red belly pacus

Hi, I dont know about the deminisons your talking about but it sounds like a lenghthy process, personally I would try to get rid of the smallest of theese giants before they get any bigger and thus harder to give back. Good Luck

 

was woundering if I could put them in to a swiming pool 12ft long 3 ft deep or a pool thats 16 ft by 3 ft deep or 18 ft by 3 ft deep let me know if that would work. to put them in because my local fish store wont take them I am hopeing to find a good way to house these fish :? I am mad at the store I bough them at they said they would not get this big. :x but they look like there getting bigger every day. I need to figure something out for these fish HELP LOL :?: what do i do

 

are you talking about a real pool or a baby platic pool? if its a real pool i think it would be incredably dificult to clean and then re-cycle but some ahve done it and from my experience baby pools are very shallow.

 

If it were me, I'd build a pond that was something like 8' x 8'. Around the parimeter of the pond make a shelf that's about 8" deep and about 12" wide. That will make a good place to put plants. Then have the center of the pond (after the shelf it would be 7' x 7') 3' - 4' deep. That would make the total volume of the pond roughly 1580 gallons (at 3' deep) or 1940 gallons (at 4' deep).

You'll have to price around for the liner. The liner for my pond (750 gallons) came in a roll that's 15' wide and was sold by the foot. I bought 18' (a little more than I needed, but I didn't want to come up short) at, I believe, $4. 49/foot so it cost a little over $80.

For filtration, I bought a sump pump that does 1380 gph (bought new at a yard sale for $5, but retails for about $50 - $70). I put it in a rubermaid container with holes drilled in the lid. Then I stuffed the extra space in the continer with filter media. So the water goes trough the holes in the lid, through the filter media, into the pump, and out a hose to the top of the water fall (haven't built that part yet, but we should have it done later this week). You can also buy filters specifically made for ponds.

I'm not sure about pond heaters because I have goldfish & minnows so they're fine in the cold.

If you have a water fall, fountain, or something that agitates the surface of the water you won't need any additional aeration.

You will also need to buy quite a few plants so they can take care of the waste produced by the fish. Depending on what you get, plants (around here at least) run anywhere from $2 - $25 (RANT: why are water lillies so darn expensive? :x)

To keep animals/people from falling in, you can either build a short fence around the pond or build it up about 1' - 1 1/2" using cinder blocks or rocks.

Honestly, although a pond is a nice alternative way to keep the fish, it can get expensive and is quite a bit of work, especially in an apartment/renting situation where you don't actually own the property and may be moving. And digging a 4' hole isn't exactly fun. If the fish aren't very large right now, you could always ask around at LFS and see if anyone will take them. In your 60 gallon you have room to keep one of the oscars so at least you wouldn't be giving away all of your fish.

-Chelle

 

have already called local fish stores went in to local fish stores and they wont buy them from me or take them from me for free I already went through that process already so I need to find a way to house them. is there any way I can do it without building a pond and just puting them into a doleboy pool thats 12 foot by 3 ft deep from walmart and buy a pool heater and heat the water and filter the water with a filter and heater would that work let me know what you think. and if I buy a pool and put them into the pool can I put my oscars and pacus in the pool and some other fish or how does that work I need help big time with these pacus

 

I think the pool idea should work (keep in mind that I've never tried housing fish in a pool before so I could be wrong). If that's a round pool, and I did my calculations correctly, it would work out to be about 2500 gallons which would be more than enough for 2 pacus and 5 or 6 oscars. I think the hardest part would be figuring out how to get plants in there, but you could probably rig up some baskets and hang them off the sides of the pool. If you didn't have plants you would have to do water changes maybe about once every month or so and I don't think you'd want to do 25% water changes on a 2500 gallon "pond". :shock:

-Chelle

 

well it might be square not sure I was thinking of buying it next month and set it up in my back yard I sure dont want to have to do a 25% water change unless I really needed too so what kind of heating you think I would need for the pool and would the pool filter work as a filter system for them let me know

 

Since my pond doesn't have a heater and I made my own filter, I can't help you much there. Your best bet would be to just look around and see what's available. Most filters and heaters should say what size ponds they are good for. For the filter, I recommend going one size up from what's recommended. You can never go wrong with overfiltration.

Here's a few links to get you started:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/S ... =4&N=62728
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/par ... 153;pcid1=
http://www.pondsolutions.com/
http://www.naturalsolutionsetc.com/

-Chelle

 

the pool that walmart has is $122.33 and it is 12ft round and 3 ft deep has a top inflateable ring at top of pool comes with filter think it would work to house my pacus and fish please let me know what you think and if I might be able to get a heater for it and keep it at a certain temp and etc. let me know

 

Sounds like it could work. Good luck.

-Chelle

 

well I can get a 10' round pool and 30" deep for $50 at savons would it work

 

That would be 1468 gallons which is plenty for those fish.

-Chelle

 

how many fish can I put in there I have 6 oscars 2 pacus 1 clown knife 1 jack dympsey 1 texas cichlid 1 plecostmus 1 tinfoil barb how many fish can I put in the pool 10' X 30" let me know

 

Assuming they all got along, you could put them all in there, but keep in mind the more cichlids you have, the less likely it is that they will all get along so you'll just have to keep an eye out for aggression.

-Chelle

 

ok I fixed up the pool last night and today put 1 pacu 3 oscars and 1 tinfoil barb in there so far no heater will they be ok I live in southern california they all got along ok in the 60 gal I now have 1 pacu and 3 oscars 1 texas cichlid 1 jack dympsey 1 clown knife 1 plecostmus in the 60 gallon fish tank and going to put them out there later today or tomorrow do I need a heater now or will they be ok and about how much will it cost for a heater for the swiming pool 10' X 30" round poolhow do I keep the Pacus from eating the live plants if I put live plants in there and should I put gravel or just leave it like it is please let me know

 

As long as the water temperature is above 75* or so, you should be fine w/o a heater.

As for plants, are you using fully aquatic plants or marginal plants (like lillies, cannas, grasses - the normal pond plants)?

Also, do you have a filter on the pool?

-Chelle

 

the fish survived the cold last night water temp got to 60 and they survived. I have the pool filter but no plants yet and was woundering my fish dont want to eat now I would throw fish and stuff in there 60 gal fish tank when they where in there and they would eat but when they went to the pool I throw food in there and they dont touch it I dont know why.

 

It could be the cold temperature or they're just getting used to their new environment.

And by the way, feeder fish aren't really good for oscars & pacus. They introduce all kinds of diseases and have very little nutritional value.

-Chelle

 

okbecause I put lettace in there for the pacus and they wont eat that either or fish flakes or pellets they wont eat anything now after they went into the pool but the fish tank they eat every time I drop stuff in there but once I moved them to the pool outside they wont eat the food in the pool how long can they go without eatting ? if they are hungry enough do you think they will eat the food I put in the pool ? can I add more fish to that pool if I wanted to yes or no ? well I am confused they where eatting fish and food in there 60 gallon fish tank but not eatting anything in the pool well if you know of any suggestions I can do to get them to eat let me know

 

what is good to feed them? instead of feeder fish. how do I get my fish to eat out in the pool let me know