Pacu Lady

Last week we had a total fish disaster....lost nearly all our fish for no apparent reason - our 28 year old Pacu, 30" Black Arrowana, Tin Foil Barbs, full grown Tilapia, buckets and buckets of Africans. It's been a week and we're still in shock, but starting to rebuild and re-stock. My question is...does anyone know of any place in Calgary, or Southern Alberta that would do a fish necropsy so we can determine what happened? Any info is greatly appreciated....

Sorry for the poor quality....will practice some more...

oops....sorry....this was supposed to be in 'Bottom of the Barrel'

Well, after months of trying, we finally found a new home for our Tiger Shovelnose Cat....at the West Edmonton Mall. After starting our regular day on Friday at 4:30 am, putting in a full day's work, and going to the casino for Mother's Day (oops!)....we started the whole operation at midnight. Aftern an hour's worth of work getting everything ready, my husband got into the tank to catch the TSN. After much chasing, breaking water, knocking a couple of lights out, and ramming my hubby in the leg (he said it felt like getting hit by a hammer), 45 minutes later, he finally netted the TSN, and put him into a jumbo pillow case. He handed him off to me at the top of the ladder and it was my job to climb down & put him in the toter (as a rule I don't touch fish!)....so I stuck him under my arm like a big old football and started down. It actually wasn't too bad, except that he kept making the creepiest grunts and groans along the way. He's at least 12 pounds and didn't struggle at all (thank goodness!), until I put him in the toter....then I had an instant shower. After cleaning up and loading him into the back seat of our truck, we were able to hit the road by 3:30 am.....arriving in Edmonton at 9:30 am. We drove down into the bowels of the mall to unload him....awesome setup they have...dozens of holding tanks, probably 200 or more pumps and filters to run the aquariums, water park, fountains, seal tank, and submarine ride. We were taken on a tour of all the tanks from the back side4.....the tanks line the walls of the submarine ride, and that is the only way to see the fish when you are in the mall. Great tanks....freshwater and marine....lots of Pacus, Irridescent Sharks, a HUGE Red Tailed Cat, native Alberta game fish, reef tank, and 3 Giant Sea Turtles....I even stuck my hand in & petted them (sheesh....twice in one day....what am I thinking?) TSN will be in a Q tank for a bit, then transferred to one of the main tanks for viewing.....so glad we found someplace for him where he will be well cared for.

My husband used fibreglass and resin, with a topcoat of gel-coat in our tanks.....works real well....

We had our 412 gallon wooden tank running for about 15 years and it had been cut apart & refiberglassed back together twice after having been moved. The 3240 gallon has been running for 2 years now....no problems whatsoever....

Ours also like shrimp pellets and dried peas & lentils.

No humidity problems at all....

:rofl:

Thanks everyone! The dimensions of the tank are 12'L x 6'H x 6'W It is constructed of 2x4 (4" on centre) and 1 1/2" thick plywood, held together with 36 yards of fibreglass matting, 10 gallons of resin and 10 gallons of gel-coat. The two panes of glass measure 5' x 3' x 3/4" thick.

Well, I've never had them that small....ours has probably doubled in size since we got him. We're also feeding every day & he eats a lot! Maybe someone else can give you advice on how fast they grow from a smaller size.

Another of the tank - you can just see my husband off to the left....

Pacu with his little friends....

Pacu and Tiger Shovelnose

Here's our tank....

We're not sure how old he is - we've had him for about 1.5 years, so we're guessing maybe 4-5 years..... Thanks, johnsmith.... -07-

oops - here is Sharky with his friends....

Our Iridescent Shark is about 24-26" and is one of our fish with personality! He has a permanent "smudge" on the top of his head from hitting the top of the tank - he loves to break water! He will "vacuum" the surface when it's feeding time - he loves Hikari pellets & Milk Bones! He is a velvety black with shiny silver underbelly. He will also try to school with the Tin Foil Barbs. When my husband is in the tank, Sharky is real curious & is constantly underfoot & investigating what he is doing. This was a "pity" purchase - he was all head & eyeballs when we brought him home, and I never was a big Iridescent fan, but he has turned out to be one of our favorites!

ABwildrose - I saw that fish as well last week - very pretty! Couldn't find anything on it in the books we have either.....

Thanks! - my husband built it - it is 12'L x 6'H x 6'W and is constructed of 2x4 - 4" on centre and 1 1/2" thick plywood, held together with 36 yards of fiberglass matting, 10 gallons of resin, and 10 gallons of gel-coat. There are 2 panes of glass that measure 5' x 3' x 3/4" thick. The tank is powered by a 3 hp pump that pumps about 9000 gallons per hour, with a 3/4 hp backup that will pump about 4500 gallons per hour. Filtration is provided by 3 swimming pool sand filters - there are 3 x 4" suction lines to the filters and 2 x 2", 12' long return lines back to the tank. Approximately 1/2 ton of gravel covers the bottom of the tank and there are about 1/4 ton of large rocks and slate inside. There is a 5' tree stump in one corner with a 12' limb off a local apple tree that spans the tank. It's been a lot of work, but we needed to accomodate our "baby" of 25 years! :baby:

Thanks! You can join my husband in there - he's the one who goes in the tank for glass cleaning & housekeeping. Will get some pictures posted soon....

Hello from Lethbridge, Alberta! My husband and I have been keeping fish for 25 years. We currently have: 20 gallon tank - 4 x clown loaches 1 x Frieberg's Peacock 3240 gallon tank - 25 year old Black Pacu 5 year old "baby" Pacu 28" Tiger Shovelnose Cat 28" Black Arrowana 26" Irridescent Shark 12" Tilapia 4 x full grown Tin Foil Barbs 5 x 12" Plecostamus 5 x Synodontis Eurpterus Cats 200 - 250 African Cichlids Totally agree that Gold's is the best - we buy all our Africans from them! :thumbs: