Pictus catfish, so full of mystery.

L

Looks_Fishy

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Feb 20, 2007
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I’m interested in getting pictus catfish for my new 55 gallon tank (that I haven’t actually got yet), but I can’t find out much about them. I love how shiny and whiskery they are in the store, and would like to make them the main fish of the tank, and choose other large-ish fish that would get along well with them. I’m looking to make an active, but fairly peaceful community tank. I need to know:

Are they fin-nippers? I hear that they are “peaceful”, but that is a relative term. I know they are predatory and will eat things big enough to fit in their mouths, but will they nip fins or kill fish that are obviously too big for their mouths?

How big do they grow? I read conflicting info from 6 to 15 inches. 15” is prolly a touch too big for a 55 gallon.

How many do I need to keep for them to be happy? I heard that they are loners who can’t stand each other, and will attack each other. But I also read that they need company of their own sort or they’ll hide away.

What other fish I can keep with them? I want to take the pictus catfish’s adult size into account when buying tank mates. I would love some neon tetras or long finned zebra danios, but they might be too small and get eaten. Are congo tetra too small? Would pictus catfish get along with dwarf or pearl gouramis or angel fish? There’s so many different combinations of fish that I like, but would depend on whether they’ll get eaten.

I hope that someone who has more knowledge or experience with the pictus catfish will be able to help me out.
 
Hmmm, I'd read the Pictus cats only get 5" long, but they are extra picky about water quality.
 
Well I have never been a big fan of having Pictus cats in a community tank because I think they are killers an will eat anything that they can get into there mouths. I have seen them in with 6-8 inch Oscars and do very well even eat feeders right along with the Oscars and the channel cat that was in the tank with him. I have kept them in with Bumble Bees, Electric Yellow, Kenyi Cichlids and Electric Blues and they did fine with them. I personally have never seen a peacefull one in the 35 years that I have been keeping fish but that doesnt mean there arent any peacefull ones out there.
 
There are a few Pimelodus sp. that are referred to/sold as pictus cats The true Pimelodus pictus is silver with black spots and gets about 4-5" long. While not technically "schooling" fish, they do best in groups. You could do a nice group of 4-5 in a 55. They are active fish and like lots of floor space to swim. They are often sold as "spotted pictus".

Another fish, often sold as the "4-line pictus" or "4-line pim" is the Pimelodus blochii. They are silvery white with kind of blotchy grey stripes. They get up to about 8-9" but otherwise are very similar to the spotted pictus.

There are several other nice catfish that are similar to the pictus, and many others in the same family of Pimelodidae, including the huge shovelnoses.
 
The pictus catfish is classified as semi-aggressive fish. I would not keep them in a tank with really peaceful fish. I have them in a 125 gallon tank with rainbow fish that are also classified as semi-aggressive fish. I also have angelfish in with them and a school of diamond tetras with them. These tetras are some of the larger bodied tetras so the cats will leave them alone. My tank is six feet long which is important with pictus cats since they prefer the bottom of the tank and like a lot of space to roam around in. I have not had trouble with them wanting to nip other fish but they are in a fully planted tank with lots of driftwood too so they have a lot of places to hide in and claim as their territory.

Marinemom
 
The pimelodus gracilus (I may be mangling the spelling of the species) is another pim that stays fairly small, and is lower energy than the pim pictus.
 
Yes Lans, thats another one I've seen, sold as a "one-lined pictus". Its actually a different family, Heptapteridae rather than Pimelodidae. Its actually Pimelodella gracilis, not a Pimelodus sp.
 
These pictus cats that I'm looking at are the spotted kind, and about 3 inches long already. It's quite a relief to hear they don't grow all that big.

Now I need to find some semi-aggressive fish to be tank mates. Is it enough that they are big enough not to get eaten, or will they attack peaceful big fish (like fully grown pearl gouramis or yoyo loaches, just as an example)?

Would it be a good or bad idea to have tiger barbs and angel fish in the same tank? I like the idea of angel fish, or electric blues and yellows. It's very hard to get other types of cichlids in my area, because they are basically nameless, no one knows anything about them, and they are few in number.

Edit:
Here's a very quick list of fish that I would like in the tank. I'd really appreciate any help and advice on what you think of it. I've probably over looked alot of things.


1 or 3 pictus cats (can they handle being loners?)
5 angel fish (going to be bought quite small 1.5 inches from nose to tail, should I wait until they grow before adding the pictus cat?)
7 big tetras (black skirt or congo)
1 or 2 pearl or moonlight gouramis
5 rosy barbs

Further edit: Actually, this might be overstocked, but just assume this is a guide for what I'm leaning towards. ;) thanks.
 
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