• Common Name: Pictus catfish, Pictus cat.
• Scientific name: Pimelodus pictus.
• Adult Size: 5 to 6 inches tall.
• Life expectancy: 4 to 8 years.

Pictus catfish is a nocturnal fish native to South America. They are found in the basins of the Amazon and Orinoco rivers but have been kept in aquariums for several generations.

Pictus catfish has a smooth silver body with black spots. Like other catfish species, they do not have any external scales. They have common thorns, used to scoop food deep into the substrate, and sharp spines on the pectoral and dorsal fin.

Take care when handling these fish to avoid pricking the spines. These fish are often stuck in nets, so an open container is recommended for handling these fish.

If your hand is pierced by a catfish spine, clean it carefully and do not return your hand to the tank water. Fish healer disease can occur if these wounds are not treated carefully.

If you have any family members with weak immune systems, including young children and the elderly, there is also a risk of fungi spp. Infection, known as “fish tuberculosis”, is associated with fish-related infections.

Being a calm and nocturnal fish, Pictus catfish can be kept with many different species, provided they are not very aggressive during the day while Pictus catfish are hiding. You can keep more than one Pictus catfish in a tank, just keep in mind the large tank size requirements.

When choosing suitable tank mates for peaceful community aquariums, make sure of their water quality parameters, specifically pH, kH, and temperature, everyone agrees.

The most important part of the Pictus catfish habitat is its quiet place to rest during the day. Don’t expect to see Pictus catfish much during the day unless you use dim and mute lighting on your tank.

During the day, make sure you have a cave or log of Pictus catfish to hide in. If you have Pictus catfish, nocturnal species, or bottom feeders, such as Plecostomous spp. Make sure you have enough hiding places for everyone.

Pictus catfish is a carnivore and will easily adapt to a grain diet. Since they are nocturnal fish, be sure to leave some food for them when the tank lighting is off.

In dimly lit tanks, you may see your fish go out to eat with the rest of the tank’s inhabitants. You are welcome to supplement your Pictus catfish with both meat and vegetables.

Don’t expect these species to be cleaned up after the other fish. Although they are bottom-feeding and most likely eating some hangovers, they are not their primary diet and will often require separate feeding due to their nocturnal nature.

In the wild, you’ll find that Pictus Catfish are scavengers and will eat pretty much anything they can find. They are carnivores by nature, so they eat meat and plant matter.

In the warm waters of South America, they will be found eating insects (dragonfly larvae), snails, small fish, and algae.

This makes keeping and feeding catfish extremely easy. They’ll pretty much wear out everything you put in the tub.

As always, the core of your catfish diet should be high-quality pellets. You’ll remember in the behavior section that we said that catfish spend long periods of their time in hidden areas near the bottom of the tank. For this reason, be sure to use soaked pellets. To provide them with some variety, you can always use food such as:

• Fresh foods (brine shrimp and heart-shaped beef).
• Frozen foods (bloodworms and black worms).
• Vegetables.

They will also spend periods of time searching for food in the substrate of your aquarium, so you can let any algae grow because your Pictus will eat them.

As a general rule, they will ignore most of the live foods that live at the top of the dwelling because they don’t want to get away from the bottom of the tank.

Finally, it must be repeated that they have a great appetite. You must make sure to keep it full to prevent the aggressive behavior of small fish in the tank. Additionally, since it produces a lot of waste, you must ensure that water changes are made at least every two weeks (25%).

Unfortunately, the Pictus catfish does not have any external sexual characteristics. With individuals of the same age and care, females may be larger than males.

Breeding the Pictus catfish is not easy. Many advanced amateurs struggle to provide a suitable habitat for these fish to lay their eggs. A very large aquarium is recommended and using a group of fish will definitely increase your chances. Always ensure that all new breeding fish are properly isolated, especially if they come from different sources.

As with any indoor aquarium, it is recommended to provide a breeding or spawning tank separate from the home tank in order to manipulate the chemistry of the water and provide a safe environment for any offspring.

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Suckermouth catfish or “Plecostomous” is considered the only member of the plentiful Loricariidae family, which you will find in the rivers of South America.

Some people wonder why this fish is called “The suckermouth catfish”, it is because of its specialized oral cavity, you will find that its raspy mouthparts are designed to grind up plant materials.

If you want to know more about this amazing fish, keep reading and we will give you everything you want to know.

This amazing fish can live with you from 10 to 15 years, and it will depend on the way you take care of it.

You have to know that the more you care for this fish, the more it will last with you in the tank without facing any health problems.

You can easily know the Suckermouth catfish because it has a special appearance, it is known for its scales or bony plates, which look like armor.

You will also find that sometimes these dense scales have extra ridges, which give the fish a spiky and thorny appearance.

You will also notice that its main color is brown, which you will find with darker spots or stripes.

Sometimes you will find some fish, that may have tan or yellow patterns, it is okay, they are the best too.

After knowing everything about the Suckermouth catfish, you will notice that it will be difficult to raise this fish in heavily planted tanks because you will hardly see it.

You will find that this fish can reach the max length, which is 50 cm, but generally, you will find that the common length is only 28 cm, here is when you know that it reached its full growth.

You can notice that the suckermouth catfish is like all the other fish, which are mainly herbivorous, but you will find that it needs to have a well-rounded diet, so it won’t be able to live with you on the algae in your tank alone.

You will always need to add some herbivorous fish pellets to the tank for this fish, and the best kind of it for this fish is the flat disc shape.

It will be perfect for the suckermouth catfish to mix herbivorous and omnivorous foods together, so give it what it needs.

You will have a wide variety of commercially tropical fish diets available everywhere if you want to try them with your fish.

If you want to keep your suckermouth catfish happy and healthy all the time, you can try using some supplementing with vegetables.

Although you will find a variety of fresh vegetables, which you can add to your tank, you need to make sure that you don’t add a huge quantity to its diet.

It is so easy for you to watch the suckermouth catfish breading, it will be enjoyable for you to see the male and female spawn together.

First of all, you need to add some smooth rocks on your take because they love to spawn on these rocks and divots in your substrate.

You will watch this happening in a quiet corner of the aquarium, which is not easily accessible, so you will only notice that if you keep your eye on them all the time.

You will find that once the females lay the eggs, the males will externally fertilize the eggs within the new nest.

Now, you will notice that the males will remain to guard the nest until the fry hatch.

Believe me, you will enjoy seeing this process so much.

If you want to take good care of these amazing fish, then you need to know that the most important thing you need to do is to give them enough room, which will be suitable for them when they reach full size.

Then you will need to add some important things in your tank, such as natural woods, which will be good for the fish to nibble upon.

You can’t use any type of wood, it must be a special wood, which hasn’t any toxic substances, like eucalyptus.

You have also to make it clean all the time in order to keep your fish healthy and doesn’t suffer from any diseases.

• You can easily clean the wood by allowing it to soak in chlorinated water, and leave it for at least 24 hours there.
• Now you will need to rinse it thoroughly before adding it to your aquarium.

If you find that you can’t wait all this time and won’t be able to clean it right, then you can easily buy the woods, which made specifically for aquariums.

In this case, you will only need to rinse them to remove dust, then you can use them for your aquarium safely.

You have to make sure that the water is fresh all the time because it will be the main problem for your fish, who doesn’t love dirty water, just like all other fishes, such as Kuhli loach, Pygmy cory, Panda cory, and more.

You will notice that this fish is a peaceful fish, who can live with other fishes without facing any problems; it will only need to be in soft water with a low pH in the wild.

Therefore, the water must be between 7.0 and 8.0 pH, and the alkalinity between 3° and 10° dKH, and the temperature between 74° and 80° F.

• You have to change 10% of your water every week or 25% of it every 2 weeks, and you can do that by using an aquarium water changer or you can also try siphon vacuum gravel cleaner.
• It is important to treat tap water with a water conditioner before refilling your aquarium.

Although this fish is small, it will need a huge tank, and you will notice that you must have a tank that sizes 125 gallons for every single fish in your hand.

Therefore, you will always need to create a suitable space for your fish no matter how many they are.

The post Suckermouth catfish: appearance, feeding & more appeared first on Cory Cat Fish.

Therefore, if you are looking for a small and peaceful fish, which always tries to stay out of the way, then this fish will be your perfect choice, and we will tell you why in our article today.

First, you have to understand what this fish is; it is one of the most famous herbivores fishes, which can restrict what you can give them.

The best food for it all the time is algae because it is the main food for it even in the wild, so it will be good to add one of them daily in mid quantities.

Besides the algae, you can still add some other food to this fish, such as green vegetables like lettuce, spinach, and zucchini.

You can drop a small piece or two for the fish a couple of times a week, but you have to make sure that the foods sink to the bottom of the aquarium.

It is very important to go back to the tank after 24 hours in order to remove any uneaten pieces from it.

Be careful not to overfeed your fishes whether with vegetables or algae because it could make them die or suffer from many diseases.

At the beginning of time, you will feel that it is difficult for this fish to breed in the home aquarium, but by the time you will find that it can live and breed easily.

You will find that the male and female fish keep smell each other like dogs, then the female will find her way on the surface, and once the male sees her doing this, he will intertwine his body with hers.

Now the male will fertilize her eggs, then she will be able to lay her eggs all around the tank.

You will easily know which eggs are good when you see them all are transparent with a bit of dark inside.

You will know the bad eggs when you find them are fluffy white, and you must get rid of these bad eggs.

If you decided to have this fish in your place, then you need to know that it can only live for 3 or 5 years only.

This will happen if you offer them a good living condition, a clean tank, and healthy foods.

You have to know that this fish doesn’t need many things because it is a peaceful and calm fish, which can tolerate a range of conditions.

You will feel so lucky if you have this fish because it isn’t prone to any particular diseases, it only suffers from some parasitic and fungal problems, which ate popular and common among freshwater fish, such as Ich.

There are some symptoms that can show on your fish, which will tell you that it doesn’t feel so well, such as loss of appetite, an increased respiration rate, and inactivity.

All the past symptoms are popular signs of disease, which probably happen because of an unclean tank or poor diet.

Once you find out that there is a sick fish in the tank, you must separate it from the rest of the fishes to protect them all.

Otocinclus catfish needs special care because it is a sensitive type, which can die if you don’t take good care of it.

Therefore, if you want to keep this fish with you for a long time, then you need to clean its aquarium daily and feed it healthy foods.

As we said before, this fish eats algae almost all the time, and it can leave some dirt in the tank, so you must clean it well because changing water won’t completely clean all the algae you see.

It is important to provide warm water, which can slowly moving in the tank and will be well-oxygenated.

The suitable water temperature for this fish is 70°F – 78°F (21°C – 26°C), and the water hardness must be 6° to 15° dH.

This fish doesn’t need a very large tank like other freshwater species, it will only need a tank that sizes 20 gallons or larger.

It will be larger than 20 gallons if you will have a group of fishes.

If you want to create a suitable aquarium for this fish, then you need to make sure that there is a soft and sandy substrate below the water.

You must make sure that the water is clean all the time by changing it daily, and make sure that there are no foods in the tank after 24 hours of feeding the fishes.

You can add some plants to the aquarium, but don’t add a lot of them because they could prevent the light from getting to the fishes.

The best plants for this fish will be Staurogyne repens, which can be used to provide more shelter for the fishes especially if they are more than 3 fishes in one place.

You can also try to add some plants at the bottom of the tank because fishes spent almost all their time there.

This fish is famous for its peaceful behavior, it is simply a small little fish, which loves to stay out of the way.

You will also notice that it is easy for larger fishes to eat these fishes because of their peaceful behavior.

You will also find that they are afraid all the time, and when they get scared, they always dart across the tank, and this will be a problem for you when you try to catch them in a net.

We wish you could reach all the information you wanted to know about Otocinclus catfish, and we hope that we could help you know more about this amazing fish.

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It is considered one of the most interesting freshwater fish in the world because of its unique look and amazing facts about breeding, feeding, and more.

We are here for you today in order to tell you things that are more interesting about this amazing fish to help you know everything about it.

You will be lucky if you choose this fish to be in your place because it can live from 18 to 25 years, so it will be with you almost forever.

You have to know that this fish will only live for a very long time with you if you offer special care for it and present suitable foods.

You will also find that it is uncommon for some fishes to live for these long years, so it may be significantly impacted by genetic factors, so if you find this fish, don’t lose it and take good care of it.

One of the most amazing things about this type of fish is that it can grow up so fast, you will find that it will almost be about 3 inches at the beginning.

After a few years, you will find that this fish reaches two feet in length, and its weight can reach over 60 pounds, so you have to be ready for this fast change.

If you want to know the difference between females and males, you can easily notice their mature because females are larger than males and they reach sexual maturity at 56 cm, but males sexual maturity at 45 cm.

You can simply take care of this fish by cleaning its tank and water all the time, and by offering healthy foods for it in time and in a huge quantity because they love eating.

You have to know that breeding this fish is not easy at all, and need special care, so if you don’t have enough time, then it is better to look for another fish.

You will notice that all the hybrid fishes from this type growing up quicker and larger than either parent, so you have to be ready for these big hybrid fishes.

The reason why they become so big and large is that they have something called hybrid vigor, which is responsible for growing.

Therefore, you have to think twice before having the tiger shovelnose catfish hybrid.

It is important to know what this fish eats before having it in your place, this fish eats smaller fish and crustaceans, besides some meaty protein-rich foods.

So your responsibility is to offer a significant amount of food in its tank at all times because it is large fish, so it will obviously eat a lot more than any other small fish species.

It will be good for this fish to present a mix of frozen foods for it with some worms, and pellets and this will be a perfectly balanced diet.

If you want to give this fish some treats, then you can try to drop pieces of fish for it as well, and these fish treats are a good source of enrichment.

It will be a challenge for you if you decided to breed tiger shovelnose catfish because it needs special care and attention, so we will tell you what exactly you want to breed it perfectly.

Frist, you have to give it a large and comfortable tank specially if you have more than one fish from this type.

Once you notice that the fishes start to grow up and become adults, then you will need to sperate them from other fishes by puting them in another large tank.

Now you will see by yourself that the mating is not that easy for tiger shovelnose catfish because it is hard to catch, so you will see that the male and female escaping from each other all the time.

When they found each other and start to have sex, you have to know that there is no guarantee that they will be compatible or even attempt to breed in your special tank.

Although this fish can stand a flexible range of water parameters, you must make sure that the water temperature is 75°F to 82°F, no more no less.

Your duty is to try and keep things as consistent as possible as you can, so you have to make the pH levels up to 6-8 and the water hardness is 6-20 KH.

You have also to make sure that the water is clean all the time by changing it frequently because water quality considered one of the most important parts of good fish care.

You have to make sure that this special fish has a large tank because it is famous for its big size, so it is important to let it live in a comfortable big place.

Therefore, it is better for you to choose a tank that is bigger than 180 gallons and reach 200 gallons, this will suit juveniles, but for adults, you have to choose one larger than 250 gallons.

All you have to notice is that the fish is feeling comfortable because if it feels cramped, then it will live in a state of stress, which will affect its lifespan and make it very short.

Once you find out that you are unable to provide these sizes of the tank for your fish, then you have to find another fish for you.

You have to make sure that the bottom of the aquarium is always clean because it is the place where the fishes live in, so they won’t feel comfortable if they found it dirty.

In order to keep the aquarium clean, you have to manage the number of fishes on it, so it is recommended to have only 5 fishes in the same tank.

In the end, we would like to hear your opinion about tiger shovelnose catfish, Do you like it?

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