a few pictus questions

[bryakwheel]

I have a new 29 gallon tank. It has 6 each of tiger barbs, zebra danios and red eye tetras. I also got a pictus catfish thinking it would help eat up extra food off of the bottom. Will the pictus be miserable without other pictus? It seems fine but I guess i have no idea to tell if it is happy or not. He has not eaten any of the zebrafish yet. It seems like I should get special food just for the pictus? I thought he could just eat flakes like the others but I'm trying not to overfeed them and he dosn't go around and eat until later. Any advice from pictus/fish gurus is welcome!

 

[aaronjohn20]

Shrimp pellets after light out works good for me. I would keep an eye out for him though because them tiger barbs can be pretty nippy!

 

[bryakwheel]

great I'll try those. So far no one is messing with him but perhaps that is becuase everyone is settling in. There so fun to watch I'll be checking closely.

 

[jackwagon]

My 3 pictus love the hirikari (spelling?) carnivore pellets. They will eat 3 in a row and then go off. Pictus are a very active species that require a lot of swimming room also so you may want to remove some decor if that is an issue

 

[bryakwheel]

I don't have too much in there...I just put in a bowl, a small pvc pipe and a coffee cup to try to make some "caves" for them. I'll try to find that food. Do you think they can be happy in a 29 gallon tank?

 

[jackwagon]

What are the dimensions?

 

[LyndaB]

Pictus need lots of room to zoom. They also do best when kept in groups. I personally wouldn't put them in anything less than 75 gallons to give them the space they need.

 

[bryakwheel]

36x12x16. Maybe I can try to get a bigger tank down the road. Right now they are about 2". Do you know how fast they grow?

 

[jackwagon]

I bought mine at 2.5" and now they are 3.5" in about 2 months