i need advice and help

[lilslim321]

ok i have a 55 gallon and in it i have two jack dempseys and a red pacu and a lot of communitty fish. well my jack dempseys leave the pacu alone but my opaline gouramie and my leopard puffer are destryoin my pacu. arent they supposed to be a lil aggressive. y is he just swimming away and he never bites back. can u help me with this problem. thanx and i look forward to talkin to most of u in a times worth.

 

[semper fi]

pacu are generally peaceful fish. for one thing you won't have to worry about the problem of him getting beat on cause a 55 is way too small for even just him alone. the pacu can get up to lengths of 3 feet. puffers are notorious for picking on fish. wanted to get some freshwater ones and then i found that out. groumae are mid range aggressive but still more aggressive than the pacu. he will grow like mad for the first year and then start to slow down. they are pigs and will eat everything in the tank. once he gets his teeth in though you may have to worry about the groumae and puffer getting bit.

the pacu is a relative to the pirannha. is mostly an herbivore but will eat meat. higher protein foods will cause larger growth increases. mine is over a year and a half old and in a 180. getting ready to find a new home though.

maggie

 

[cichlidmaster]

Thanks for picking up the slack, Mags....

Been so busy at work today didn't have time to finish a sentance.

Semper is quite correct. The red belly pacu does grow slightly smaller than the black pacu, but will still outgrow your 55.

You mentioned you have a lot of "community fish" in the tank also. If I might ask what kind??

 

[lilslim321]

yes i have quite a lot of white clouds,blodd fin tetras,blue gouramies,albino tiger barbs,a few zebra danios,and some black amd marbl mollies. so what should i do with the pacu. he is being tore to shreds. he is losing all his fins and now my jack dempseys just swim away from him while he gets beaten. thanx for the helps so far guys.

 

[cichlidmaster]

My advice is this....

take the pacu back to yuor LFS. This may be a fish you like more than the puffer, but the pacu will really get to big for you current tank.

Now about the other fish in the tank.....

If your dempsey's are not full grown yet (which I have to believe is the case) you may want to consider taking all those tropicals (white clouds, tetras and so on) back to the LFS also. When your Dempsey's put on some size you may notice these fish disappearing and your dempsey's getting bigger and fatter if you catch my drift here. These fish IMO are just not good choices as tankmates for Dempsey's. The blue gourami may be alright for awhile, but that to is questionable.

If your interested I would be happy to help give you ideas on compatible tankmates for your Dempsey's...all you have to do is ask my friend.

 

[lilslim321]

like i said in the other one they wont let me take back the pacu so i am stuck with him. yes i would love for u to help me all u can. thanx again man.