Pictus Catfish...

[nero]

Hi all,

I am sorry to say that 3 days ago I made my FIRST impulse fish purchase. And after over a year of fishkeeping I rekon thats not bad.

I got me a Pictus Catfish. It is the first fish I have got that I feel even a moderate impulse to name. He is so cute (i have decided its a he)!!!!!! I was so excited to find a beautiful catfish that didnt get toooo huge.

He is only about 1.5/2 inches at the moment. So im wondering how he will go in my 100L community tank. He is friendly ATM, but I have read posts about any fish under 2" not being safe. I have Guppies, swordtails, a couple of kinds of cories and zebra danios (the danios REFUSE to die).

At this point I dont CARE if he eats all my other fish because I would have a tank JUST to keep him in!!! I love him!

But I was wondering if any of you could tell me the likelyhood of him eating anyone, and what size he will get before that is likely to occur. At this point the danios are eating food pellets whole that are just a tad to big for him.

Thanks! Ive always had great info from this forum

 

[Bloo]

I know what you mean they are lovely fish.
Your guppies might suffer and you most certainly will not ever see any fry in your tank. Also make sure you have plenty of nice open swimming space (no obstacles in the way) as they will love to swim at breakneck speeds.

 

[CFC]

At some point the pictus will eat all but the swordtails which should remain just a little too large for the average pictus cat to fit its mouth around, once the pictus reaches around 3 inches is when the fish will start to disapeer though smaller guppies will start to go before that.

 

[Bloo]

At some point the pictus will eat all but the swordtails which should remain just a little too large for the average pictus cat to fit its mouth around, once the pictus reaches around 3 inches is when the fish will start to disapeer though smaller guppies will start to go before that.

The Cories too ?? I would have thought they'd be too large

 

[nero]

Mmmmm, thanks guys,

I'm hoping I will have a second display tank before he gets to much larger. I Cant imagine the guppies dissapearing before the swordtails though, as at fully grown they seem to be the same size. In anycase, my LFS is buying my juvenile guppies from me as they get old enough. (theyve already bought 10) Im less concerned about the livebearers and Danios and more worried about the (other) catfish. Over here in OZ the ottos cost about 13 bucks each (18/20US). And the catfish are more important to the "ecosystem" of my tank than the livebearers.

That said my pictus was 30AUD and I am so in love with him that he could eat almost the whole tank and I wouldnt care

 

[CFC]

Sorry i missed the corys on the list there, dont worry they will be fine

Adult swordtails should reach about 2 1/2 " and are quite plump so "should" be safe from the pictus cats jaws, though i once saw a pictus cat that had swallowed an adult female kribensis Cichlid!! Guppies and danios will slurp down like spaggettii.

edit: Pictus cats do better when kept in groups of 3 or more, since you are so taken with them why not add two more to the tank?

 

[nero]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that this "impulse" purchase was at least slightly considered. There was a tank maybe half as big again as mine in the store. I was told (in a 2 hour conversation with the store owner) that the pictus cats in that tank were 4 years old. The pictus I saw in that tank that looked exactly the same as the one I bought were nowhere near big enough to eat my female guppy. At a pinch they could have eaten my otto. If they swam very VERY fast.

So I suppose I should be more specific : "what TIMEFRAME do you think I have before my beautiful pictus eats my community"

 

[CFC]

Growth rate depends on feeding, water quallity, temperature and genetics but a rough time frame is that pictus cats on average grow around 1/2" a month. Pictus cats are capable of swallowing food fish up to around half their own body length so as soon as your pictus hits 3 inch or so you will start to lose fish which based on what you have given us i would say you have anywhere from a month to two months before your stock starts to dwindle.

A full grown pictus cat will easily be 6 inches long so you can pretty much say that your lfs is lying to you. Never underestimate the predatory power of a Pimeloid catfish, they are built solely for the purpose of catching and eating fish!

 

[andywg]

I must say that owning both otos and nearly full grown pictus (in seperate tanks) I would say that the pictus would have no problems devouring an oto. When they strike they are phenomenally quick, and the mouths open very wide indeed.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Mine was a little over three inches when it tried to eat my cories, and now at four inches he was attacking my bristlenose. I give him guppies, but the last time I bought a bunch of feeders he killed half of them and actually ate the other half, so I'm a little more worried about yours just randomly terrorizing other fish till they die...

 

[nero]

Right again CFC! My pictus looks nice and fat thismorning and the smallest guppy is suspiciously absent from the tank.... I wonder what I should do? Looks like the LFS was getting most of their info from the same books I have... all of which say "peaceful can be kept with much smaller fishes" and "they are not predatory"

 

[nero]

Thanks for your help guys, my beautiful pictus is back at the fishstore Would you believe the guy tried to sell me another one? "why dont you try a different pictus?" ahh... no thanks mate....might give that one a miss...