Hi everyone. I rescently aquired two pictus catfish that are about 2 and a half inches long atm. I understood that they are semi-agressive fish and since their quarantine period is over, I wonder how they will do in my 75g community tank which is where I bought them for. The bottom swimmers from there are 2 clown loaches (about an inch), an almost 7 inch wether loach,2 cory cats (also about an inch and 2 CAEs, about an inch and a half. I see that the catfish have big mouths, and I know from experience that catfish are predators and will eat fish. I have two long finned zebra danios in there and a moly which is also not very big. Will the pitus catfish haras any of the fish??? :?: :huh?:

My pictus gets along fine with my Bala and CAE, but they are the only 3 fish in the 55gal tank.
I have read that they will eat anything small enough to fit in their mouth so if you want any livebearer fry to survive you might want to re-think the setup.
One of our members lost full grown guppys to a pictus.

The pictus will most likely eat the danios. As for the other fish...as long as they grow faster then the pictus's mouth...they'll be fine. But it really depends on the fish. I have a 3 1/2 inch kuhli loach with a 10 inch eel...the eel could eat him any time but they're best buddies. :laugh:

what do you expect shadow? " ropefish " as they are called should stick together

I dont know what an eel or a loach have to do with a rope :hmm: but, im just :crazy:

It's all about appearance.

yep

I've got a 6" pictus in with all my africans...no problems at all, but there are no small fish in there either....

I wanted to get a pictus one time way back in teh day and the store warned me that in the end it may eat all but my fryeri so I skipped it.

i like pictus alot, but theyd harass my paradise fish, and female bettas, but they wouldnt have problems with my gouramis. a full grown pictus would probably harass any fish 3" or less, except for very sphere-shaped fish, like discus, angelfish, and panfish ( wild fish ). or if they are very fat and round , like puffers. but anything shaped like a betta, or tetra, or even like a kuhli loach, the pictus may harrass

My pictus is great completely harmless although he wasnt a great purchase as he eats and eats and eats, so much that his stomach bulges and things like the elephant nose dont get a look in so I think he will have to go.

AH the pictus, i love these guys, yes they are a predator, and yes they will eat small fish quite effectively!

They are mostly nocturnal predators, using them huge barbels to sweep the bottom to detect food, any thing that is near the bottom/ buried in the bottom is a potential victim and the cat will try to suck it up into that HUGE mouth of his, *gulp gone*

Saying that if the fish are too big for it they are safe, but for smaller characins, danios and rasboras as well as poecilidae its only a matter of time