The Pictus

[Oscar]

has any one got any pictus' and pics and info would be good as they look really cool. Also how big do they grow?
ta!

 

[BIANCA]

i have just one (although they do prefer to be in groups). He is about 5 inches long and VERY active...I plan on getting him some more friends after we upgrade our tank. I WAS gonna take a picture of mine, but then i realized it would be impossible because he moves around so damn much, and its not very interesting to look at a big blur so..hope this helps

Heres some info:
peteducation.com

liveaquaria.com

fishprofiles.com

aquahobby.com

Some sites say they get 10" others say only 5" guess i will have to wait and see.

 

[Oscar]

Thanks they look awesome. At my lfs their $16 each might get 2.

 

[tdnp]

I had a pimalodus pictus ( panther cat ) he grew to about 5inch looked lovly with long barbles but I thought he was quite boring he never came out of his cave not even at night I didn't have him for long because he died RIP. I don't know why but it might of been stress after we moved house.

 

[ssr Rsx]

I have 2 in a 20 gal. long tank. The girl at store said they would grow to about 10 inches. Ive read 5 and Ive read 10 on different websites. So if they live that long to outgrow my tank, all the better. I had one for about a week, then i got the other one. They seem to do better with a friend to swim with. Getting food to the bottom was proving to be difficult cause my Angels eat everything they see like machines. So I buy live bloodworms. They sink real fast and the Angels only get a couple. The cats tear them up real good.

 

[Pufferpack]

I have 1 Pictus, he swims around with my Columbian Shark Cat...they are a couple of eating machines . their first night together they polished off 4 female guppies, after being fed twice that day (they are only 3 inches long) .

I read that there are actually 2 different strains of Pictus cats. I think one was from Columbia, but I don't remember where the other one was from . I think it is the Columbian strain that grows to 10", while the other one averages 7".

 

[cryosi]

they wil get around 6 inches max 10 would be a wild state growth. There are 2 kinds of pictus columbian and peru. One has more spots than the other or has larger spots ( i can not remember which.) sheesh brain not in gear tonite!

http/fish.orbust.net/pictuscatfish.html

 

[Pufferpack]

Right, Peru thats the other one...thanks Cryosi

 

[fishdude]

I read about them pictus catfish eat too much. and if they breed they eat their own eggs. and you can't get them with a net their whiskers will get caught. so no babies. and they are so aggresive but thats what i like about them. Anyway they're an awesome fish except you have too feed them too much. I'm thinking about getting some.

 

[CFC]

Pim pictus cats like other pimeloids are allways worried about when their next meal is coming
They will stuff them selves to almost bursting point one day and then not feed again for a few days (well thats the idea anyway ) ive never heard of a captive spawning so i dont think that eating their own eggs would be a problem but you certainly wouldn't want them in a tank containing spawn or fry of any fish you wanted to breed.

 

[playfulalliecat]

When we first started our 55 US gal. tank, we had 2 pictus. One died shortly after we got it but the other one stuck around for a while. One evening we brought home 6 new neons for our tank and all was well when we went to bed. The next morning they were missing! Les took out the filter sponge looking for them and something fell out. Quick as a flash the pictus had it in his mouth with nothing but the tail sticking out. We figured it would be ok as we had no other fish that small in our tank..........little did we know.

We had an irridescent shark which had all of its tail eaten off down to seeing his vertabrae sticking out and now I am just sure it was thanks to the pictus! Poor little shark was so pitiful trying to swim around like that. He was a courageous fish!

Anway, a few weeks later, one of our green barbs started acting a little strange and seemed to be suffering from some invisible disease. We kept watching it all evening. I took a bubble bath and when I came out Les asked me where the barb was. It had disappeared. Then the pictus swam by with a large lump in the shape of the barb!! The next day he went right back to the lfs, no credit but it was still cheaper than losing every fish in our tank!

Unless you are prepared to put only larger fish in there (and their mouths open up really big), I don't recommend them for a community tank. We never would have guessed it could swallow one of our barbs whole as it was only about 4 to 5 inches long and our barbs are quite large.

If you get one all I can say is GOOD LUCK! lol

 

[mjcole12]

i had two pictus cats but they both died about 2 days after a water change as far as i know they are very suseptable to infections and also should not be captured in a net as they have serated spines that will get caught

 

[fishdude]

Pictus are a pain but look cool.

 

[smudge]

I have 3 in with my 2 Oscars. They do a good job cleaning up the bottom after my Oscars finish eating. My tank is really agressive, so far so good. I've only had my Pictus cats in the tank for about 2 weeks. They are only about 3 inches long and are just now starting to settle down.

 

[Pufferpack]

Well I had to return Picky the Pictus...he chewed half the tail off Sharky..viscious blighter!