before yesterday my son found him floating barely breathing he tried putting him in a bucket of pond water and then warming it from the outside with hot tap water but it was too late. I don't think I would have another one but as far as the one we had this year he was the life of the party.
:lol: