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Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / July 2004I may owe WalMart, PetSmart apology--
:-) I have long railed against Wal Mart and Petsmart for selling Pacu and claiming an adult size of only 10 or 11 inches -- common knowledge is that Pacus grow into huge fish. My issue was that they were selling these wonderful fish to people with "small" hundred gallon setups, another example of cruelty to fish. I think that sales are important enough to them that they are unconcerned with the safety of the animals they sell -- they sell Oscars to people with ten gallon "aquariums" without a bit of conscience. However, I recently visited Fishbase and discovered that there are 10 or 15 species in the Amazon basin that bear the name "Pacu", and a goodly portion of them only grow to between 9 and 14 inches. They're like Gouramis, I guess, with a couple of giant versions and some small. I'm still not happy with a lot of Walmart and Petsmart's aquaria practices, but I may owe them an apology for the Pacu thing. I'm crossposting into RAFC because: 1.) We've discussed this in a couple of threads, and 2.) All Pacus *want* to be Cichlids. Fishbase is (I think I remember) www dot fishbase dot com. Might be Org -- --Mark Mark Stone tractorlegs at msn dot kom OSCAR Lovers! http://www.geocities.com/cichlidiot_2000/oscar.html The ".Edu" meens i are smart. > :-) > [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > > --Mark To be devil's advocate, I buy commercial volumes of fish from multiple suppliers including two major importers, and none of them offer any Pacu variants, other than the 2 color morphs which both grow to obscene sizes. I also don't see any commercial interest in supplying a small Pacu, as that's called a Silver dollar (from a retail perspective). The is also a further disinterest in supplying yet another silver fish, as there is already a glut of them available. Commercially, almost any colour is preferable to silver. Would the vendors you mentioned have access to different farms which were harvesting a fish to compete with the already established Silver dollar contrary to the existing non-interest in more silver fish..... ya, sure, whatever ;~)  Signaturewww.NetMax.tk > To be devil's advocate, I buy commercial volumes of fish from multiple > suppliers including two major importers, and none of them offer any Pacu [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > contrary to the existing non-interest in more silver fish..... ya, sure, > whatever ;~) Go take a look at their listings and tell me what you think (www.fishbase.com). As far as "small Pacu", the 10 to 16 inch sizes for some of these other variations are certainly small compared to the biggie Pacus, but in context to Aquaria that is quite large. --Mark > > To be devil's advocate, I buy commercial volumes of fish from multiple > > suppliers including two major importers, and none of them offer any Pacu [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > --Mark One of my transhippers got back to me today. He has been told that the fish he sells is Metynnis maculatus, and if this is true, then fishbase reports it as growing to 7". I'm waiting for my other transhipper to reply. I know that I have sold Pacus which are today (1 year later) about 7", so their growth rate suggests that are not done growing yet, but I might be completely wrong. Other Pacus (12"+) I've encountered in the store were purchased by customers before we were open for business, so perhaps the trade might have moved to a smaller variety. You might be right. I believe the expression is "If you have to eat crow, better that it's young and tender rather than old and tough" ;~) Signaturewww.NetMax.tk > To be devil's advocate, I buy commercial volumes of fish from multiple > suppliers including two major importers, and none of them offer any Pacu [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > contrary to the existing non-interest in more silver fish..... ya, sure, > whatever ;~) Go take a look at their listings and tell me what you think (www.fishbase.com). As far as "small Pacu", the 10 to 16 inch sizes for some of these other variations are certainly small compared to the biggie Pacus, but in context to Aquaria that is quite large. --Mark > :-) > [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > > --Mark I guess that sportfishing with bait is out of the question huh? SignatureJK Sinrod Sinrod Stained Glass Studios www.sinrodstudios.com Coney Island Memories www.sinrodstudios.com/coneymemories > I guess that sportfishing with bait is out of the question huh? Certainly not. Different issues here. Walmart and Petsmart are selling live animals to people specifically to be pets. To sell an animal knowing you are placing them in a situation that they are going to die needlessly, and doing so simply for profit, is what I take issue with. However, I do buy small goldfish for the purpose of feeding my Oscars and don't believe there's a moral issue with that. Frankly, I've never thought Sportfishing is cruel to bait or not; I don't think there's a moral issue there. --Mark |
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