Reporter finds new home for his fish

[fish_doc]

This is an adoption story with a happy ending. It involves two very large South American fish, many servings of bananas and dog biscuits, and finally, a long, wet drive to Dallas.
As I write this, the pair of huge black pacu that had long occupied a 200-gallon fish tank in my bedroom in San Antonio, are settling into new quarters at the Bass Pro Shop in Grapevine.
Soon, the two "colossoma macropomum," as the Latins call them, will be enjoying an 8,000-gallon tank, stars of an Amazon fish exhibit that will open later this fall.
But finding them a new home was a tricky task. A full-grown pacu is sort of like a 200-pound pot-bellied pig or an overgrown teenager with social problems: The adoption market is a bit weak.
Some frustrated pacu owners dump their unwanted fish into the nearest lake or river. This can lead to newspaper headlines about giant "vegetarian piranhas" caught by some stunned angler.
And while mine would have fared just fine in the Guadalupe River, dining on water lily tubers, that wasn't a legal option. So what to do?
It was obvious several years ago that the fish needed a new home.
And long before the Bass Pro folks agreed to adopt them, I shopped them hard, getting the brush-off from Cabela's Sporting Goods in Buda, the San Antonio Zoo, the Texas State Aquarium, Texas State University and various pet shops with large tanks.
Mostly, I got tired jokes about fried fish. Again, not an option.
"I get about one pacu call a week," remarked a patient lady at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi.
Last year, I even ran a "free pacu to good home" classified ad in the Express-News, which drew some unusual but unrealistic local offers.
But that's getting ahead of things. For me, the pacu story began a decade ago when my son and I bought a small, round fish in a local pet store.
The big-eyed critter handled himself nicely in a rough-and-tumble tank that included other native fish, turtles and a small caiman, and he ate whatever we threw at him.
While pacu are hardy and entertaining creatures, they have the unfortunate tendency to grow very, very large, like 30 or 40 pounds, which makes them a favorite dish in the Amazon.
They can also live a very long time, and not surprisingly, some people get very attached to them.
If you Google "pacu fish," you will find tender testimonials as well as familiar questions about what to do when they get too big.
One Canadian lady, who had owned her black pacu for 25 years, described constructing a 3,300-gallon tank in her living room for her three-foot monster.
"My husband has to physically get inside the tank with a mask/snorkel to clean the inside of the glass, and when he's in there, the Pacu is always right beside him, will even let Miles pet him. He is truly our baby!" gushed Debra online.
No way was I going that route.
But who could have foreseen all this complex high drama back in the Clinton Administration when our first pacu arrived, a cute 2-incher with a good appetite.
Dining royally on fruit, shrimp, beef, chopped fish, zucchini, figs, raw potatoes and Milkbone dog biscuits, he grew quickly.
By the time he hit 2 feet in length a decade later, he was a jaw-dropping crowd pleaser, both for his immensity and his food tricks. Some viewers also claimed to communicate with him.
A guaranteed cheap thrill at the many children's parties held at my house over the years was the sight of a large, slate-gray fish delicately eating a floating banana.
My first pacu started out in a 50-gallon tank, graduated to a 135, and then moved up to what seemed like a spacious 200-gallon one. But he seemed bored and lonely.
So about five years ago, I bought a second pacu to amp up his social schedule, and tank life quickly got a lot more interesting.
Pacus, it turned out, do a lot of jawing and gumming of each other. They are also subject to spectacular panic attacks.
And when the fish politics went critical, it was time to head for high ground. Tidal waves occurred regularly in my bedroom, and I'd also occasionally find smashed aquarium cover glass on the floor.
Eventually, it was clear that even the 200-gallon tank — nearly 7 feet long and 2 feet deep — was too small. The bigger fish, weighing about 20 pounds, could barely turn around.
I was also getting a lot of low-grade lobbying from my girlfriend, president of the local "Pacu Welfare Society," to secure larger quarters for the fish.
It seems that several years ago, while she was convalescing from a back operation, she and the large pacu formed a deep interspecies bond through the half-inch plate glass.
And he wanted more room. So something had to give.
In June, with the help of two large teenage boys, I moved the two fish to my backyard goldfish pond. The operation required a big net, two stout laundry baskets and many, many towels.
In July, I moved a new 300-gallon tank into the bedroom with the help of eight guys. But after filling it, I stopped short of inviting my two Amazon buddies back inside.
I was tired of mopping floors. And I knew they would eventually outgrow the new digs.
So, it was back on the telephone, using all my reporter wiles to find a placement, no home study required.
In early August, I got lucky: Debbi Crain at Bass Pro Shop corporate headquarters in Missouri said the chain's Grapevine store was creating an Amazon exhibit.
And pacu, like pea**************** bass, are a signature Amazon fish.
Because mine were so large and ate bananas on cue, they were just the ticket. On Sept. 13, the Bass Pro Shop sent a special truck and pacu transport team to San Antonio. They were not disappointed.
"Biggest pacu I've ever seen," said Dave, one of the Bass Pro guys.
After a brief wet tussle in the backyard, both fish were netted and safely loaded up for the five-hour drive north. At last report, they are doing well in Grapevine.
Back in San Antonio, bedroom floods and broken glass are now history, but we don't get much back from the Mexican tetras, tin-foil barbs and loaches in the 300-gallon tank.
It's a duller, drier place, leaving me relieved but with one worry. What happens at the next kid's party when a bright-eyed 6-year-old suggests we go feed bananas to the big fish?
Yikes, young earthlings! Maybe it's time to whack the piñata.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/salife/p...u.1660801.html

[fish_doc]

Just a reminder to those who want a pretty little pacu. Dont worry its not very big. He is still a baby.

DONT GET IT!!!

[CVV1]

Some fisherman and his wife were actually fishing and got a Pacu up here in NORTH DAKOTA!!!!! It was in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago!

[fish_doc]

Its people that release fish into the wild like that, that are going to ruin the hobby for all of us. The government will keep adjusting the laws until it is only legal to keep fish native in your area. That way if people release them it wont harm the natural resourses as much.