new pictus catfish

[Perrytheparrotfish]

A couple days ago i bought two pictus catfish and put them in with my baby blood parrot who i have had for about 5 months. They seem to do fine except for when i put the algae wafer in. When i feed them, the blood parrot attacks them to get the food. They seem to be much faster than my blood parrot, but will they be ok?

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Put in 2 wafers.

 

[Perrytheparrotfish]

Wow, i can't believe i didn't think of that. I will put 1 on one side of the tank and one on the other. What if my blood parrot still attacks them, don't their fins hurt the blood parrot to make him/her stop?

 

[Rokuzachi]

You could attempt to do targeted feeding if putting down multiple spots doesn't help.

I had to do this with some of my fish in the past. I used one of the extra long turkey basters that you can feed reefs with, to drop food right in front of some fish's hiding spots so they could eat. I'd feed the most aggressive fish fist and then make my rounds to the shy ones after they'd had their fill.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Wow, i can't believe i didn't think of that. I will put 1 on one side of the tank and one on the other. What if my blood parrot still attacks them, don't their fins hurt the blood parrot to make him/her stop?

Haha ya. And nah the pictus catfish cant do any damage to ur blood parrot unless they grow max size which is abt 9". Put a wafer in eatch of their favorite hiding spots, and make sure the pictus get enough to eat

 

[Perrytheparrotfish]

After u told me to put two wafers in I did, but the blood parrot still took both of the and the pictus catfish got some but my blood parrot attacked him

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Ok then ur fish is crazy..

 

[Perrytheparrotfish]

I know my blood parrot is hilarious and eats anything I put in there.

 

[DragonFish71]

Haha ya. And nah the pictus catfish cant do any damage to ur blood parrot unless they grow max size which is abt 9". Put a wafer in eatch of their favorite hiding spots, and make sure the pictus get enough to eat

Incorrect.

Their pectoral fins are like daggers. They will use them in defense and can stick a fish with them. They are bony protrusions and hurt like the dickens. I had one jump out of the net and land, pec fin down, into the top of my foot.

And size of the catfish doesn't matter. Once it's 3 or more inches, it will hurt.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

A pictus wont mess with a blood parrot unless its gotten big. Im not wrong

 

[davePM]

A pictus wont mess with a blood parrot unless its gotten big. Im not wrong

Any fish, of any size will "mess" with another fish if provoked/spooked/annoyed enough. Regardless of its size/age if does have sharp spines, and they DO hurt like ****!

 

[Rokuzachi]

A pictus wont mess with a blood parrot unless its gotten big. Im not wrong

Wouldn't the parrot messing with the pictus, and subsequently getting spiked from the catfish defending itself be the actual concern?

 

[Perrytheparrotfish]

The blood parrot probably figured out not to mess with them. He just leaves them alone now. I've heard that those fins do hurt really bad.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Do they really? I never thot they were sharp?

 

[absolutangel04]

Yep, I agree with dragonfish and davePM. Most fw cats have spiky fins and they are very sharp and definitely hurt. I have seen multiple people bleed from catfish interactions.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Even a tiny pictus?

 

[absolutangel04]

Yes. Even a tiny pictus has them. They are not just a feature of adult fish. Even corys have spiky fins and some corys only reach an inch.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Oohh thanks for the info!

 

[Perrytheparrotfish]

I was wondering, could I add a pleco, if so what kind?

 

[betta4me]

I distract my blood red parrot with shrimp pellets while feeding the others flakes, wafers and krill pelets.