Pictus Catfish
pimelodus pictus
Click here to learn more about the catfish in general.
Cost: $10-45, the price really depends on where you live and how far the Pictus Catfish had to be imported. Most buyers should be able to find the Pictus Catfish for sale at the cheaper end of the price range.
Short Bio: The Pictus Catfish with its silver body, elegant lines, and black dots is a truly striking species. To see this fish at its best be sure to provide plenty of swimming space. When ever handling the Pictus Catfish be sure to avoid the pectoral fins. The pectoral fins are very sharp and serrated and will easily get snagged in nets, and can easily prick your skin, which is a short, but painful experience.
Moving the Pictus Catfish to your tank, or another tank:
Normally I don’t need to explain how to transfer a fish, but when dealing with the Pictus Catfish there is a little extra work that must be done to ensure the fishes safety as well as yours.
When your try to catch the Pictus Catfish don’t use a net. As mentioned before the pectoral fins will get snagged in the net. So what you do is take a jar, large bowl, or Tupperware of some kind and try to scoop up the Pictus Catfish. This helps to avoid the fins getting snagged and will give you a better chance of not getting poked.
They are fast, so have fun try to catch them 
I know that I always do 
.
Origin:
Peru and Columbia.
Size:
Both males and females will roughly reach the length of 5.3 inches (13.5 cm).
Sexual distinctions:
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The only method that I know of is venting, because there is not way to determined a Pictus Catfish’s gender by just looking at one.
Tank conditions:
The minimum tank measurements should be 36 x 12 x 12 inches ( 90 x 30 x 30 cm).
Temperature 71-79 degrees Fahrenheit (22-26 Celsius). The water should be of good quality, soft to medium hard, with a Ph reading of 5.6—7.0, which is slight acid to neutral.
The tank should be decorated with plants, and have many hiding places. To create some hiding places try using trees roots, and be sure to have plenty of open areas.
You should only keep around 4 in a single tank (that has the dimensions mentioned earlier).
The Pictus Catfish tends to utilize the entire tank, and so it’s not a bottom dweller or surface fish, it’s a fish that uses all areas of the tank.
Food:
In the wild will eat smaller fish, and insect larvae. In the aquarium will eat a wide range of foods. You can feed the Pictus Catfish fish pieces, frozen foods, tablets, flakes, and even small strips of beef.
Behavior:
If the Pictus Catfish is kept with tankmates that are at least half its size there is usually not problem and the Pictus Catfish is generalized as a peaceful fish. As mentioned before the Pictus Catfish will eat small fish in the wild, so just don’t have small fish species such as Characins as tankmates.
Breeding:
No known records of captive breeding. I once saw a documentary that showed wild Pictus Catfish breeding, and what the Pictus Catfish were doing was while a mouthbrooding cichlid was trying to scoop up eggs into its mouth the Pictus Catfish would fight a little bit with the cichlid while it layed its own eggs. Then the Pictus would swim away and the mouthbrooding cichlid would suck up the Pictus eggs, where they would hatch later on and eat the smaller cichlid fry that were hatching at the same time. Finally after eating all of the cichlid fry the Pictus babies would raise their dorsal, which would poke the mouthbrooder in the mouth and the Pitcus babies would swim out and start their own lives. Usually own 2-4 Pictus Catfish are born at a time.
If you have any information on the breeding the Pictus Catfish, please, feel free to leave a comment. You don’t need to join the site to leave a comment.
Everything I wanted to know about the Pictus Catfish very informative.
good information but is it suitable for a pictus to be in a tank with a 20 cm tandanus catfish!
Thanx
Thanks for the question!
Yeah, it should be fine, the pictus is very quick and should be able to swim away if there was any danger. Just be sure to have plenty of hiding spots that are too small for the tandanus, this way the pictus will definitely be safe.
I just got a tank for my 7 year old son. We bought 8 fish (small for a 10 Gal Tank.) All of the fish seem to be doing well. It has been MANY years since i cared for a tank. Except for the Pimelodus Pictus. He was very active the first day and ate 2 times per day.
Today i noticed is top fin is split so he has a large spike and the whips, for lack of a better term on his right side are limp and weak. He looks like he could be dying. How do i help it? He is still making circles around the tank, but he is slugish and not eating.
Thank you, Please hurry!
Jenn
Jenndoak@bellsouth.net
The fact that he is in a 10 gallon tank could be the reason for him being slower moving. I had to place mine in a temporary tank at one point when I had a problem and I noticed my Pictus catfish not moving at all for periods of time, so the lethargic movement is most likely from the lack of room.
The rip on his dorsal fin indicates that he was in a fight or there is something sharp in your tank. So there is no need to worry there, every now and then mine rip there fins as well, the fins heal rather quickly though so no need to panic.
But if it’s a fight then you might have a problem. What other fish are in the tank?
They are hardy eaters and this worries me that you say he is not eating. So I will ask a few questions: How often are you feeding them specifically? And what type of food is it?
Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this quickly,
just email me if you would like at mark@markspetfish.com
-Mark
I had 2 pictus fish the other day and one died. Stuff above it’s was peeling. And I think the other pictus was her mate. They found a little cave and the one that died would stay and would not eat. The other would swim or go under the filter.When it died, the one who would swim around would go to the cave. Where it was bare, it is now covered with rocks. What’s happening?
will my catfish get any bigger than 5.3 inches if I have him in a 90 gallon tank?
Hi Austin,
First I just want to say welcome to the site and hope you find what your looking for.
I would say that in a tank as large as yours that it’s very likely that your pictus catfish will get a little larger. I would guess that if the water conditions are optimal and the food is high quality that your pictus could reach 6 inches but I wouldn’t think that it would get much bigger than that. If you are worried that you will have a giant catfish in your tank since you have a larger tank I wouldn’t worry about it.
If you have any other questions feel free to keep asking!
I have two pictus and he does fine in a 20! They’ve eaten some fish and now there 4 inches long! You wont have a problem with your 90 gallon tank!
I also have a sun catfish. how big will he get and if he gets over 6 inches will he be a threat to other fish?
Please respond!
Rosy
How do you breed pictus cats anyway?
Hi Rosy,
Your sun catfish is a good tank mate, not aggressive and depending on the tank you have it in it can get between 10-18 inches long.
@Ewok
The only way that I have learned that Pictus Catfish will breed in captivity is to inject hormones into the water.
Cool, thanks mark. I’ll take note of it
Crud
oh well
Can you tell me all you can about jack dempsey’s
Do you know anything about salt water aquariums?
1f you do can you tell me if
- 1 naso tang
- 1 yellow tang
- 1 hippo tang
- 2 Ocellaris Clownfish
-3 yellow tail damsels will fit in a 75 or 100 gallon aquarium?
Mac, here is the link to the Jack Demspeys Profile:
http://www.markspetfish.com/jack-dempsey-chichlasoma-octosciatum/
Angel,
I do not know too much about saltwater so I recommend you try this site:
TheReekTank.com
Sweet, thanks i could use this
What fish would go good with 3 white skirt tetras, 2 electric yellow cichlids and a sun cat? my electrics will totrure just about any small fish and i want somthing kinda cheap and pretty
Hey I got 2 pictus about a year ago and I wanted to say a little about compatability. They will eat any fish that can fit in there mouth. They are peaceful but will seriously screw up a fish that messes with it. They also will claim territory but will use another fishes turf and they dont care. I wanted to ask a question about that document you saw. What was it called?
#Boss,
Those cichlids limit the different types of fish you can have in your tank. What size tank do you have?
Thanks Jordan for the tips!
“Jewels of the rift” it’s an old documentary. I think that there are parts of it on google.
Let me know if you can’t find it.