posted 08-03-2002 11:05 PM           

When you have a young Pacu, you can feed them regular fish flake food. But as they get older and bigger, you might want to change their diets somewhat.

I feed mine tubiflex worms, blood worms, small amounts of plankton, and some brine shrimp. I know I said that they are herbivores, but mine will eat a little meat too sometimes.

You can also feed them lettuce, chopped zuchinni, strawberries ( yes, strawberries ).

Do not put any fish with the Pacu that are equally aggressive. For instance, I put an Oscar in with mine and the war was on. Mostly the battles were initiated by the Oscar, but the Pacu fended him off every time.

Do not put "Bumblebees" ( yellow-black striped ) in with the Pacu. He shredded both of mine. They looked like fish fillets when he was done with them.

I have an algea eater in the tank and the Pacu doesn't bother him. I also had a Golden Catfish, but he fought some viscious fights with the Pacu. Neither received any real wounds but they would really go at it. They'd slosh water everywhere!

I've got a 30 gallon tank. He has pretty much stabilized in size. About a little over a foot long now, I guess. He's getting fatter, but not longer.

Good luck with the Pacu. Don't worry, they mellow out as they get older. They're really pretty good fish to raise.

Keep your water changes frequent. They distress when the water gets real toxic. Keep the Ph around 7.0 and the water temp around 72-75 degrees and he'll be a happy fish.

Good luck, hope I helped you.

CJ