Pictus.
I have two pictus cats in my tank. Or I used to. Now I have 1. They had a nice big hollow log where they could swim in circles and not bother the swordtails (both are just under 2") and the platy (about 1").
Everyone got along fine in the tank for a good year! It was an excellent setup for a while. until the catfish got bigger. last week i woke to find that one of the catfish was swimming in circles near the top of the tank... they never do that. never. He was beat up. his whiskers were stubs and his fins were torn. The other catfish was swimming happily in the log. its was clear what had happened.
Once they got big enough, they fought territory. they wanted the log. The pictus that lost, died the next day. He made sure i knew he was suffering too, he made quite the racket, hitting the lid of the tank and splashing about. I was so preoccupied with the suffering catfish that i didnt even notice until today, a week later, that my platy was missing, and i realized i havent seen him for quite some time. I was so worried about how this crazy suffering catfish was affecting the swordtails, that i never saw the platy... i didnt even think of it.
When i bought the catfish, they were no bigger than 2". both of them were reaching 3.5 inches last week, and thats when the trouble started. The tank was pretty much at its maximum capacity.
The platy was tiny, an inch maybe. He was VERY healthy from what i could tell, he was always eating and was always active. I always thought that he was the healthiest out of the bunch. If he did die of natural causes- the two catfish would have taken care of any evidence quickly. but i cant help but think that this aggressive catfish had something to do with it. I'm not sure if i should by a new platy now... I dont think i should get another catfish... Its a 10 gallon tank, and this catfish is aggressive enough.