# Pacu fish caught at Skeeter



## CatchNrelease (Mar 20, 2011)

I saw on facebook Mosquito Lake Marina posted a picture of a huge Pacu fish a guy caught. It's a south american fresh water fish related to the Piranha. I'm guessing somebody dumped it their out of there aquarium? How else would it of got there.


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## fontinalis (Mar 29, 2011)

Either someone has a very large aquarium, or these things are getting more acclimated to our cold winter climate....not good.


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## FISHIN216 (Mar 18, 2009)

a few people caught those ugly fish at 72nd power plant water hot discharge a few years ago

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## BaddFish (Jun 20, 2009)

bad timing for that kid in the background!


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

BaddFish said:


> bad timing for that kid in the background!


Good eyes.....When you got to go, you got to go....



But I think he may be fishing... FUNNY though...


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## LilSiman/Medina (Nov 30, 2010)

I saw those fish on river monsters. He said that people dump them all the time. You can get them at any pet store. They said the paco would eat my bullhead so I couldn't get one lol. 

But beside the point hopefully there's probably not very many and there most likely not producing.


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

After thinking about it, I have to call BS!! That fish didn't come out of skeeter. No way, just a publicity stunt. I don't even believe it was caught from skeeter by accident, probably died in someones aquarium and they brought it to the lake looking for fame. Bs I say!! Prove me wrong.....


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## BassMeister (May 31, 2012)

If snakeheads can migrate all over the USA water systems, I do not see why other non-native freshwater fish can't do the same.


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

BassMeister said:


> If snakeheads can migrate all over the USA water systems, I do not see why other non-native freshwater fish can't do the same.


Really? Most fish are "designed" to live in a particular environment. Pacu are not designed to live in Ohio. If they were, they'd be here already. 

Robby (Katfish) caught one a few years back while we were fishing for bluegills. Just a small one, people dump them all the time apparently. If I'm not mistaken, they're primarily vegetarians. They aren't like piranha's other than appearance. People have been catching the occasional pacu and piranha for as long as I can remember, so I doubt there's any reason to think they're going to spread all over the country.


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## moosejohn (Feb 25, 2010)

yes they are primarily vegitarians and will not survive our cold winters i have raised these before in aquriums they can get much larger than the one shown some people release them when they outgrow there aquarium so occasionaly somebody catchs one


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## Ntflyer (Aug 6, 2008)

They call this thing the "Ball Cutter" because of what it has done to natives in the river systems, the mouth is loaded with large molar like teeth, do NOT swim naked!


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## celtic11 (Jun 30, 2011)

moosejohn said:


> yes they are primarily vegitarians and will not survive our cold winters i have raised these before in aquriums they can get much larger than the one shown some people release them when they outgrow there aquarium so occasionaly somebody catchs one


These fish can outgrow a piranha by a solid 1' at least. People don't realize this and the pet store employees don't know, and if they do they don't educate. I worked in a pet store for a couple years and was an avid fish keeper for several years. There are many species that shouldn't be allowed to be purchased at a pet store and IMO this is one of them. People by them because they look like piranha and hardly anyone has an appropriate sized tank to house these monsters when they get big enough. There are a handful of other fish as well than can unfortunately be purchased at the local fish store for less than $10 that are capable of growing to 3'.

Its the same thing you see going on with the Burmese Python. No one, outside of a zoo or specially trained people, should be able to purchase a snake at a pet store for $100 that will someday reach 20' in length and require four adults to carry it when its time to feed it a pig. There needs to be some kind of regulation. People don't realize how big 20' is which is why they keep showing up in Florida, eating livestock.

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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

celtic11 said:


> These fish can outgrow a piranha by a solid 1' at least. People don't realize this and the pet store employees don't know, and if they do they don't educate. I worked in a pet store for a couple years and was an avid fish keeper for several years. There are many species that shouldn't be allowed to be purchased at a pet store and IMO this is one of them. People by them because they look like piranha and hardly anyone has an appropriate sized tank to house these monsters when they get big enough. There are a handful of other fish as well than can unfortunately be purchased at the local fish store for less than $10 that are capable of growing to 3'.
> 
> Its the same thing you see going on with the Burmese Python. No one, outside of a zoo or specially trained people, should be able to purchase a snake at a pet store for $100 that will someday reach 20' in length and require four adults to carry it when its time to feed it a pig. There needs to be some kind of regulation. People don't realize how big 20' is which is why they keep showing up in Florida, eating livestock.
> 
> Outdoor Hub mobile, the outdoor information engine


Isnt it something how there was an uproar over the idiot that released those animals last year, and rightfully so, which then led to all these new regulations regarding exotic animals. But, exotic snakes taking over the Everglades doesnt trigger any new regulations. Im not one for new laws all the time, but too many people arent smart/responsible enough to own certain animals.


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## Ntflyer (Aug 6, 2008)

http://fishhound.com/article/exotic-fish-found-delco-park

Weird that there was another recently caught in Kettering in Delco Park. Is that near Mosquito?


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## Ntflyer (Aug 6, 2008)

Nope, Kettering is below Dayton, this is sounding a bit 'fishy'!


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## celtic11 (Jun 30, 2011)

Ntflyer said:


> Nope, Kettering is below Dayton, this is sounding a bit 'fishy'!


Im not saying the story is 100% true, but this is a fish that can be purchased at any pet store for not much over $5 and will outgrow a 55 gallon tank in no time. Id venture to say there's more of them swimming around in this area than you'd know. Highly unlikely they make it through a single winter though.

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## BassMeister (May 31, 2012)

M.Magis said:


> Really? Most fish are "designed" to live in a particular environment. *Pacu are not designed to live in Ohio.* If they were, they'd be here already.
> 
> Robby (Katfish) caught one a few years back while we were fishing for bluegills. Just a small one, people dump them all the time apparently. If I'm not mistaken, they're primarily vegetarians. They aren't like piranha's other than appearance. People have been catching the occasional pacu and piranha for as long as I can remember, so I doubt there's any reason to think they're going to spread all over the country.


I am not a fish expert, but I have studied biology in college. *Snake heads are not native to North America*, neither are Pacu.

If snake heads can survive here, and flourish, who's to say Pacu can't?

Just like how Lake Biwa, which produced the WR LM bass, did not even have LM bass till it was stocked in the 20's/30's or so.


Animals and fish can live outside of their natural habitat as long as their is a food source and the climate is within range.


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

BassMeister said:


> Animals and fish can live outside of their natural habitat as long as their is a food source and the *climate is within range*.


That was my point, Pacu can not survive Ohio winters.


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## Ntflyer (Aug 6, 2008)

celtic11 said:


> Im not saying the story is 100% true, but this is a fish that can be purchased at any pet store for not much over $5 and will outgrow a 55 gallon tank in no time. Id venture to say there's more of them swimming around in this area than you'd know. Highly unlikely they make it through a single winter though.
> 
> Outdoor Hub mobile, the outdoor information engine


Could be Mosquito was posting the one caught in Dayton, easy to assume it was caught in Mosquito, I would have thought so as well, but saw this on Fishhound yesterday. I thought this was a saltwater fish, but maybe not


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## Scum_Frog (Apr 3, 2009)

I can proudly prove everyone wrong with this story.....Pacu's CAN survive winters in ohio.....havent u guys all seen the OGF member who caught one on the sandusky river??? I cant think of his name....coolwater?? or coolblue? something like that.....hes a known fisherman and has posted it on here and on his site.....he caught it on a breadball carp fishing i believe....the reason they can live on the sandusky river is because of the hot water discharge.....so in some circumstances they will live an ohio winter!! Here is his youtube video






also his site is www.coolwaterfish.com and it should have his story on there as well.


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## fishngolf (Jul 18, 2009)

I dont remember palm trees at Mosquito either...Im thinking this story is bull..Not saying there is not any Pacu in Mosq, just saying no solid proof.


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## Ben Fishing (Aug 2, 2010)

I've had Pacu's over the years. Their favorite food was grapes. I had Piranha's too. Their favorite food was Goldfish. I can foresee someone dumping them into a lake. They most likely would survive past October here in Ohio. When mine exceeded my tank size I sold them back to the pet shop.


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

Scum_Frog said:


> I can proudly prove everyone wrong with this story.....Pacu's CAN survive winters in ohio.....havent u guys all seen the OGF member who caught one on the sandusky river??? I cant think of his name....coolwater?? or coolblue? something like that.....hes a known fisherman and has posted it on here and on his site.....he caught it on a breadball carp fishing i believe....the reason they can live on the sandusky river is because of the hot water discharge.....so in some circumstances they will live an ohio winter!! Here is his youtube video
> 
> Pacu Movie - YouTube
> 
> also his site is www.coolwaterfish.com and it should have his story on there as well.


I didn&#8217;t watch the video, so the answer may be in there, but how would that prove a pacu survived the winter? Not saying it can&#8217;t happen, obviously it could in theory. Still, that would just be an isolated incident and by no means evidence that the pacu could expand across the USA. Obviously that&#8217;s not possible.


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## Scum_Frog (Apr 3, 2009)

I'm not saying they will spread across the U.S....i dont believe that at all....I am just saying that they're becoming quite common and in the right situation they can live throughout the winter.....like the one i posted....it was caught in fremont where there is a hot water discharge and the water does not freeze in the winter because of it....fish PILE in there in the winter....between shad, carp, goldfish, bowfin, even some pan fish.....its insane. So to me i believe in the right condition they can survive.


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## Ntflyer (Aug 6, 2008)

fishngolf said:


> I dont remember palm trees at Mosquito either...Im thinking this story is bull..Not saying there is not any Pacu in Mosq, just saying no solid proof.


Good catch, there are two small palms in the back, surely NOT Ohio!


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## KaGee (Sep 8, 2006)

Ntflyer said:


> Good catch, there are two small palms in the back, surely NOT Ohio!


I agree, no palms in Ohio so somebody is trying to increase their "Likes".
This thread has started down the slippery slope so I'm gonna euthanize it before it gets worse.


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## I_Shock_Em (Jul 20, 2008)

My buddy was the DOW official who verified the Pacu in Kettering


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