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i would really like to add pim. pictus to one of my tanks and have 3 main quesions.

1. can thet live with cories or loaches?

2. are they best alone or in groups?

3. would they eat cardinals or threadfin rainbows when fully grown?

1) Yes, although they will eat anything less than about 2cm in length. They are flightly though, and very fast and that can annoy cories. Bigger loaches will be fine, but kuhlis might even get eaten.

2) Depends on the size of the tank. They are territorial with their own species, especially males with males, and sexing them externally is nearly impossible. They may fight to the death over an extended period. They are real movers and when adult really need a 30 + gallon for one, and an absolute minimum of a 55 gal for two . They fight, and Im really not kidding about this. Though its nice to keep them with their own kind in groups of about 4 in 120 gal tanks, more than one in a tank smaller than a 55 will just start wars. Also you have to consider the decoration, you need to cut off the tank edges with plants etc to stop them hitting the glass as about 20 mph, and then you need clear space in the middle so that the whiskers dont keep hitting objects, thusly driving them insane (they genuinely do suffer ill health if contact overstimulation is allowed), and then you need places like caves and bogwood for them to hide.Irrespective of whether described as nocturnal or diurnal, they are active pretty much 24/7 , and persistantly fast and inquisitive, This will bug the hell out of peaceful fish. I find them excellent in combination with other constant movers like adult rainbowfish of more standard sizes, like boesmanii. They can be a little photosensitive. Basically a medium small catfish with big habits. They will ignore totally inrelated species of catfish though, but if you house them with others in the pimelodid and synodontis groups, there may be fighting.

3) Yes your fish will easily fit comfortably into the mouth of a pictus. This is a good catfish for a medium to large community, in small communities of tiny fish it will cause absolute havoc.

I agree. Though they are an awesome fish they have those drawbacks. Mine ate 3 Serpae tetras before I figured out who the killer was. If you watch them at night they turn into little fish hunting/killing machines. They also bump into larger fish and annoy them at night with their thrashing about. Sorry but it would eat the cardinals and annoy the rainbows. Good luck!

"Talk is cheap. Action can be almost as affordable"

ok, sounds like ileave well alone for now.
thanks