Those surprisingly huge pacus, Colossoma bidens, pictures

Origins. You get a line and I’ll get a pole, and we’ll go down to the crawdad hole -- and catch some pacús. Or we can catch them in our Des Moines river. Originally, they came from Brasil (República Federativa do Brasil, for you east-siders). Pacús hit the market as 2-inch cuties and hit our river as 2-foot beasties eating their owners out of house and home (which is usually the same thing, when you think about it).

Pacú Info. Pacús grow to more than 40 pounds where they come from. They make a good sport fish and taste pretty good. If you can read Portuguese, you can find some excellent Pacú recipes. You can also call them pacus without the ú unless your nephew lives in Brasil.

Basic Tetras. Tetras (or Characins) have teeth and an adipose fin – the fatty fin between their dorsal fin and their tail. (Check out the guy above and your neon tetras.) Pacús are just big tetras that keep growing, and growing, and ...You get the idea.

LA
Pacú teeth exist but do not compare to piranha teeth.

LA
Yes, he's dead. We don't pick up live piranhas bare-handed. Pacús, si. Pirañas, no.

Look Alikes. Seems like every year we see the TV or newspaper (it could be a tape of the same story) saying that somebody caught a Piranha in the Des Moines River (usually using doughball for bait). Someone caught a nearly toothless pacú – a fruit-eating cousin of the sharp-toothed Piranha. Quite often the story refers to “Pacú” later in the story but uses “Piranha” in the headline – much more exciting. Let’s face it, a story about a fish that eats bananas has much less romance. And there’s the DNR guy nodding his head saying, “Yup, that’s the biggest dang peeranya I ever saw.”

Good Fighters. A fish this size can put up a heck of a fight. In Brasil they have companies that conduct pacú fishing expeditions.

Foods. No meat, please. Our 98.6^o bodies can digest animal fats. Fish have trouble with indigestible blobs of lard and tallow. Fats pass thru to make a scum on the surface of your water and feed the bacteria in your tank. Give your pacús fish and frozen foods. Small pacús readily eat flake foods. And they inhale cichlid pellets. Pacús get fat bellies fast on pellets.

LA
Trying to crush and eat a Malaysian trumpet snail. No can do.

LA
Some darken quicker than others.

LA
Same guys a week or two later checking out grapes -- supposedly a fave food.

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He didn't eat his grapes and fouled his water. We changed it 100% and he hates it.

Goldfishes as Food. Pacús enjoy feeder goldfish. Give your goldfish a good “look over” before feeding them to your pacú. Most are kept under very crowded conditions. The average feeder tank stresses goldfishes and encourages diseases. Isolate feeders in a separate tank from your pacús until feeding time. Your pacús will grow no matter what you feed them.

LA
Here's a three-foot pacú. We watched him eat a branch from a willow tree.

LA
We rarely see black pacús these days -- 18-incher at Wet Pet Outlet in Eldora, Iowa.

Last Word. Pacús easily grow to 12 inches their first year. Most people should not try to keep pacús. Just enjoy looking at them. And please do not bring any more to Aqualand. “We gots lots,” as Kellie says. LA.

Brandi Kanselaar, Redfield, IA, April 28, 2008
I'm from Redfield, Iowa (approx 30 west of Des Moines). I just read your page on Pacus -- don't worry...I'm not wanting to give mine up. I just wanted to share my story and pictures.

I bought two of them and they started in a 55 gallon tank until they were about a foot long. I then moved them to a 125 gallon tank. I named them Jack and Jill.

Jack got huge -- he was at least 20" long and about 3" thick.

Jill got big -- but not as big as Jack -- only about 2/3 the size.

As luck would have it, I inherited a 350 gallon tank for free. It was originally set up at a reef tank, but I converted it so Jack and Jill could use it. They thrived.

Unfortunately, I lost my Jack last week. He was 12 years old. He seemed fine, then one morning I found him upside down on the bottom of the tank. I miss him. He was my tamest Pacu.

I still have Jill and she seems to enjoy being the only "big" fish in her tank now. She shares it with a 6" Pleco and an adult Rainbow Shark. I've tried introducing new fish into her tank her same size (I once bought a sizeable Oscar). Alas, she picked on him constantly so he had to be moved.

Anyway, I thought you'd enjoy these pictures. I use these for people who think about getting these fish just because "they get big" and they hear me talking about them. But sometimes I don't think fish owners understand just how big. Feel free to use these on your site if you wish. They may help with explaining size!

A: Hey, I know where Redfield is. In the pre-Aqualand days, Redfield had a retail aquarium store run by the Krauses. They later moved to Des Moines. Before their retail store, there was a wholesaler (C&K) to the south. The murder of the proprietress caused them to go out of business. Now you may know about Redfield than you wanted.
Thanks for the pacú pictures. One of our employees now has nearly a dozen eating him out of house and home. He says if I give him any more, he's going to start eating them. I'll add your report to our pacú page. LA