Colombian pictus catfish photos

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Things took a 180 into unexpected territory today.

Picked up 3 P. pictus today to replace the P. maculatus. I didn't quarantine them because they were pre-quarantined anyway, and from my past experience, this species can stress considerably in small (like 38 liter) quarantine tanks. But when they went in the 473 liter, I realized how tiny they were. Probably no more than 3cm long - they looked a lot bigger before I got them home.

This then led to the archerfish taking a pretty big interest in them. Let's just say it reminded me of the reason I hate oscars so much and will NEVER get any (or at least, I wouldn't unless I somehow owned a big 'garbage disposal' red tail catfish), and almost paralleled it.
Thankfully, that was only an almost parallel. Before the archerfish ate the new pictus catfish, I caught them out and transferred them to a rapidly set-up quarantine tank (which, as much as they may not like it is better than being eaten).

To avoid the mentioned stress that comes with the quarantine tank, though, it is very temporary. In the next few days I will be preparing my second 473 liter loach tank (signature) up to hold fish, and they will grow out there with my 24 black kuhli loaches (and possibly some of the other fish for that tank) until they're big enough to go in this 473 liter with the clown loaches, archerfish, and 3 existing P. pictus.
For the time being, this will allow me to have a zero-risk combination of pictus catfish with kuhli loaches. I like how they look together and will enjoy it while the pictus are small.

Good gravy!

 

[Midwater]

Some photos please.

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Not until they go in the 473 liter to grow out. The quarantine tank is too ugly to share a picture of

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Just moved them into the 2nd 473 liter. Here's a picture Midwater .
Not very good, I know, but the only camera on hand right now is non-rotateable. I'll get better pictures later.

All 3 are in the pic. One is 3cm, the 2 others are 4cm, so definitely small enough to be archerfish food.

At the moment they're the only fish in there. I'll move over the kuhli loaches when I have the patience and energy to catch all 24 of them, and today I do not.
So as things stand, this is the most understocked fish tank I've ever had, lol.

One of them has lost some of its whiskers. At this size will it grow back?
As soon as I saw it was lost I immediately thought to Milingu's 22+ year old that had permanently lost some whiskers. If it's permanent here too that would suck, the whiskers are one of my favorite parts of this species.

They seem to be squabbling quite a lot. I hope that's related to schooling hierarchy and not needing to be separated as adults.

Can't wait for them to grow big enough to go with everything else.

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Better picture. Just like the last one I got all 3.

And a full tank shot of their temporary accomodations. Hopefully they like these accomodations, because they're pretty much the same as the accomodations they'll have in the original 473 liter.

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Got some pictures of them, and with the kuhli loaches for size.

Here's 2 of the 6 racing around.

And here's one next to an only 2/3 grown kuhli loach. If Fishman Dave ever wants to try this combination (or with Siamese fighting fish, another 'risky' combination I have done which we have talked about), this is an ideal size to get the catfish.

Edit: I'd like to take this opportunity to mention that I think tank size for these fish is all too often underestimated. Even though they are only medium sized, they're so energetic and active that I would not keep them in anything smaller than a 1.83m x 47cm footprint 378-473 liter, and I find they're often misrecommended for 1.22m 208-341 liter tanks.
This is also the reason why I don't keep the bigger 'exotic' species, like 4-line pictus catfish or ornate pictus catfish. I can't provide a >4m tank for them, which is what I feel would be needed based on their size and activity.