# Red Belly Pacu Losing its red belly



## Endlessken (Feb 16, 2007)

Can anyone tell me whats is wrong. My red belly Pacu is losing its red belly. Is it sick? They are about and inch and a half.

Thanks


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

I've seen this in some types of silver dollars. It seemed that vegetation in the diet brought it back.


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## itstheiceman (Oct 5, 2006)

acestro said:


> I've seen this in some types of silver dollars. It seemed that vegetation in the diet brought it back.


agree'd, diet helps out with coloration, could also be mood etc...


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## jpdaballa (Oct 28, 2006)

i thought they lose the bellys as they grow larger?


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## ICEE (Feb 3, 2007)

mix some veggies possably into his diet


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## oscar119 (Nov 26, 2005)

jpdaballa said:


> i thought they lose the bellys as they grow larger?


larger ones I've seen tend to lose their belly color but just what I've seen.


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## Pacuguy (Apr 10, 2004)

They in fact do lose there red as they grow larger i have 2 Red Bellied Pacu (one 24" and one 17")
they kept there red untill about 10" . Now they are all silver and white.


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## face2006 (Feb 17, 2006)

Yeah mine is 13" and he only has a little red left on his belly.....might be the diet or like he said as they get #REMOVED# they lose some color.


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## GN121406 (Jul 28, 2007)

get them to get live shrimp and krill. that will bring color back into them


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## 77gp454 (Feb 18, 2007)

I heard carrots bring out good color, check out some of the "do it yourself recipes" posted in that section. 
But yea they loose color with age in general.


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

pacus often change color dramatically depending on diet alone. mood rarely offsets coloration unless they are highly stressed. some pacus are known to become completely silver and more dark later in life (red belly). if indeed it is a pacu, i have seen many fish labeled otherwise. but chances are if he had a red belly he is. shouldnt worry about it


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## Christopher666 (Nov 1, 2007)

All the HUGE red bellied pacus I've seen have been all black with white bellies, there's a pair at a seafood resteraunt that are 36" and 33", (I asked.) I thought they were black pacus, but they got them from the lfs when they were 3 inches long and they said they were red bellied pacus.

My pacus seldomly eat plants, they usually eat more meat than my piranhas. They've also got gnarlier teeth than my piranha too. They're 5" each. And they're lightlight silver with bright red bellies and black tails. 5 bucks at PetSmart. Haha. They've grown a whole lot.

All the HUGE red bellied pacus I've seen have been all black with white bellies, there's a pair at a seafood resteraunt that are 36" and 33", (I asked.) I thought they were black pacus, but they got them from the lfs when they were 3 inches long and they said they were red bellied pacus.

My pacus seldomly eat plants, they usually eat more meat than my piranhas. They've also got gnarlier teeth than my piranha too. They're 5" each. And they're lightlight silver with bright red bellies and black tails. 5 bucks at PetSmart. Haha. They've grown a whole lot.


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