Will the old pictus cat eat younger newcomers?

JuliaC

Hi! I adopted this big old pictus cat recently. Before he came to me he was kept for years all alone in a 10Gal tank. I bought him a 55Gal which he seems to be very happy about. Then I decided to buy him some companions because I read that they are much happier in a school. But the biggest pictus catfish I could buy were 1.5" long... I got 3 of them, they are in quarantine right now. And the big guy is about 5". Do you think he will eat them if I put them in with him?
Thanks!

aunt kymmie

Welcome to TFK, Julia. I have a solo pictus (he's 6"-huge!) and I know he wouldn't be happy if I put any other pictus in there to join him. They can become a bit grumpy with age and are very territorial. I also have cardinals in this tank and even though a pictus can swallow anything they can get their mouth around I'm thinking I keep mine well fed as he hasn't made a snack of these smaller fish.
I doubt your big guy will eat the juvies but he might not be happy with them in the tank. Mine has a cave that he never leaves (except for on his nightly nocturnal missions) and no one is allowed in. Young pictus are quite active swimmers and as they get older they become much more sedate. All the activity of the younger ones might bother your older one. Provide lots of hiding spaces so everyone has an area they can call their own. HTH

JuliaC

Thank you aunt kymmie! I think you're right, he probably will resent the youth during the day when he rests. And possibly will try to swallow them at nights when he is madly active... I suppose I'll leave the young ones in the quarantine tank till they are a little bigger. So at least they don't get eaten easily. And yes, when I do put them in I'll give them many caves and plants to hide.
Funny thing is even the three young ones don't demonstrate any of that schooling behavior I keep reading about. They each chose a cave and pretty much only swim in and around it and guard it from the others. They never swim together like I thought they would.

aunt kymmie

This is exactly why I only went with one and not three. I know that you always read that they like to shoal but if you spend any time watching a handful of them in a tank you'll notice not much shoaling.