My pictus catfish?

Question

ok i had my pictus catfish in a 10gal for a while then i put him in a way bigger tank to day with 1-red tail black shark, 1-moonbeam gourami, 1-pleco, 1-Featherfin Catfish, and 1-Iridescent Shark with all the researching the fish should all be fine in that tank idk about the Iridescent Shark in a long run but the rest should be good

well my question is that the pictus cat was very active in the 10gal and now in isnt as active still active but just not as before.

wat do u think it is is he just getting used to the tank and he isnt going crazy for food

Answer 1

Pictus get more "lethargic" with age. As juveniles, you'll see them being very active during the day, however as they mature, they become noctournal. The small tank enables the activity of this catfish, as it has comfort issues. When you placed it into the larger tank, it likely grew much more comfortable with its environment and stopped the panic.

More than this though, Pictus catfish are fairly aggressive if left alone, I anticipate it being very argumentative with your featherfin, I hope its not...

Pictus do best in a "Fleet", I don't feel comfortable calling it a school since they zamboni the ground, its more like a fleet :P.

4 or more of them will make them much more active during the day, they will swarm around the bottom enjoying each others company... If your Pictus is an adult however, it will likely destroy a new pictus if you introduce it to your tank, a solution to this would be to buy several pictus, rear them in your old 10 gallon, and once they're a nice fair size, integrate them 1 by 1 into your newer, bigger aquarium ensuring there are extra caves for the new additions to stay away from the grumpy old man.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

I think that its probably just getting used to the tank. The tank it had before was way smaller and not as many fish in it so it might take him awhile to get used to the tank and having so many other fish sharing it with him