Tank size necessary for full grown Pacu / Tinfoil Barb?

[Desertrat]

Yes, I have experience in the hobby and yes, I still fell for the Pacu and the Tinfoil barb. I've got a 100 gallon setup right now and everyone is still happy (2 pacu and 3 barb). But I imagine fairly quickly they'll begin outgrowing my tank.

Can anyone tell me what the necessary tank size to accomodate all 5 of these fish when they reach maturity (which I understand is anywhere from 30-36" long)? Based on the response, I may upgrade my setup or return here shortly with some fish available for rescue.

Thanks for your patience.

[TaTeR ToT]

350g or larger.

[wesleydnunder]

350g or larger.

+1

Mark

[TaTeR ToT]

if its the red bellied pacus they get 20-24"tl.

the tinfoils get to be around 10-12"tl.

with 2x pacus and 3 barbs i would say honestly your are going to need a
8'x4'x2.5' tank so somewhere in the 600g range.

for filtration i would do 2x eheim 2262's a giant diy wetdry with a small pool pump (like a flotech 1/2 hp) for a retun, and several maxijet mods for water movement.

[Desertrat]

Thanks for the responses :) That's a tad larger than I was thinking. Is there a minimum linear dimension? For example, the 300 gallon tanks I've been seeing are usually about 37-40" in width, which seems minimal.

[TaTeR ToT]

keep in mind those pacus when fullgrown are going to s*** like a small dog, so you are going to need some massive ungodly filtration.

[Desertrat]

sadly that is outside of my reach. Would the requirements be any different if I kept one of each, or just the pacus, or some combination?

[TaTeR ToT]

honesstly i was being minimal, LOL
think about a 2ft long 20-22" tall fish trying to turn itself around in a even 36" wide tank, its cramped, and you have to account for 2x 24"l x22"t fish doing this at the rate and speed that pacus tend to swim, which is pretty darn quick, also, they are always moving,t hese fish rarely stay in one place.
so a long tank minimal 8ft is gunna be nessarry.
honestly if it were me, i would keep and adult pair of rbps in anything less then a 10'x4'x3' 900g tank.
picture to toyota camry tires swimming your tank.
lol

also, pacus tend to spook easilly, a 10" rbp can smash heater and crack a 55g tank, so picture a 2ft one getting spooked, not pretty, so if you do go with a massive tank, get acrylic, it will take the beating better with less chance of cracking.

[TaTeR ToT]

with one pacu, your minimal size would decrease alot, with one full grown pacu and like 5 full grown tinfoil barbs i would say a custom 400g 6ftx3ftx3ft would be ok, but your still going to need ridiculous amounts of filtration.

jonh crowder aka fshfrk could probably help you build one of his signature MASSIVE diy wetdrys that no joke are probably good for atleast a 500g tank.
and they are relativley inexpensive, for what they accomplish, to buy something as beasty as one of his wetdrys would be like $500+ with the pump, you can probably do it with a mag 18 for under $300.

then i would get either 2x fluval fx5's or 2x eheim 2262's.

and like 2 maxi jet 1200's with sureflow mods.

total for setup would probably be around $1000- $1200 bucks depending on the types of deals you get.

[Desertrat]

I could definitely go that price. My house isn't large enough for a 900 gal, never mind my wallet. I apologize for being a complete noob but does that include the tank? fshfrk is a person on this forum? I'll try and find him :) Thanks for your help! The visuals were very effective.

[PhishPhreek]

I kept 6 - 6" tenfoil barbs in a 140 for a while but they were only 1 year old.

[stevenallenbarnard]

what are the dimensions of your 100gal? instead of going with one huge tank in the fututre you could possable do say 2 7 foot 210 gallons. (I remember when I thought a 7' 210gal tank was huge.) and even now filtration could begin to become an issure for you as pacu and TF barbs do eat a lot. Of course, if you go to Mambo seafood restaurant, one of their seasonal specials is fried pacu ribs in chipotle sauce. I wasn't brave enough to try it, but you never know how it might taste with some lemon and tarter sauce, lol

[TaTeR ToT]

thats messed up man, LOL

[stevenallenbarnard]

no... What's messed up is that the Pacu is the only fish I've ever seen where they were actually serving just the ribs. makes you wonder what happens to all the free pacu you see on craigslist

[Fire_chair]

I've heard they're horrible and practically inedible.