PlanetCatfish.com

Posted: **17 Mar 2004, 09:01**

Ok this guy should be a bit more distinctive than the last Pimelodus I posted. Basicly the subject line says it all, this fish resembles P.pictus in every way besides it's color. It's about a year and a half old and it's been about 9cm SL size for most of it's life, with no signs of getting any bigger.

I seen a whole batch of juveniles at a store (2cm) in 2002 and I disregarded them as anything special, blindly assuming the spots of P.pictus developed at a larger size since I've never seen them sold this small. Then a few months later this one showed up as a trade-in at a store I worked for at the time..

http://public.fotki.com/Tylerja/pimelodus_2/

Tyler

Posted: **17 Mar 2004, 11:27**

Posted: **20 Mar 2004, 06:16**

I agree that this fish's color pattern IS reminiscent of P.ornatus, but it is definately not that species. The shape of the head, body and fins are all different, as well as the maximum size. This fish is definately not growing to a foot long, especially considering the incredible growth of my "Pimelodus aff. blochii" under slightly less favorable conditions (oh definately crowded, but joining a lone female Crenicichla reticulata soon).

While searching through fishbase's archives I found only about 1/3 of the species listed actually listed max sizes in the description, of course only the common stuff actually had pics. But if I had to say this fish is a very divergent color form of anything its P.pictus. Maybe this species is much more variable than we realized? Whether this is the case or it's truely a seperate species, I know I have something special either way...I love this fish and wish I had another half dozen.

I doubt it adds much to it's possible ID but it does differ in 1 way from most P.pictus. While it's always been housed alone, it's never been a nervous (or neurotic maybe?) fish. Behaves more like a large pim but w/o the aggression and more hiding.. But I know a lone pictus can act this way too, so who knows.
When I have more room I plan on getting 3 or 4 pictus to see if this changes any...

PlanetCatfish.com

pimpictus without spots?

pimpictus without spots?