question on a pacu

i got a red bellied pacu can u tell me how big does it grow and is it a pirrana

 

Pacu's can get up to 24" and unless you can get a tank of 300 gallons or larger for a single Pacu you're really better off returning it. They're also pretty skittish so they would do better in a group which would push you close to 900 gallons.

They're really not suited for home aquariums unless you can get the right size tank.

 

exactly what aqueous said, and for your otehr question.....no they are not piranhas.

 

Post some pics, cuz if the stored identified it as a "red belly pacu" it could have mistaken since they look so much alike as a red belly pirahna.

And you probly will have to get rid of it anyway, even if it is a red belly piranha, they get 12" and also need groups, so for pirahanas ur gonna need about a 300 gallons.

 

actually its very close to the piranha and is in the same family if I'm remembering correctly

 

Pacus are somewhat closely related to piranhas and so are silverdollars. They definitely are not the same fish and really aren't that comparable in terms of specific care.

And ditto to the getting rid of it.

-Chelle

 

Aren't they in the same family??? or maybe the same order. Sigh so much memorization in my ichthyology class that I forgot the important stuff.

 

Pacus, piranhas, and silverdollars are in the same subfamily (Serrasalminae). But that still doesn't mean they're similar in terms of specific care and size.

Honestly, I hate taxonomy because it's pretty arbitrary and constantly changing.

-Chelle