Hungry pictus catfish

[Mephistopheles]

Man, I am not having a good month with fish. 2 weeks ago I lost my firefish gobie in my SW tank. Now one of my platys, Jaque, has disappeared. I can't imagine where he would have gone. He seemed fine last night but this morning he is no where to be found (rest assured I did a proper sweep of the tank and moved all the decorations). The only thing I can think of is that my spotted pictus catfish ate him for some reason or another cuz he has an extremely swollen stomach this morning. It's a 10 gallon tank and he's in there with 1 other platy, 2 bloodfin tetra, and 1 dwarf gourami.

Has anyone else seen this sort of behavior in pictus catfish. I never read/heard anything about them eating smaller fish. (btw, i know that he's getting too big for the tank and I'll have to give him away soon). Does anyone have any other ideas as to where my poor little Jaque has gone? He's only been in there for just over a year. (he's not in the filter or on the carpet either)

I appreciate any replys

 

[tetrin]

i am sorry to be the one to break this to you...but pictus cats are notorious for devouring their buddies...i mean they are cute and stuff...but they are actually ruthless nocturnal hunters...
so i'd say a prayer or tw for Jaque...and move the culprit away to a larger prison...

 

[Rocket2001]

I posted a few weeks ago about how i lost a bloodfin tetra to my pitcis catfish...and there was no doubt about it he had a red fin hanging out of his mouth

 

[Melody]

Pictus Cat will eay ANYTHING that fits into their mouths. I had to get rid of mine. He was cleaning out my tank.

 

[Devilishturtles]

My pictus cats are the complete opposite in behavior. Very peacful. Although, they did fight the pleco for the log that they both inhabit now, I've never had a problem with them eating my other fish. And I've had some SMALL fish in that tank. Are you sure that perhaps Jaque didn't pass, and then the pictus ate the carcus? A little hard to tell at this point I would assume. Or maybe stuck in an aquarium decoration?

Anyways, sorry to hear about the loss. You will want to get the pictus into a larger tank anyways, 10 gal is bout too small. That could be a bit of what contributed to his agressiveness. They are quite territorial little buggers.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Thanks for the info. Fluff will be gone by this weekend.

 

[chrism]

mine dnt seem to be too aggresive either, i mean, they have eaten two cardinals, when i first got them, but nothing since then. that was a good couple months ago.

 

[Melody]

Thanks for the info. Fluff will be gone by this weekend.

hehe... Fluff....

Mines name was Hoover!