Rainbowfish with Spotted Pictus? Please!

[Doomchibi]

I have asked this question many times over the past maybe 5 years of my serious interest in fishkeeping. I have not once gotten more than a half-hearted "I guess." as a response.
PLEASE! If anyone has any possible answer, experience, or knows of anyone who might I would very, very much appreciate your presence. I very soon will have my tank set up and I am seriously considering putting these two species together, and if no one can clearly explain why I shouldn't, I most likely will end up trying it.

These are the "optimal" (on average from researching) conditions to keep these fish in.

Boesemani / Parkinson's Rainbowfish (close enough that i've combined them) - 72-82 F, 7.5-8.0 PH, 8-20 hardness. Top to mid level swimmer. Up to 6".

Spotted Pictus Cats - 73-78 F, 6.0-8.0 PH, hardness 4-15. Bottom swimmer, generally non-territorial. up to 5".

I don't know about you all.... But i'm reeeeaallly thinking these two might be compatible. But... why is it so hard to get a clear answer...? Is there something that I don't know about spotted pictus that makes everyone seem to avoid them?


Is it safe and reasonable to keep some type of rainbowfish, example being Parkinson's or Boesemani Rainbowfish, with Spotted Pictus Catfish?

Why or why not? Please again and thank you!

 

[Byron]

I'll begin by saying I have not kept these two together, but we don't (or shouldn't) need to "try" something to know what the result will probably be. And to that end, these should be compatible except for one important factor, temperature.

Pictus cats (Pimelodus pictus) need 22-25C/72-77F indicative of its habitat of flowing rivers and tributaries. More here:
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/pimelodus-pictus/

Rainbows (Melanotaenia boesemani) need warmth, SF says 27-30C/81-86 F.
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/melanotaenia-boesemani/

Parkinson's Rainbow (Melanotaednia parkinsoni) is not on SF, but Fishbase gives 26-30C.

I would suspect the pictus would not be in good condition in such warm water. Reverse holds true too of course.

Byron.

 

[Doomchibi]

Looking at more than one website I have seen a wide range of temperatures suggested for either species, the average that I have found by looking at different sources is what I listed in my post. It may not be exact but honestly I don't believe any one website will likely know for sure, either. I have seen the majority of Spotted Pictus information stating that they tend to be sluggish and eat less in the low to mid 70s, and are more active in the upper 70s to low 80s which is why it seemed that approximately 78-79 would be a decent overlapping temperature for the two.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Byron]

I would just like to ask...how do you decide this or that site is actually factual and not just someone's opinion? That is why members here rely on SF and Planet Catfish and a very few others. These sites are owned by ichthyologists, and even more importantly they have members who are trained ichthyologists that peer review. Anyone can set up a website these days, and promote themselves as "expert" while not having a clue.

And since I mention PC as another reliable site...their temp range for P. pictus is 22-25C/71-77F.
https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=276

 

[Colin_T]

Is it safe and reasonable to keep some type of rainbowfish, example being Parkinson's or Boesemani Rainbowfish, with Spotted Pictus Catfish?

yes.

pictus can reach 6 inches body length (measured without tail).
M. boesemani will usually hit 4 inches long and about 1.5inches in body height. They can reach 5 or 6 inches in a huge 10ft+ tank but normally only reach 4 inches.
M. parkinsoni reach 4-5inches and about 1 inch body height. Again if you have a 10-20ft tank they can get bigger, but so will pictus.

Rainbows will be fine in water with a temperature between 22-30degrees Celsius (24-26C is ideal) and a pH from 6.8-8.0. Optimum pH is around 7.2-7.4 for all rainbowfishes except wild caught Iriatherina werneri and Rhadinocentrus ornatus, which prefer slightly acid water (pH 6.0-6.8).
Rainbows like harder water with a GH above 100ppm. Pictus will be fine in this water too.

Pictus catfish are fine in water with a pH around 7.4 and the same temperature range as the rainbows.

Try to keep deeper bodied fish with big pictus because they will try to eat narrow fish at night time when they get big or are hungry. M. boesemani is the better choice but any deep bodied rainbowfish will be fine.

All rainbowfish need to be kept in groups of 6-10 individuals. Try to keep equal numbers of males, eg: 4 males 4-6 females. or 2 males and 4-6 females. And try to get males that are similar sized because big male rainbowfish can bully smaller males.
If you only want 4 or 5 rainbowfish, get 1 male and 3 or 4 females or 2prs.

Pictus also do best in groups of 4-10. Small pictus occur in larger groups containing hundreds of individuals, and big pictus tend to be more solitary or are found in smaller groups.