Pictus catfish

[Pointy_kitty]

what is the minimum tank size for a pictus catfish?
also,
is there any other bottom feeder that you can think of other than cory that will do a good cleaning job and fit in an understocked 20gal (i took back my shark so i only have 13.5" in the 20gal)
i'm stumped........

 

[CFC]

Firstly pictus cats require far more room than a 20g offers, they will on average reach 5 or 6 inches and sometimes bigger.

If you want a catfish other than corydoras for 20g you could try upside down catfish Synodontis nigriventris which rarely reach over 3" but they are very nocturnal and you wont see them as often as you would corys. Another you could try is the south american bumblebee catfish Microglanis iheringi, this fish doesnt grow larger than 3" but again is strictly nocturnal.

 

[Pointy_kitty]

Firstly pictus cats require far more room than a 20g offers, they will on average reach 5 or 6 inches and sometimes bigger.

If you want a catfish other than corydoras for 20g you could try upside down catfish Synodontis nigriventris which rarely reach over 3" but they are very nocturnal and you wont see them as often as you would corys. Another you could try is the south american bumblebee catfish Microglanis iheringi, this fish doesnt grow larger than 3" but again is strictly nocturnal.

i was not considering putting a pictus catfish in a 20gal
no worries i just read that pictus needed 75 gal at least!
i was just wondering cause i am eventually (probably by next year) getting a 40-50 gallon since i have an angel and i want a nice big tank for him and some buddies
i have to save up for it, thats why i can't get it right away
i was just wondering if a pictus would be ok in a 40 gallon
and yes i know that they get 6"
i have heard that they CAN get bigger (10") but i have never HEARD OF one getting bigger

also,
i have raised upside down catfish at the store but i have never had one at home in my tank
how well do they clean the tank? about the same as a cory?

 

[Pointy_kitty]

i was just wondering because in my other 20 gallon i have 4 cory cats and i couldn't clean the tank on time and ended up cleaning it on the 2 week mark
i usually clean it once a week 10%
i only got about 1 gallon of dirty water, and the tank wasn't the least cloudy or dirty
now that the cats are a bit bigger they are doing one hell of a job cleaning!!!!!!!
i feed my fish twice a day in tiny amounts but the cats only get fed (shrimp pellets) at night

my other tank, on the other hand, was gross,
i have a smaller filter and no bottom feeders
i had to do a 40% change
i just wanted something different than corydoras cats

 

[CFC]

Personally i find that the USD cats are better scavengers than corys, corys get fat and lazy as they get older since they dont mind feeding when the lights are on where as the USD cats will seek out every last morsel of anything edible as due to their complete nocturnal nature means that all the food has been eaten by the diurnal fish.

You could keep pictus cats in a 40 but a 55 would be better, they are constantly active and need as much swimming room as possible so the 48" length of the 55 with have more room.

 

[Dwarfs]

I keep my pictus in a 30g u.s.See sig