Pictus and pleco

[andywg]

Well, I have 4 Pim Pictus in my 85 gal FW community and I've recently added my second and third plec (starting to get a thing for L numbers... ) ). Obviously all these bottom feeders like some shady caves/bogwood to hideout in (especially now my Metal Halides are on for the plants B) ).

However, has anyone had any problems with different families sharing?

I know that until recently my Gibbi plec has gone where he wants, mostly due to being bigger than the Pictus (and the Rainbow shark). The only territorial disputes are between the Pictus and occasionally the Rainbow gets upset with the Pictus. There are more than enough places for all the Pictus and the Shark to hide without being able to see each other - especially as the flora takes off.

Basically, will I need to make sure that the plecos all have their own cave away from the Pictus? So far the two types of catfish are getting on well, but I don't want to add another and find in a couple of months time it's all-out war on the bottom of the tank...

Cheers in advance.

 

[Paul_MTS]

i don't think you sould have a problem being planted how yours is with lots of litle hidy places.

I'ved for 4 pim pictus and about 13 L numbers in my 4ft (350l) there's no troubles there apart from if someones tries to get into the L163 "big spot peckoltias" hide out then he charges

 

[Fishy411]

Well pictus's dont really hide because they never really stop movign adn they dont really have any interests in caves or such

 

[pica_nuttalli]

Obviously all these bottom feeders like some shady caves/bogwood to hideout in (especially now my Metal Halides are on for the plants B) ).

? metal halides? is there a particular reason you want to use such bright lights with your semi-nocturnal fish?

you'd probably have less of an issue about who hides where if you weren't using such bright lighting. if its a multi-piece hood, try turning on only one side at a time. that way half the tank gets bright lights for the plants and the other half has diffuse lighting for the fish. you could get a couple of outlet timers and arrange it to automatically switch the lights on and off.

i'd consider this; especially with the number of people confused by your pictus cats wanting to hide all the time. that indicates to me that yours are behaving in an atypical fashion.

 

[andywg]

There is a reason why I use Halides in this tank. It is my planted community. It is not a nocturnal tank (otherwise I'd do away with around £400 of lighting).

I didn't say that the Pictus like to hide all the time, I said that they like to have a shady hole. They wanted it when I had next no lighting, and they still seem to want it now I have my MH lighting (which, co-incedentally I have to encourage the growth of the plants on the substrate. I have 4 X 54W HO T5 tubes but they just don't seem to do the same job. Plus this now frees up a 1Xtwo T5 tube ballast for Night-light viewing with some actinic blues).

The hood is custom made so that I can fight in the lighting apparatus to grow a large amount of plants. All the lights (2 x 150W 4,500K MH, 3X 54 W T5 Aqua Medic FW plant tubes, 1 X Aqua Medic Daylight White and 1 X FW Plant 36 W for the second, planted, sump tank) are on timers, but since the pictus are nocturnal I would guess that they wouldn't care whether I've got the room lights or MH on during the day so long as it's dark at night for them to eat... but that's the advantage of the Halides see, they make it bright for some of the fish (especially the Neons who sit and sun bathe) but the extra plant growth gives more shade to those that don't want a tan.

Oh, before anyone says. I know the Pictus should start to go after the neons. And as soon as the lazy G*ts go after guppy fry then I'll consider re-arranging my tiddlers in my tanks but for now the pictus are just to happy to eat bloodworms (would you believe I bought them to control my invincible guppy fry problem but they still kept breeding and the pictus just seem to ignore them. I've got the females in the sump now and it seems to be a good contraceptive...)

The pictus are often around during the day, normally arguing over who gets the bit of bogwood nearest to where most of the food lands., but my question was really about whether the Pictus and Plecos would fight for the same space in the same way as two pictus would.

Hate to seem short but I it's probably my fault for not making myself clear at the start

 

[Oddball]

I shouldn't worry too much about the cave problem that much, especially as the plecos will fight amongst themselves having very little problem with other fish. I tend to find that plecs respond to other fish with a similar body form, mannerism and colour as themselves.....how else could i pull of an L018, clown pecolita, gibbicep and common

 

[andywg]

Cheers. I suspected they'd be ok, I just wanted to make sure.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

sorry; looking over my post, i sound snappier than you did. i think i envisioned these poor, hapless fish cowering in terror from the scalding lights mysteriously appearing in their sky... obviously, anyone investing in a MH system isn't going to be half-hearted in their research. sounds like a lovely tank really, especially with the further details on the neons and guppies.

but ja, hope i didn't totally offend you. best of luck!

 

[andywg]

No offence taken.

As I said, I just didn't want a war breaking out between different catfish elements of my tank. The tank is starting to really look nice now with plenty of plant growth. Once I have some Actinics to complement the colours I'll get some pics up.

The main problem now is that the tank light overpowers the camera and makes it too bright, I'll have to look into adjusting brightness and exposure.

 

[Izaro]

I have 4 pictus and one plec.

they all get on just fine. we have a tall piece of hollow (fake) wood, where the plec and one of the pictus hang out quite happily together. When our kribs bred and claimed a large area of the tank as there own, we had some problems with scrapping, but only the pictus amongst themselves. They seem to have respect for the plec and he is a very placid chap