Cory cats better than Pictus cats for cleaning?

[cgcaver]

The guy at my LFS told me that cory cats tend to be better bottom cleaners than pictus cats, and that if I got emerald corys, then they'd get big enough that my O would prolly leave em alone, especially since my O is a baby and would be raised with em.

Any truth to the "cory cats are better cleaners" statement?

[BrianNY]

Well cories being smaller could get into nooks and crannies that a pictus could not. I'd very cautious about keeping any cory with an oscar however.

[FawnN]

My cory's are very active and also need a well balanced diet other then eating the scraps on the bottom. And I would be really concerned about putting anything that little with oscars.

I personally think they would be gobbled up. If not now, when he gets bigger.

[Diesel]

I think it would be safer to put pictus catfish with the Oscar, since they are fast.

I think pictus can grow to 6 inches and more. They grow fast just like oscar.

[ChileRelleno]

I agree with the initial statement made by your LFS, " The Cories are better bottom cleaners than the Pictus."
IMO the Cories will hunt down some of the smallest morsels of uneaten food as they "graze" thru your substrate and plants, while the Pictus is going to be going after regular food and the larger scraps of leftover food.
The Pictus is a like a broom, sweeping up the big stuff off the substrate but the Cories are like little shop-vac's sucking it all up!

Once your Oscar is big enough, anything small enough to even begin to fit in its mouth is given the Ol'edibility taste test!

I would not, NOT!, put Cories in with the Oscar. They would become snacks at some point and could seriously hurt your Oscar if he trys to eat'em, the spines on their pectorals can cause serious injury to a young, curious Oscar's mouth-n-throat when trying to eat'em.

The Pictus cat has been used as a tankmate for Oscar's with varying degrees of success and failure. It will depend on your Oscar's temperament and general mood (Oscar's are subject to more mood swings than a woman suffering severe PMS ).
Imo opinion if your Oscar will tolerate'em then they would compliment the Oscar's messy feeding style rather well.

I'm no catfish expert, but don't pictus get 8"-12" long?

If so, an adult Oscar and an adult Pictus are both going to be messy eaters with huge appetites. Requiring a very large tank with excellent filtration and routine cleaning.

How big is this tank?

[wright4lfe]

i have 8 emerald cories in with my 3 oscars (7in, 9in, 10in), my 7in clown knife and my 4in bumblebee catfish. none of my cories are more than 1.5 inchs long. i built 2 or 3 hiding places for them and they do just fine. i added them when all of the fish were maybe an inch or two shorter, but still never had any problems.

they are much better cleaners in my opinion as they really work over the substrate looking for food while other cats just look for big pieces to munch on. i almost considering taking back the bumblebee cat because all he wants to do is wait for left over pellets/shrimp and then go back and hide. not very effective and quite boring. although his coloring is quite interesting.

[ChileRelleno]

i have 8 emerald cories in with my 3 oscars (7in, 9in, 10in), my 7in clown knife and my 4in bumblebee catfish. none of my cories are more than 1.5 inchs long. i built 2 or 3 hiding places for them and they do just fine. i added them when all of the fish were maybe an inch or two shorter, but still never had any problems.

Your O's may be quite preoccupied with each other and I would presume are well fed but I still wouldn't trust'em around fish that small.
Especially when the cories if eaten could possibly injure them.
The fact that they're bottom dwellers with lots of places to hide helps.
Are your O's diggers? If they decide to remodel the bottom of your tank your cory shelters better be built like bunkers .

One curious O could equal UhOh!

[ChileRelleno]

A good article on compatible tankmates for your Oscar, no mention of Cories but it talks about Pictus and a couple other bottom feeders.
http://www.oscarfish.com/cms_view_article.php?aid=2

[wright4lfe]

my o's just aren't interested. they haven't taken an interest in them from the time i first put 3 in the tank. whether they're busy with each other, busy trying to figure out why the clown knife only eats at night or trying to figure out why my 16 month old son like to lick the side of the tank, they're just not interested.

[deeni0z]

maybe your son likes to lick the tank because it's nice and cool. or he's hinting thath e's craving fish.

[chrism]

i wouldnt class pictus cats as cleaner fish at all... they are preditory not scavengers surely? When i had mine, they snacked on a couple of cardinal tetras but never left over food scraps, they would eat the pellets and blood worms till they couldnt fit any more in there stomach or there wasnt any left, i wouldnt class that as cleaning, feasting yes but not really cleaning lol cory's on the other hand, rummage and forage and scurry constantly looking for food, so IMO yep they are better

if i was lucky enough or experienced enough or had room for a big enough tank, i wouldnt want to risk hurting the oscars with anything

[webmoose]

my cory cats don't help me clean the bottom of my tank at all I've asked them to hold the gravel vac several times.. They do eat any left over food for me though..

[kukerdan]

if you want the ultimate bottom cleaner, and since your raising it with an oscar, and not with small fish, get your self an albino channel cat, or a regular one for that matter, the one i had out grew its tankmates, and started eating them, so i gave him up, but he would gobble up mouth fulls of rocks, and spit them out clean, and do this to the entire tank.... this would be your choice, they are great scavangers