I have a pictus catfish currently being homed in my 75 gallon aquarium, hes homed with several African cichlids and a few clown loaches. I was mislead to believe that they are not a social fish that enjoys being with a few other Pictus catfish, and only got one at the store. I have no issue getting others if i need to, but he is about 5-6 inches so i dont know if he is aggressive or not at this point.
However, he absolutely never shows his face in my tank during the day time or when the lights are on, even if i drop some food for him during the day he wont come out to eat. As soon as the lights are off, hes active as can be and is scavenging the tank for food. I just want to know if it is normal for a pictus to be completely inactive and hidden for the entire day? And how do i help him if there is an issue.
I doubt that being the only Pictus Cat is a problem, as they generally remain active anyhow. This is a somewhat delicate freshwater fish, at least compared to the bread and butter fish typically kept by most freshwater hobbyist. They are prone to ich and skin infections. Of all the fish the come into the LFS on a regular basis, this one is at or near the top of the list of fish that may not adapt well to transport. To make it worse, they prefer soft water, or at least within the range of a typical community. Keeping them with Africans is an interesting combination and certainly increases the risk of it not adjusting well due to the elevated pH.
Well he seems rather healthy, just from what I can see and I definitely admit I am no expert. During the night, or whenever the lights are off he is very active, and it's quite obvious it's due to the lights or some effect of them because it's almost instantaneous how he reacts once I turn off the lights.
He hides in a log the entire day and doesn't move much, but once the lights are off he squirms around for a few seconds before leaving the log and swimming around the tank nonstop looking for food and just behaving actively. It's very confusing because I was told they were active fish, even during day time.
Also I know now not to trust the local LFS on everything but they told me African cichlids would be fine with the pictus. Not saying you are wrong because I'm sure you are knowledgeable, just explaining why I have them housed together.
They will be most active during lights off. That being said, mine is full grown at just over 6" and very active both during the day and at night. He's in with some American cichlids and holds his own well with them. As long as he's not getting bullied by the African cichlids he should be fine.
Ah, that might explain things, it's been about 10 days since I put him in. Could he still be adjusting to his new life?
Also he's about twice the size of most of my cichlids and I haven't seen any aggression towards him, if anything he's the hostile one because he's just about taken over that log he hides in haha
If it has been 10 days, you already have a great idea of his health and it sounds like you got a good one. You're likely just seeing how this fish is going to behave long term. Some fish are just more active at night.
It could be bright lighting or being alone, they are a shoaling fish and do better in a group, that's not to say they can't be happy single it just means they are happiest in a group
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