I found out who the nightly muncher is!

[ADCISCO]

Well it seems it is as I had thought all along....its the Pimelodis pictus....Pictus cat.....seems that they like small fish! But what gets me is that they started out small and have worked there way up! One danio,3 green tiger barbs and a goldfish! Bless my husbands heart. He bought me 2 of them for Christmas. They say that they are good commumity fish!!!! Not in my tank they arent. They say that they eat earthworms and shrimp. I guess that I am going to have to buy some shrimp to save my fish because I am not going outside and try and dig under the 3 inches of ice we have for a worm of which I would probably never find at this time! Any other suggestions on what I should feed these vultures!?

 

[Fruitbat]

ADCISCO...

Pimelodella pictus is definitely NOT a fish you want in a community tank full of smaller fish. They're beautiful catfish but they will get fairly large (up to 10 inches according to some resources I've seen). They'll eat almost any meaty food that sinks to the bottom and will usually devour sinking wafers or tablets as well. Try frozen beef heart or bloodworms if you want to go the 'meaty' route.

 

[loganj]

A pictus can't be trusted around anything that will fit in it's mouth. They are great community fish as long as their neighbors are too big to eat. You can feed it earthworms...get them at the bait store. You can keep them fresh and alive in the fridge for a couple or three weeks. Frozen bloodworms are a big hit with any catfish. I use a piece of acrylic tubing for an undergravel filter to set them sink to the bottom so all the other fish don't eat them all. You can get frozen krill (shrimp) from the LFS. An occasional snack of frozen beef heart would probably go well too. I get most of my fish food at Wal Mart and the grocery store. If your Wal Mart is a supercenter, they should have a fresh seafood section...that's the place to get shrimp. They will probably enjoy the occasional small cricket as well. Almost all catfish are predators. The old tale that they only eat things that are dead and rotting is false. With the exception of corys and the various sucker mouth cats, don't trust one of them with any other fish that will fit in it's mouth.

 

[ADCISCO]

Well I have been given the opportunity to use a 55 gallon tank. If I took these cats and put them in it what other fish should I get? I thought about african cichids. And also want to know how hard it is to clean the tank with them. I have some tiger barbs that think that everytime I clean the tank they can munch on my arm. I dont want to get anything that will literally bite the crap out of me when I put my arm in for cleaning!

 

[ADCISCO]

What about those little tiny shrinp you can get at walmart that are live back in the pet supplies? Would those be good to put in the tank or do my other fish stand a chance of getting some disease or something from them. They are only 28 cents a peice so I thought I could get a couple dozen to try them out to see what happens. Devil Fish

 

[loganj]

Ghost shrimp? Sure, you can put those in. I expect they won't be there in the morning either. The pictus will enjoy them. The frozen shrimp and about any other frozen meaty food is just easier/cheaper.

 

[ADCISCO]

I just dont want to put something in there that is going to mess up the tank or make it dirty. One thing I cannot stand is cloudy water. What is the point of having fish if you cant see them?LOL Will the frozen kind make the water cloudy or nasty?

 

[Fruitbat]

ADCISCO...

The frozen food will only make the water cloudy or nasty if you overfeed or if you don't remove any uneaten food after the feeding frenzy.