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yup you read the topic right. it was just on the detroit 6pm news about a guy who caught a 17inch pacu in the detroit river near one of the factorys.

i figured as did the LFS owners they talked said, was somebody dumped it into the river. they had video on tv, once its online i'll post the link.

but it was shown on Detroit 4, site is www.clickondetroit.com

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

Ummm, a Pacu is a freshwater fish. It's related to the Piranah and it comes from rivers of South America.

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/pacu-red.htm

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Exactly what I was thinkin', crazAY... pacu is a fw fish

...a rather large one, at that

MAJOR tank buster.....which is why I'm not surprised why they found one in the Detroit river. Someone probably had it in a too small tank and when it started getting too big, they released into that river....bad move, indeed.

I'm surprised it would survive a Detroit winter, though.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

yup, once i seen it i knew what it was. but as i said, they caught it near one of the factories that enter into the river where the water is alot warmer than the rest of the river, and the water near these spots doesnt freeze.

still no luck from the site with the story, but emailed them twice to get it.

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

A few years back, one was caught in a lake up near Raleigh. The guy that caught it, thought it was a piranha, at first. Everyone was terrified to go swimming, but no others have every been found.

MAJOR tank buster.....

You're NOT kidding there Crazyred ... Colossoma nigripinne, the Blackfinned Pacu, is big enough to tow a rowing boat if you put a bridle and a bit on it!

Next time you see a 55 gallon aquarium, picture this - a fully grown Pacu will not physically fit in that space regardless of whether there's any water in there or not. This is a fish whose body volume is on a par with that of a St Bernard or Newfoundland dog. Next time you see one of those dogs, imagine trying to stuff that into a 55 gallon aquarium. That's the management problem a Pacu poses. Which is why, when you see them in public aquaria, the tanks housing the Pacus are colossal. Big enough to sail a small boat on the surface. No, I am NOT kidding.



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

What I can't for the life of me figure out is WHY do they sell this fish just anywhere? And I don't mean specialty fish stores that cater to experienced aquarists with custom sized tanks, I mean I've seen these things for sale at WAL-MART, PETSMART, and other chain stores as well. Why, why, WHY??? This is why they end up in local waterways where they do NOT belong. They just get too darn big for the average hobbyist.

This, by itself, should not be legal. I'm sorry, but if you want this fish and can accomodate it then, by all means, perhaps you could special order it, but I do not think these things should be sold at Wal-mart or PetSmart. I have a few other list that belong on my "no sale" list too.

Sorry, rant over.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Agreed! Same goes for common plecos and oscars!

We could add to the list of fishes that should be 'special order only' by dedicated keepers big Pimelodid Catfishes - Red Tails (six feet when fully grown), Tiger Shovelnoses, and that gargantuan Piraiba Catfish that reaches a whoppig NINE FEET in length ... fortunately, that latter species is not much in demand except by [1] the seriously dedicated, and [2] the outright lunatics who discover the hard way that a nie foot long fish needs an Olympic swimming pool to keep it happy space wise ...

Mind you, one online aquarium auction site that I saw had a page devoted to "Jurassics" ... apart from Bichirs, they also had something in stock that they labelled "Giga" ... turns out that they were selling juvenile specimens of Arapaima gigas, the Giant Arapaima from the Amazon, which is capable of - wait for it - attaining a length of seventeen feet if it's given enough space and allowed to live long enough.

There's a public aquarium about 50 minutes away from me by train that has one of these on display. It's big enough to put a saddle on it and ride it bucking bronco style - and if you pay the nice people at the Blue Planet Aquarium for the privilege, you can go diving with it. But they've got the space - you could sail a small motor cruiser on the surface of its aquarium!

At least we in the UK don't have the Alligator Gar problem you have in the States ...a 7 foot long pure predator that outgrows its quarters at a startling rate of knots unless you've got a swimming pool to put it in. But I suspect that if you go to Eastern Europe, someone will sell you a European Catfish if you wave a wad of notes in front of them. Ever seen one of these? Capable of attaining at least 13 feet in length and tipping the scales at 1,250 lbs, this is a fish the size of a Kodiak Bear. You'd need a converted B-52 hangar to house one of those ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

There's a zoo in Omaha, NE (USA) that's got about 10-15 arapaima gigas on display! They're freakin' insane

The good folks down here eat alligator gar out of the resacas. I't's called chicharones de gatan and it's like a delicacy! I can't imagine anyone (down here at least) trying to keep one as a pet.

I agree with ya Poisony on the common plec and the oscar....to big of a tank buster to sell!!!

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Thats Michigan for you though. They always find strange fish in their water ways. A couple years ago, a fisherman pulled a pirahna out of Lake Michigan (which is scary... especially since Lake Michigan is green and you cant really see what else may be lurking in it) People dump fish all the time. Its sad.

Inky

plecos. i wish i could find one that would stay under 8 inches. i know some sail fines do, but i cant find any.

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

I have to agree with all of you on the no sale list. I definitely think there shoud be restrictions on the sale of fish that are known to get that big. Its not quite on the same scale, but I never would have bought my Bala Shark if I had been informed how big it would get. I only had a 20 gallon high at that time. WAY too small! I love my Bala, and I am willing to provide him with the size tank that he is going to need, but the fact is that the average WalMart or PetSmart fish buyer is not going to make that kind of commitment.

In my LFS right now they have at least nine different fish that people have traded in because they have gotten so large. Its better than releasing them into the wild, but they are still stuck in these little tanks. One of them is a red-tailed catfish about three feet long. I love that guy and it makes me so sad that he is stuck in such a miserable existence. They also have a Bala about the size of mine, six inches or so, and its nose is all scared. You can tell that it has been in a small tank and rammed up against the sides.

The release of domesticated non-native animals into the environment is a huge problem! I have a red-footed tortoise because some guy we knew didn't want to deal with it anymore and was going to turn it loose. It came home with me the same day.

Sorry, this topic is a pet peeve of mine.

- Meow -

Seeing fish that are too large to be kept in most aquariums, is one of my pet peeves (no pun intended ).

It is sad that so many stores sell pacus, irridescent sharks, balas, common plecs, oscars, and other fish that get too big for the tanks that most people keep.

So many beginners go in and buy these fish for their 10 and 20g tanks, not knowing that they get big. And pet stores just sell them to them....to make a sale.

Walmart is very bad about selling pacus, balas, and common plecs. Its also sad that I know most of the fish will eventually die because they are in a 10g tank with about 20 more of their own kind and not many people will buy them.

I saw a chain store selling Channel catfish, which get like 28 inches long...not to be kept in any fish tank.

It really ticks me off to see this...as you can tell.

*Kristin*