This morning I was looking in a neighbored fish fry shop and saw some black Pacu which I like very much as in Venezuela I remember them as really tasty and also they have a handy size of their spines

The price for 5 cm size was 10 Bath which I found a little high as the reproduction of a single pair is enourmous.

Has anyone a supplier to compare prices?

If close to Udon Thani also the local market would be comparable...

Thanks,

Derk

Sounds expensive. We bought off a local supplier who just drives round spruiking his wares. From memory he charged 50 baht for a bag of 20 of about 5cm. Mind you they are quite voracious and not easy to catch with a net.

Sounds expensive. We bought off a local supplier who just drives round spruiking his wares. From memory he charged 50 baht for a bag of 20 of about 5cm. Mind you they are quite voracious and not easy to catch with a net.

If anything like Red Pacu, should be good fun on a rod and line though.

Is there a market for black pacu here, are they a good eating type of fish? I have never seen them offered up for sale as food.

Sounds expensive. We bought off a local supplier who just drives round spruiking his wares. From memory he charged 50 baht for a bag of 20 of about 5cm. Mind you they are quite voracious and not easy to catch with a net.

Well I know how much they can eat, but also as fast they grow

Thanks for confirming my feeling regarding the price.

Is there a market for black pacu here, are they a good eating type of fish? I have never seen them offered up for sale as food.

I also have only seen them on fishing reports here, not on the market.

May be one has just to find a farang restaurant and offer the first fish free to try - they have excellent firm flesh and are super easy to eat as the bones have the diameter of little fingers when they are adult

Bye,

Derk

Sounds expensive. We bought off a local supplier who just drives round spruiking his wares. From memory he charged 50 baht for a bag of 20 of about 5cm. Mind you they are quite voracious and not easy to catch with a net.

If anything like Red Pacu, should be good fun on a rod and line though.

spot on

My mother-in-law is raising these up in Sukhothai with great success. She bought 60 fish, about 1-inch long, for 3 baht each. And yes, I'm positive they are Pacu.

Ken

They are easy to catch with a pink rubber curled flat tail lure (Power Grub) on a standard hook, especially if they have gone unfed for a couple of days. Use a cork and fish a foot deep with the sun low on the horizon but still light enough so they can see the bait. They patrol a wide area at these times, but noon and night they find a quiet dark place to relax. If you don't have a bite within a minute you are doing something wrong. They take the bait hard and fast and fight like hell. If you are using light line set your drag easy, keep your pole up and let them wear themselves out before trying to pull one ashore. They have teeth so you might use a heavier line for the leader if you tie your own hooks, but in most cases (3 out of 4) they are hooked in the lip so only metal touches teeth. If they have a place to hide they will drag out line to go there so it's easy to end up tangled in branches or plants, or line cut on obstacles. Something tells me Pacu would make a very good plaa sam rot, plaa raat prik, and maybe even plaa nueng manaaw. But personally, I've never eaten one. My Thai wife wouldn't let me because she considered them pets.

http://fishbase.org/summary/Piaractus-brachypomus.html

http://gillhamsfishingresorts.com/fish_library/black_pacu/black_pacu.html

http://www.siamfishingtours.com/pacu.html

http://fishingthailandfishing.com/our_fish.htm

I've always known Pacu as the fruit eating cousins of the Piranha. Good eating in Brazil. Different dentistry to their cousins. (At 40 kilos, good job too.)

Bugs pacu.

regards.