New home for giant fish proves to be a big task

Times of Malta: New home for giant fish proves to be a big task

giant fish has been saved from an uncertain future.

At more than 30 kilogrammes, one-metre-long Percy – a cousin of the meat-eating piranha – was facing homelessness as his aquarium of 23 years was closing.

But due to his size, finding a new tank for the 30-year-old pacu was not an easy task.

However, Bristol’s Blue Reef Aquarium stepped in following an international appeal by his owners. Blue Reef’s Becs Smith said: “We were originally contacted by the curator of an animal collection in Cheshire that was closing down.

“Percy had been at the aquarium there since it opened 23 years ago and was fully grown when he first arrived, so he’s a real veteran.

“The curator had been in touch with aquariums throughout Europe in the hope of securing a new home for him but he’s so big that most sites simply did not have the space to accommodate him. Fortunately we have a large Amazon-themed display here at Bristol that’s perfect.”

Percy is from the same family as the piranha but, unlike his fierce relative, he is vegetarian.

Originally from South America, the pacu’s diet is mainly made up of fallen fruit and nuts.

Ms Smith added: “He has settled in really well and although he is five times bigger than our own pacu he’s also extremely placid.