PlanetCatfish.com

Hi everyone,
I have a 50 gallon tank with two pictus cats, a yoyo loach, pleco, and three little tetras. They have all lived together for 3 years now. The cats were bought at the same time and now one is a little larger than the other and it also has a huge belly that has become real lumpy. Can anyone suggest what might be causing this? At first I thought that it might be about to lay eggs because the aggresive level has suddenly risen but as I have reasearched breeding has not been recorded in captivity. So now I want to know what is wrong. Also I have been reading other post about how people with two pictus fight and stay hidden during they day. I keep the tank light on all the time and they are active 24/7 and both pictus stay together and often rest in the same cave together. They are only agressive to other fish that bother them and seem to look out for each other.
~Mandy

I would suspect that it's not gravid (heavy with eggs), but you never really know.

I'd be more inclined to say that one of them is a bit faster than the other in getting the food, so it's just got a bit more obese than the other. It could also be some form of bloat, where it's intestines aren't working as they should. That's only a wild guess tho', so don't worry too much on that.

What are you feeding your fish, and how often?

--
Mats

I feed all the fish just flake food and we put some small guppies in the tank every now and then. I haven't noticed one eating more than the other. Last week they killed one of my mollies and they shared the fish .

wow, im so jealous!! my two just sit in the corner all day and only come out at night!! im getting a bigger tank for christmas (juwel 180 or 120) and i will get maybee 2 more and have no where to hide, with black sand so they thinks its ok to come out

yeah I thought that it was normal for them to be so active becasue my dad had a shovelnose that was super active but now that I am reading about them I have come to believe that my two cats are weird but I love them because they have personalities. They will follow my finger around the tank with their "wiskers".

What you are seeing is more than likely normal for these fish, I have had two pimelodus blochii for about ten years now and they can eat a lot of food. Sometimes they look like they have a belly full of marbles. Don't worry about it.

My pictus eats about once a week. When he does, he eats so many pellets you can actually see the outlines of individual pellets thorugh his skin. Then he's fat and happy for a long time.

As for being active/inactive, I think I found out how to make them very active. I have a large canopy of java moss at one end of the tank, kinda situated like a willow tree. One side is pressed close to the glass, but the currents keep it about 1/2" from the side. This is where you will find my pictus, swimming in the currents non-stop for hours. He goes above and below the canopy, kinda racing in and out of the current. It's his favorite activity and he never ever stops. It's very comical.