Pictus Rubbing On Aquarium's Wall NO SIGN OF ICK OR VELVET

[tauquenmay]

My 55gal tank consists of:
7 tiger barbs
6 zebra danio
3 giant danio
3 pictus catfish

Water Parameter:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
PH: 7.6

One of my scaless pictus catfish is seen to rub its belly on my aquarium wall. At first I was panicking and was really worried that it had Ick or such. But when I checked for any symptoms, there were no signs. All of my pictus were behaving normally the other day, hanging out in the bottom of my aquarium and having little fights for hiding spots, but just a week ago I started noticing that one of the pictus is rubbing its belly on the aquarium wall. It's not the salt either because I took recommended amount of salt for scaless fishes so it won't "burn" their skin or irritate them in any way (1 teaspoon per 10g). What should I do? If he's continuing to rub on the aquarium wall should I make any action? If so what? Thanks.

 

[Kasei]

I think this is normal behavior, I wouldn't worry too much.

I own a pictus catfish and had him for almost two years before he started getting really active. He went through a phase where he swam in one place on the tank, rubbing his belly against the glass as if cleaning the tank. He used to like to swim against the current of our filter and sometimes just swims around the top of the tank like crazy, even going so far as jumping out of the water and bumping his head against the glass lid! Apparently pictus are known for this kind of intense athletic behavior and I don't think that you should worry at all.

If he starts acting stressed (i.e. stops swimming and just kind of sinks to the bottom/floats to the top) then you have a problem; but if he's just being really active I say just sit back and enjoy the antics.

 

[tauquenmay]

well... now that you said that I'm less worried. Thanks though for the info, and yes, if anything like the stressing signs shows up I'll take action right away. Thanks again.

 

[Kasei]

No problem--if it makes you feel any better, we were really worried too when ours started doing it all of a sudden in November. He's stopped now; these days he mostly just lays around at the bottom of the tank and eats too much, haha. I guess these fish must have mood swings or something. x) Anyway, I would just keep an eye on it; at the very least it'll be fun to watch. Good luck!