VANCOUVER – Darlis Dupuis is an animal lover. She has been involved in the rescue of dogs, cats and birds, but never a fish.
She could not help herself however, when she saw what was happening to Lloyd.
The pacu fish belongs to Dupuis’ son, but he has already outgrown his tank. Dupuis says Lloyd could live another 40 years and he is going to get bigger. Right now he does not have enough room to swim around, only enough to turn around.
Now Dupuis wants to find him a new home.
“Lloyd needs rescuing, he is a socially friendly fish with a very long life span,” she says in an email interview. “My wish is for him to be moved to a large enough tank where he is able to swim freely as fish are meant to do.”
Dupuis says, ideally, the Vancouver Aquarium or the Vancouver Airport could take Llloyd as he needs a 400-gallon tank at least. Right now his tank is only 190 gallons.
The pacu is a South American freshwater fish with very human teeth. They can grow up to four feet long. They made the news in 2013 when a a professor at the Copenhagen Museum of Natural History labelled them as a ‘testicle-eating fish’. But that is not true. They use their teeth for crushing seeds and eating fruit.
Dupuis says the pacu fish can become attached to humans. “It breaks my heart that he must be so lonely and live such a boring existence in the tank he has outgrown,” she says.
“He can die if not moved to a bigger home. He just sits pretty much in one place all the time.”
If you can help get Lloyd a new home, please email Dupuis at darlis@shaw.ca.
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