Don't stock Pacu (fish) in your pond

[Stevemercer]

Pacu are a 'vegetarian' piranha from South America that are readily available in Thailand. I'm not sure what the Thai name is. They can grow up to 5 kg in 3 years. They are notable for their flat teeth, used to crush nuts, which resemble a humans. Pros are that they grow fast, are good fighters when hooked, and are impressive looking. The big ones are OK to eat. The cons are that they will eat every bit of vegetation in your pond, including water lilies and other attractive plants. They will undermine banks and concrete walls looking for food. 

 

I made the mistake in stocking them. We used to have attractive lilies etc. When the water rose during the last wet season they decimated the newly submerged banks creating erosion problems when the water went down. I'm trying to fish them out, but it is a slow process. They are fairly smart and go to ground if they detect a struggling fish on the line. You need to use a wire trace as they have sharp gill rakers that cut nylon fishing line. 

 

They have also been introduced to Papua New Guinea where they are known as 'ball snatchers' because of their habit of biting of human testicles when people are swimming naked. I  guess they mistake them for some kind of new and delicious nut...

[55Jay]

How are you getting them out?  By line (fishing) or net? 

 

 

 

[chickenslegs]

Nice catch Steve.

 

Good looking fish too.

[how241]

Nice fish...Good eating ??

[impulse]

I throw nymphs at them when fishing at Pilot 111.  Great fun on a 3-4 weight fly rod.  6-8 weight rod makes it more efficient, but not as fun.

 

BTW, I use a doubled up piece of braid for my tippet. Lots more bites than using a steel leader.  They may cut one trace, but they haven't cut both yet.  I retie when either trace  gets worn.  

 

Edited June 26, 2017 by impulse

[Minnehaha]

Jesus.

Do they really bite testicles?

 

Anyway. Thanks OP for the post re stocking these fish. Useful to know about stocking s thing other than the usual tilapia or whatever

[lucjoker]

3 hours ago, 55Jay said:

How are you getting them out?  By line (fishing) or net? 

 

 

 

Best is to use your balls .................

[retarius]

Looks like a bla chalamet

[Stevemercer]

I'm using a fishing line with 6 pound line and a wire trace. They are strong and dogged fighters and it takes about 30 minutes to land a typical 3 - 4 kg fish on this gear. They immediately go off the bite if you lose one or they pick up the vibration from a struggling fish. 

 

They will eat anything, including kitchen scraps. They love coconut. While supposedly vegetarian, they take to eating dead fish and meat very quickly. I put in 4 dozen fingerlings 2 years ago and probably have about one dozen still to catch before I am rid of them. Within one year they had eaten all our lilies and other pond vegetation.

 

They are OK to eat, nothing special, but have many bones. They are good in a stew or soup.

Edited June 26, 2017 by Stevemercer

[phantomfiddler]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

I throw nymphs at them when fishing at Pilot 111.  Great fun on a 3-4 weight fly rod.  6-8 weight rod makes it more efficient, but not as fun.

 

BTW, I use a doubled up piece of braid for my tippet. Lots more bites than using a steel leader.  They may cut one trace, but they haven't cut both yet.  I retie when either trace  gets worn.  

 

Hare and Copper or Pheasant Tail ?

[Juan B Tong]

1. Dynamite

2. Electricity

Perhaps some general can provide grenades.

[bangkokairportlink]

What a lovely fish <3

[natway09]

Chuck a few of those child molesters in there

[steve73]

I had a few of those about 4-5kg... They would take down an almost fully grown Thai chicken if one fell short when crossing the pond..

Their favourite food (and excellent for bait) was calf droppings (which were like 1/2" rabbit poop. 

I usually put them back as they were a great sport fish on light tackle.

I never had problems swimming with them, but my dog refused to swim once they got too big..

[JohnJay]

I have given up stocking our pond with anything now. Local guy comes around at night every few months with a car battery and clears all the ponds out.

[rickudon]

Would have to disagree with most of what you say from my own experience. First, Pacu teeth are not flat - those at the front are more like a saw! The stories of them biting off your balls are a rural myth - there are no proven documented cases, although it is theoretically possible.  I have stocked my pond with Pacu (plaa Jeramid) about 5 years ago and found them easy to catch (well, at least up to the Kilo mark), once getting 3 on consecutive casts with different baits ........  Not noticed water lilies disappearing or banks being unduly eroded. They certainly do not eat grass!

 

Of course, how one type of fish behave in one particular water can vary. Pacu although theoretically herbivores actually seem to be more omnivores - they will eat just about anything, including fish. Most fish in Thailand will eat some types of vegetation, pak bong will be stripped of leaves within days if fish can get at it. There are a lot of stories made up by Thais due to their own prejudices about certain fish, usual one is carp erode the pond banks, my wife doesn't like Jeramid because she thinks they eat to many fish. Actually most bank erosion in Thailand is due to either/or -

 

banks being too steep.

 

heavy  rain.

 

worms and other invertebrates which actively burrow in the banks. 

 

I have 4 ponds on our farm, with different species mixes, all suffer some bank erosion, although only one had Jeramid. Maybe you had to many, though by the looks of them they seem to be well fed, Do you have any other types of fish in the ponds? Did you actually see the jeramid eating the lilies, or did they just disappear? Could be other reasons. Never saw mine chewing at leaves, they preferred higher calorie snacks.

 

Usually Jeramid do not breed in ponds - but a friend of mine has some that breed prolifically. Different environment different results.

[LisuLover]

Sounds like 'tea bagging' should attract them to the surface.  Have the wife standing by a harpoon gun.  Haha.

 

[Stevemercer]

I think they eat lilies and other water plants if stocked at a high rate. I have many species in two ponds. My first pond had many lilies and other aquatic plants which were consumed once the pacu got to 500 gm or so. There were probably 50 or so in this pond which has a surface area of about 500 square metres. Far too many. I have another half dozen or so in another pond and, so far, they haven't touched the lilies.

 

In the TV series 'River Monsters' Jeremy Quade(?) tracked down cases in PNG were men had been killed by Pacu tearing off their balls (they subsequently bled to death). So there are verifiable cases. I don't think they are normally dangerous, but it might be best to avoid swimming naked if pacu around!

[kannot]

I have 5 species in the pond  but to be honest I dont know  much about them, am not a  fishy person  just  like to see them and feed  them, As  Far as I  know I have Pla Nin, Pla Bua ( giant Mekong  Catfish 4 of) some smaller catfish the  Thais  like , TabTim a  red Tilipia and Silver Barb ( not sure the Thai  name) They are  pretty large  now maybe 50cm long

Occasionally catch them by throwing the net in  when they are being fed as they are everywhere at this  time and easy to catch.

Use to catch them by stringing a net across the water but after 4  successful catches they seemed to learn to avoid it, next tried  hook and prawns, worked great for a few  weeks and then again they seemed to learn to avoid  it. Now we  just throw  the net over them with the metal chains on and that gets  them as they are so greedy when the food  comes they just cant help themselves.

I dont eat any of them , they taste too fishy for me, Wife occasionally has some and  local friends etc.

Pond varies in depth from 1.5 to 8 metres  deep and is about 1  rai.

Tried water  lillies but waste of  time as the buggers  eat the lot within 2  days no matter how  big a  clump you put  in, even used a macro to take a massive load out of neighbours  pond  but they still hogged  it  all.

Would  like some vegetation but  not sure what else to put in??

There must be over 4000 fish in there, probably need  thinning  out

[Hutch68]

8 minutes ago, kannot said:

I have 5 species in the pond  but to be honest I dont know  much about them, am not a  fishy person  just  like to see them and feed  them, As  Far as I  know I have Pla Nin, Pla Bua ( giant Mekong  Catfish 4 of) some smaller catfish the  Thais  like , TabTim a  red Tilipia and Silver Barb ( not sure the Thai  name) They are  pretty large  now maybe 50cm long

Occasionally catch them by throwing the net in  when they are being fed as they are everywhere at this  time and easy to catch.

Use to catch them by stringing a net across the water but after 4  successful catches they seemed to learn to avoid it, next tried  hook and prawns, worked great for a few  weeks and then again they seemed to learn to avoid  it. Now we  just throw  the net over them with the metal chains on and that gets  them as they are so greedy when the food  comes they just cant help themselves.

I dont eat any of them , they taste too fishy for me, Wife occasionally has some and  local friends etc.

Pond varies in depth from 1.5 to 8 metres  deep and is about 1  rai.

Tried water  lillies but waste of  time as the buggers  eat the lot within 2  days no matter how  big a  clump you put  in, even used a macro to take a massive load out of neighbours  pond  but they still hogged  it  all.

Would  like some vegetation but  not sure what else to put in??

There must be over 4000 fish in there, probably need  thinning  out

your tilapia and barbs will be munching your plants... leave the lake as it is it looks great, if you want to thin things down add some alligator gar some big arapima and some mr shado to level things out a bit... big ones.

[Stevemercer]

I recommend the alligator gar (native to North America). You can buy the fingerlings for about 100 baht or so. You will only need 10 -20 for a pond of that size. They grow quickly and help take out the tilipia and barbs.

 

Alligator gar can grow up to 100 kg and are air breathers, so you can see them when they surface. The fingerlings will only take 12 months to get up to a few kg. They are harmless to humans, but have a snout full of very sharp teeth which you must avoid if you happen to catch one.

 

Arapima are another air breathing fish that grow very large and love tilipia and barbs. However, I haven't been able to find a cheap source of fingerlings (up Khon Kaen way).

[Hutch68]

If your struggling to find some mr kanot I can grow you a few up to about a 1 kilo... how I would send them down to you I don't know.. try some redtail catfish they grow very quick, You will be able to get all these fish from Bangkok.

[rickudon]

Getting the rarer fish, particularly if you only want a few, is always an issue when you live up country (I am in Udon). Locally only have 2 places which sell fingerlings and that is limited to the common species (tilapia, Java barb, walking catfish, common carp, 'Isok' (actually Indian Rohu) and sometimes striped catfish. Anything else is just pot luck on the day (once got Catla), but been waiting years for Giant Gourami. I get told by other expats they got fish from such and such a place but it always is some farm miles away and they cannot give directions .... or i go there and no longer operating. The family only interested in ones you can eat so not much help!

 

On stocking density, i had 50 pacu as fingerlings in a 3 rai pond. I think only one or 2 left now, i caught most of the rest, ate some. . Last stocking didn't seem to work very well, saw a few but no sightings for months (usually easy to spot if water is even a little bit clear, look for the black tails). I have a weed problem, as pond to shallow.

Edited June 29, 2017 by rickudon