PrincessGoodey Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 Hi, I am fairly new to keeping an aquarium and am learning lots as I go. I unfortunately trusted someone at a pet store who may not have been accurate in what they described to me. My daughter always loved the catfish she saw. I saw a new one at the petstore and inquired and she said that this pictus catfish was small enough that it would eat off the bottom and leave my fish alone. Needless to say the catfish came home and did fine for a while. Now every morning I wake up and someone is gone! After reading up on the catfish of course I learned that they will eat the smaller fish. I expected the neons perhaps but now my guppies are disappearing. I don't know what to do. I can't really return the catfish as my daughter loves him (and so do I) but I also like my other fish. Do I just make sure I replace the fish I lose with bigger fish? are there kinds he won't eat? can I feed him something else so he isn't so hungry? I have another 10 gallon tank I just set up I thought about putting just guppies in for a while but I don't know. Any ideas? I know that this is my fault for not doing my enitre research first but unfortunately I thought I could trust the seller for the proper info. Next time....not so much! Currently have 50 gallon tank with 1 huge goldfish (leftover who outgrew small tank) 4 zebra danios 1 glassfish 1 mickey platy 3 black skirt tetras 7 neon tetras 2 rainbow fish various guppies other catfish ??? planted Thanks in advance for any ideas...I am new to this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 I have an over abundance of fry, so to cull them I put a bunch in my Oscar tank. Well.... the Oscars won't touch the little guys! The O's are 7-9" and the fry are .5-2"; definitely should be snack material! However, it would seem that the O's would much prefer to be hand fed (yep, they eat out of my hands!) their NLS each morning, instead of having to 'work' for their food. Basically, what I'm suggesting is adding some food after lights out. My preference would be for NLS Community pellets or H2O Wafers; but, use what sinking food that you have for now - just a bit when you turn out the lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corrosionjerry Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 I am surprised that your Pictus is eating those fish... I had a couple of them a few years back and the only problem I had with them was that they are very buisy fish... constant movement and they seemed to cause stress in the tank with that movement... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessGoodey Posted February 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 Thanks for the ideas. I don't know who else it could be eating the other guys. The only other fish that is big enough is the goldfish but honestly he is too slow to catch the little guys. I'll try the nightfeeding. Generally I feed everyone towards the end of the night but I'll try anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessGoodey Posted March 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Thanks for the ideas. I don't know who else it could be eating the other guys. The only other fish that is big enough is the goldfish but honestly he is too slow to catch the little guys. I'll try the nightfeeding. Generally I feed everyone towards the end of the night but I'll try anything. I think I solved the problem....my rainbow fish is the culprit! He stalks the pore little guys and eats em. I have had to move all my smaller fish to another tank. Now I have to try to figure out if I keep him or them. I like them all. We'll see. Thanks for the ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted July 13, 2008 Report Share Posted July 13, 2008 lol...ah yes the rainbow fish, i had had a similar incident happen to me a while back with my cardnal tetras...unfortunatly i figured it out after only 4 of 16 were left lol, but yea...never bought another rainbow fish after that to be honest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted July 25, 2008 Report Share Posted July 25, 2008 My pictus hides all the time. He doesn't like to come out and play. He prefers laying in a rock cave all day. He however will come out at feeding and dart all over the place, then back into his hole he goes. I have never had an issue with my pictus either. I say get rid of the rainbows and restock your schooling fish so you have proper schools. Have you decided what to do with goldy? They should be kept in coldwater, as the warmer temps are not as good for them to be long term, watch out because he might be the next culprit to eating your fish!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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