Leiarius pictus!

[wonword]

Hello catfish lovers, just thought id share with you a couple vids of my L. pictus!
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[sidguppy]

careful, I see a lot of food swimming around......rainbow fish, angelfish, that pike cichlid, the hoplo cats.....

in time the Leiarius will deplete that tank and it'll be sooner than you think.

the Hoplo cats also present a risk; these can block the throat of such a large pim when swallowed and then you end up with 2 dead cats instead of one.

large pims can and do eat Callichthyids!
I can remember in a friends' tank a halfgrown Pseudoplatystoma (about 40 cm/16") eating a whole group of adult Corydoras, spines and all.


another thing, I can see baby Potamotrygon reticulatus in there; these are often finicky eaters when small
there's a very large possibility that the growing catfish will cause the rays to starve to death by outcompeting them for the food.

[Richard B]

Wise words from Sid!

[wrasse]

Its a stunning catfish. My favourite big'un.

[Richard B]

I do have a soft spot for these - they are great characters & stunning to look at. They don't quite reach the sizes of the RTC, TSN & Giraffe cats so are slightly more suitable for monster aquaria, that said careful consideration should be undertaken before keeping one.

[wonword]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! So far everything has worked out perfectly, he has been in with the the tankmates since kitten, and I havent lost one fish to him yet. There are also unseen bushynose plecos and peacock eels the size of worms. Im sure if I didnt feed him for a week, things would soon change. Im confident by that feeding him well, and not feeding him feeder fish or fish tasting things, he will not acquire a taste for fish and eat his tankmates.

The stingrays are actually motoros, i have had retics in the past, and it is true that they are finnicky. I had mine handfeeding on frozen bloodworms however to ensure that they would get fed. The Motoro pups, however, are on market prawn, and after I feed the catfish enough he just goes and sits in the corner until it digest.

[wrasse]

I wonder what the other fish say to each other, in this tank.....

"look out! Its coming this way - run for your lives!!!"
"here comes fatbastard"
"has anyone seen pete?"

[Richard B]

I don't think natural urges can be supressed completely. There might be stimulants or attractants in fish pellets etc which mean fish automatically take these first but i think its only a matter of time....& how do the other fish feel? They look worried to say the least & they must be stressed out.

[wonword]

Haha wrasse!

Richard, the only reason the other fish looked stressed is because they had a full stomach, they are not really stressed at all. If I dont feed the dats for a day, they are at the front of the glass begging for food, same with the other fish. They are all fat and happy. The male motoro has some bite marks, and I havent found the culprit yet, but the mouth size is very small, so im guessing it is the female motoro picking on him, as she is in perfect condition.

[wonword]

Here are a couple pics!
Sorry for the dirty glass

[Richard B]

Much as i like the L Pictus, the

Goeldiella eques

is far nicer!!!

[wonword]

Thank you! I cant wait until he is on pellets so he can bulk up! He is my newest cat and only taking bloodworm right now!

[coelacanth]

So far everything has worked out perfectly, he has been in with the the tankmates since kitten, and I havent lost one fish to him yet

"Yet" is the operative word. This has been said many times, in similar situations and has never ended well. The overwhelming evidence (albeit anecdotal) points towards the suggestion that you are risking the lives of some of your fish by housing them with a predatory fish that will grow large.

Im confident by that feeding him well, and not feeding him feeder fish or fish tasting things, he will not acquire a taste for fish and eat his tankmates.

Won't happen. You're hoping to overcome all those instincts, receptors and millions of years of evolution. It might be possible if you train the fish to target feed, it might be possible if you keep the fish fed to satiation (but then that would be bad for the physiology of the fish, and the life support systems), you might just get lucky. But that wouldn't prove anything of value, and the flipside is that you could needlessly cause the deaths of fish through deliberate improper husbandry.