Pictus catfish questions

[ShadowBeast]

Yes they do! I have 2 of them that I have had for about 3.5 years. They are very fast darty fish, but their mouths stay very small, maybe .250" at most, on 4.5" fish. They do not seem to get nearly as large as I have read, and have not seen them much bigger than what I have. After 3.5 years in a 135 gal you would think they could reach their maximum size. Since they did not grow large, i put them in my sons 46 gal with 2 juvie oscars, 5 tiger barbs, and common pleco.

Thanks for the info, Sounds like their threat level of eating other fish is a little exaggerated and I can only guess that either people are confusing them with the Four-lined cat or from what i've read on planetcatfish that there's two different pictus the columbian(which is supposedly larger) and peruvian.
And seeing how alot sites say they live 8 years your pictus should definately be full grown.
I got 1 a couple of days ago and it hasn't really bothered the cories and i'll grab 2 more if the store got more in.

 

[Khemul]

Thanks for the info, Sounds like their threat level of eating other fish is a little exaggerated and I can only guess that either people are confusing them with the Four-lined cat or from what i've read on planetcatfish that there's two different pictus the columbian(which is supposedly larger) and peruvian.
And seeing how alot sites say they live 8 years your pictus should definately be full grown.
I got 1 a couple of days ago and it hasn't really bothered the cories and i'll grab 2 more if the store got more in.

This wouldn't surprise me at all. I could see a four-line and pictus looking very similar to someone who doesn't know much about them. A store near me even labels them as "four-lined pictus cats". Columbians I'd normally say are hard to confuse, but one of the bigger reef/freshwater stores nearby keeps columbians and pictus in a single tank labeled "assorted sharks".


Mine seems pretty calm but it isn't full grown yet. Ignores my swamp darters which are the only thing I'd considered small enough to eat. It does tend to go into a frenzy at feeding time though so guess in some situations an accident could happen. Mine does knock plants around right now, but I think this is only because they haven't really rooted securely yet. It doesn't mean to do it, it just tends to plow through them as it circles the tank so pretty sure once they are secure they will be fine.

 

[ShadowBeast]

This wouldn't surprise me at all. I could see a four-line and pictus looking very similar to someone who doesn't know much about them. A store near me even labels them as "four-lined pictus cats". Columbians I'd normally say are hard to confuse, but one of the bigger reef/freshwater stores nearby keeps columbians and pictus in a single tank labeled "assorted sharks".


Mine seems pretty calm but it isn't full grown yet. Ignores my swamp darters which are the only thing I'd considered small enough to eat. It does tend to go into a frenzy at feeding time though so guess in some situations an accident could happen. Mine does knock plants around right now, but I think this is only because they haven't really rooted securely yet. It doesn't mean to do it, it just tends to plow through them as it circles the tank so pretty sure once they are secure they will be fine.

I only have one for now and so far he's only hiding behind the wood now the cories however I'm more worried about uprooting my plants but so far I haven't seen anything floating yet so I probably planted them deep enough.
Now I just attempted to feed the cories but the algae disk ended up dropping towards the pictus so now he's happy nibbling on it.