Pictus catfish lifespan?

[thebiggerthebetter]

Fish tend to live the longest under proper care AND when not exposed to new pathogens which come with new tank mates and less so with new plants. It is in the latter condition that we find the longest kept specimen, usually way beyond the average expectation.

Our pictus are not lucky at all in this department. We got 33 6 years ago. Have a dozen or maybe dozen and a half remaining today. Many were eaten. Many have died.

 

[celebrist]

Fish tend to live the longest under proper care AND when not exposed to new pathogens which come with new tank mates and less so with new plants. It is in the latter condition that we find the longest kept specimen, usually way beyond the average expectation.

You speak truth brother, this is why I quarantine new arrivals for 6 months or more before introducing them to the display tank, I don't want any suprises!


Not worth risking my sweeties

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Sorry to hear about your pictus thebiggerthebetter ?. That must really have sucked, and with how much I like pictus you have my full sympathy.

Since you mentioned they got eaten, I was wondering if you think I'd have to worry about adult-size clown loaches eating pictus of any size and dying from it. Even with an adult pictus I can't shake that thought.

Thanks for commenting here.

 

[Fishman Dave]

No worries at all with the clown loach even if the clowns were full size (>12”) and the Pictus were the smallest size available and were just adding them. Very few folks keep adult size clowns in the uk although Pier had a batch in not so long ago at £300 per fish.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I don't think CL are that predatory but I know next to nothing on the CL's. Some of our pictus were eaten by tig and juruense growout tank mates when I misjudged the sizes. That was back when the pictus were young, around 2"-3" and the tigs and jurs were around double the size.

You speak truth brother, this is why I quarantine new arrivals for 6 months or more before introducing them to the display tank, I don't want any suprises!

Thank you. But I meant it even more generally. No new tank mates. Period. That's how you get champion ages. One can keep neons like this for 5-7 years and counting.

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

I don't think CL are that predatory but I know next to nothing on the CL's.

To be honest I didn't think so either. But it seems they're opportunists: cases I have seen range from this (which rightly points out their opportunistic nature) to another case of a 35 year old loach dying after attempting to eat a large fire eel, which I'll have to find.

With any luck, though, things should go well enough with the pictus (as Fishman Dave said). They're quite fast to be an opportunity for a meal, anyway, and years of being around pictus they couldn't eat could well 'desensitize' otherwise determined loaches.
Fingers crossed!

Back on the topic of lifespan, no new tank mates makes sense. That leads me to reconsider my plans of continually rescuing Siamese fighting fish, since they're often not in the best of health and so it eliminates a big source of outside pathogens
(Plus, I don't have to worry about longer-finned Siamese fighters getting their fins turned into pictus food!)

 

[Milingu]

M MultipleTankSyndrome

That is the best picture I can get right now.
It looks small but it is around 7".

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Thank you very much for sharing! You were spot on about the crooked spine.

 

[jjohnwm]

Back on the topic of lifespan, no new tank mates makes sense. That leads me to reconsider my plans of continually rescuing Siamese fighting fish, since they're often not in the best of health and so it eliminates a big source of outside pathogens
(Plus, I don't have to worry about longer-finned Siamese fighters getting their fins turned into pictus food!)

Good move. "Rescuing" fish...although buying them from a store, which then encourages them to bring in more fish for more abuse, is definitely not a "rescue" operation...is all well and good if they are kept alone while in their convalescence.

But...bringing home a succession of sickly, diseased fish that are on death's door...and then introducing them to a healthy community of fish...is a really, really bad plan.

Might as well spend your weekends visiting Covid superspreader events, while unvaccinated and maskless...and then going home and kissing your loved ones. The logic is pretty similar.

 

[Krismo962]

Might as well spend your weekends visiting Covid superspreader events, while unvaccinated and maskless...and then going home and kissing your loved ones. The logic is pretty similar

Thanks for the laugh