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It's a real shiny silver, with some black streaks and the "feelers" or whatever they are seem pretty long, the two longest almost as long as the body. Digital camera sucks, sorry. Thanks!<BR><BR>
<img src="http://www.cy-dev.com/cat1.jpg"><BR>
<img src="http://www.cy-dev.com/cat2.jpg"><BR>
<img src="http://www.cy-dev.com/cat3.jpg"><BR>

Pimelodus pictus small south american pim.

Thanks,

I looked at the cat-eLog and the ones in the pictures looked more spotted, and less striped like mine, but maybe the stripes will turn into spots as he ages. You can't see it very well in the pics.

I didn't see in the e-log, how long can this thing get in a 55 gallon tank?

Oops, now I see size on the eLog...not sure how I missed that, heh.

This is my very first fish. I've cycled my 55 gal tank, it took 5 weeks. Now, on the freshwater compatibilty chart I see three types of catfish; corydoras, synodontis, and scavenger. Am I safe to presume that this fish falls under scavenger? The corydoras and synodontis are compatible with most fish, however the scavenger is yellow, or "sometimes compatible" with almost all the fish. Should I worry about adding angelfish, sharks, tetras, or rainbowfish?

he will probably reach 120mm max,but by the colour of it now looks near adult or faded due to being a bit stressed in transport.

these fish will eat what they can fit into there mouths, small tetras they would eat given the chance
so just think about the size of its mouth, and the size of the fish intended to keep.
oh and make sure you think about adult size too or it could be

I have a little bit of a delimma. I just read that for him to be happy he needs more pictus cat fish buddies in the tank. But I dont really want any more, because I dont want to use up my inches on the same type of fish. For example, I dont want to overcrowd the tank, so I can get about 55" of fish. He's going to take 4-5" and if I get 4 of them, like one site recommended, that's 20"-25" !!! Almost half of my allotted inches.

BUT, I want him to be happy. What are the chances he will be happy by himself? I was planning on getting a different kind of catfish later, would that suffice?

I plan on giving him flakes through the week and frozen bloodworms once a week as a treat, maybe mix in other edible critters once a month. Maybe he'll be happy anyway.

Solitary pictus cats are known to show some weird displacement activity (mostly in the form of rapid swimming around the tank). It definitely needs companions.

Yeah, he's been doing that ever since we got home. Nonstop swimming around the tank. I'll stop tomorrow and get one more.

best get more than one.
duo's of shoaling fish often results in bad things happening.
best get three or so; a four- or fivesome makes a handsome display and keeps the fish happy.

SHOALING fish doesn't mean 2......

Yeah, I think I see that. I only bought one more, so there are two now. They rarely go near each other. They are usually on opposite sides of the tank. Sometimes when they get near each other they just dart in the opposite direction.

What constitutes "normal" behavior? If I were to add two more of them, so that there are four, what should they be doing? Will they all stick close together? How will their behavior change?

Also, when I feed them once a week with bloodworms, should I stick to the 2 minute rule, or feed them until all their bellies look fat? Cus from what I read they just digest that the rest of the week. Will they eat the tropical flakes I add throughout the week for my future fish? If so, wouldn't that be bad, cus they are already full?

Also, is it okay to have decorations that are bright and different than their normal habitat? Will that cause them any stress? The way I have it now, two thirds of the tank are rock piles, green plants, plastic brown caves, etc. But for the other third I wanted something different so it's a big plastic reef, with real bright neon plants and corals around it, and various colorful trinkets. Should I worry about this?

If I were to stay with just two of the catfish, what kind of harm could this cause? Will the lack of catfish buddies cause any health problems, or physical harm?

Thanks everybody!

What constitutes "normal" behavior?

They should begin swimming in a loose group. Probably hide as a group if there's enough space.

Don't worry about feeding. They are not fussy eaters and will almost certainly eat the flakes. If you're feeding throughout the week, then there's no need to feed them till they fatten.

I wouldn't worry about the tank decor either.

Silurus wrote:Don't worry about feeding. They are not fussy eaters and will almost certainly eat the flakes. If you're feeding throughout the week, then there's no need to feed them till they fatten.

Do they do better with small regular feedings or feast-and-fast feeding?

I'd do both (with more of the regular feedings), to approximate conditions in the wild.