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The victim: juvenile pictis cat ~3 inches

The evidence: visual on DOA pictus cat

Time frame: between 0030 hrs and 0700 hrs

Crime Sceen: Body discovered @ 0700 hrs this morning, when I arrived on sceen I found two other pictus of the same size eating on the victim. Victim last seen @ 0030 hrs this morning doing fine with no signs of illnesses or injury.

Water Parameters:
temp- 76
ph - 7.4
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrAte - 10ppm

Tank mates:
10- Black skirt tetra @ 2 inches
2- Pictus cats @ 3 inches
2- angles 1 @ 2 inches, 1 @ 4 inches

The Suspect: The victims brother- Pictus cat

Services for the deceased have already taken place, no autopsy performed.

It's possible, but very unlikely. I would wager the thing keeled over on it's own, and the other two pictus are moving in on a free meal, as any fish would given the chance.

Yeah, I agree. From looking at your list of fish, none of them are typically violent or persistent enough to knock off a catfish. The reason that your other pictus cats were on the body is because they were taking advantage of a convenient food source. When was the last water change you did? Maybe you need to do more of them, I don't know. I'm just grasping at straws here.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

To my knowledge, Pictus cats aren't cannibalistic.

This is assuming of course we're taliking about Pimelodus pictus. Because there's another Pictus cat, Leiarus pictus. But you'd probably know if you have that one because [1] juveniles have big sail like dorsals, and [2] adults reach 2 feet in length. Leiarus pictus is a bruiser, and highly territorial with its own species.

If your cats are bright silver with black spots, then you have Pimelodus pictus, which although is well known for snacking upon things small enough to fit in its mouth, (e.g., neons, guppies and in the case of large ones, fish the size of a Convict Cichlid) isn't known for beating up conspecifics.

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Having kept pictus for much of my life, I would say that it is, at least to my knowledge, impossible for a pictus (even a large one at that) to fit a full grown convict in it's mouth, as convicts can grow quite a ways larger than themselves. Furthermore, I've heard adult L. pictus make excellent large community fish and tend not to bother either conspecifics or other bottom strata swimmers of similar size while youngsters enjoy squabbling amongst one another and are quite fiercely territorial.

Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 17-Feb-2005 23:11

Pimelodus pictus can hit 12 inches. And has quite a mouth gape. It might not be able to swallow a fully grown Convict, but I'd say it would easily dispatch a 4-inch specimen. Especially if it struck at night.

Plus, Leiarus pictus is a bit of a beast. Take a look at Sean Evans' specimen via one of my old links - that is not a fish to take lightly!

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Actually, Pimelodus pictus only grows 4.5" long maximum. If it was 12" long, it was most likely P. blochii or P. clarias, similar-looking but much larger species.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Does P. clarias have the same silver and white markings then? Only if it does, I stand corrected.

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

P. clarias doesn't, but there are some subspecies of P. blochii that look very similar to P. pictus. The shape of P. blochii is very similar to P. pictus as well.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

"Plus, Leiarus pictus is a bit of a beast. Take a look at Sean Evans' specimen via one of my old links - that is not a fish to take lightly!"

Actually, I have seen a full grown specimen before--my manager has one in his fish house, coexisting peacfully with goldy plecos, thick barred datinoids, and oscars. Not a fish to take lightly, but not one to be overly aggressive.