Pictus Catfish question

It would be wise to add the next fish on a slower basis to avoid ammonia and
nitrite spikes.
They are probably swimming a lot as they are cruising for food. They
probably are not strictly a bottom cruiser, so you will have to enjoy them
as they swim where they want. Be very careful about the size of the dwarf
cichlids you add, as Pictus cats can get big, and their ability to gulp a
fish down is bigger than you might think.
The silver dollars should be safe but they will be terrors on your plants.
Depending on which species you get, they and the pictus might put too much
of a load on your system.
With a fairly large fish load, you will have to keep up with maintenance
such as water changes. That group of fish will eat a lot of food, producing
a lot of wastes.

Jim

Dean deanw at charter.net wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I Just got six Pictus cats the other day for my 55 gal tank and I have to
say I love them. What a joy to watch when they are fed some bloodworms.
Quite a feeding frenzy. I have a question for those who have these though.
I
only have had them for two days and they don't stay on the bottom that
much.
I wish they would stay there because I think they are much more fun to
watch
cruising along the bottom. I have to say though, these are the first fish
I
have put in my new tank that I just finished cycling. I plan on putting
five
Silver Dollars and a few dwarf cichlids in there with the cats. When I put
these other fish in there, will that force the cats to the bottom or will
they continue to swim in the middle or near to the surface? I do have
plenty
of hiding places and caves on the bottom. I just hope they eventually
settle
at the bottom. Appreciate any info anybody has. Thanks.

Dean

"Dean" deanw at charter.net wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I Just got six Pictus cats the other day for my 55 gal tank and I have
to
say I love them. What a joy to watch when they are fed some bloodworms.
Quite a feeding frenzy. I have a question for those who have these
though. I
only have had them for two days and they don't stay on the bottom that
much.
I wish they would stay there because I think they are much more fun to
watch
cruising along the bottom. I have to say though, these are the first
fish I
have put in my new tank that I just finished cycling. I plan on putting
five
Silver Dollars and a few dwarf cichlids in there with the cats. When I
put
these other fish in there, will that force the cats to the bottom or
will
they continue to swim in the middle or near to the surface? I do have
plenty
of hiding places and caves on the bottom. I just hope they eventually
settle
at the bottom. Appreciate any info anybody has. Thanks.

Dean

a reprint of an earlier post of mine:

The Pictus is a beautiful and extremely active fish with it's
characteristically long mental and maxillary barbels and silver/black
markings. They are very easy to kept fed, eating almost anything they
can fit in their mouth. They are best kept in pairs or a trio, though
they do not school or shoal. It just looks nicer to have more than one
) There are common types with non-descript markings and there are
spotted types. Though they come from both Africa and South America and
are very similar. Exact identification might be tricky and eventual size
varies. You can expect them to reach about 5", if they have not been
poorly fed for too much of their juvenile life. Be aware that most have
dangerous spines and handle them with caution. They cannot be trusted
around small fish and are very quick eaters. They are excellent
bottom-feeders using (I think) their extra long barbels to search out
food items. If you experiment with different foods, the Pictus will
usually clean up what the others might not like. In a community tank,
they are such good eaters, that you might have trouble feeding slow
eaters sinking foods. They are slower to get at floating foods. When
feeding sinking foods such as frozen brine shrimp, feed a lot at once,
from different ends of the tank. The Pictus cats will be later seen to
have enormous bulging stomachs ) Alternately, trickle the brine shrimp
in slowly if your slow feeders will come near the surface. The Pictus
typically keep to the lowest 3-4" of the tank, but they are
opportunistic, so if they figure out they are missing the food, they will
move upwards. Pictus IMHO are basically non-stop vacuum cleaners )
They work well with medium bodied fish who don't mind a little activity,
or large slow fish accustomed to bottom traffic. They don't appear
particularly territorial or aggressive, so their activity level, appetite
and appearance are their major trademarks. hth

Specific to this post ; since the Pictus are the only fish in the tank
right now, they are competing against each other and you have 'trained'
them to come up for their bloodworms. They also 'own' the tank, so they
will roam at all levels. With more activity in the middle of the tank, I
think they will tend more to the lower reaches (first 6 inches?). They
are not armoured, so the more threatened they feel, the more reclusive
they become (generally speaking).

Depending on the exact species, (they originate from India, Africa and
South America, with cousins everywhere ;~), you might find that your
Pictus grow quite large, possibly too large to have 6 in a 55g. I think
the Indian species reaches 12", though most are the type to reach about
5". Even at 5", multiplied by their activity level, they will not go
un-noticed in your tank ;~).

NetMax