couple of pictus cat ?'s

[Sillyfish]

hi! i just joined this site and i must say it looks pretty good anyway one to my questions

here is some backgroundinfo on him:

i bought a pictus cat last year from a lps. he was 2" wehn i bougth him and is now lamost 6" . he is in a 20g long by himslef. i gave him to my stepbrother afte r he outgrew my 20g.(i ahd numouros other fish in it nad it seemed too crowded with him in it, so now he has a 20g to himeslef). but since my stepbrother isn't as responsibel as i thought my dad takes care of him. so i can see my little pictus every 2 weeks. anyway, hes always been a very calm pictus, but can be hyper at times, and he is very smart. he's learbned to handfeed and will lay on my hand whe i moving around the decor.
hes never had any ilnesses and seem s very healthy to me.

here is his daily feeding schedule:

morning: 2 small live earthworms, 4 guppy fry

afternoon: 3 samll earthworms, freeze dried tubifex worms, and freeze dried brine shrimp

evening: 10 guppy fry and soem hakari tropical fish pellets


some tank info:

size: 20g long
filter: 330 penguin filter
heater: unknwon type
temp: 78'F
ph: 7.6
nitrite/nitrate: unknown (i've run out of tests recently, but will be buying more soon)
ammonia: 0ppm
lighting: 6 hours on, 18 hours off
decor: 2 medium pieces of natural driftwood, 2 java ferns, medium sized gravel, and 2 small airstone sin the back corners of the tank


ok, so my questiosn are:

1. is my feeding schedule sufficent? shoyuld it be more varied? and if so what other foods should i be feeding?

2. how big do pictus cats grow to? hes grown 4" in a year so i wanna know if his tank should eb updated withen the next yera or so?

3. what illnesses/desaeses are pictus cats prone too?

4. shoudl i get a tank mate for him? he seems a bit lonely at times

and

5. is there naything els eio shoudl be doing for him? and what si the advergae life span of a pictus?

 

[wayne]

Seems like a reasonable diet though I don't like feeding livefood myself. I'd try and move him more to pellet food. Feeding too many feeders can make fish a bit too fat internally
2. You should be at max now, but there are a lot of pimelodid catfish in S America that getter 10 inches plus. These often creep into batches of fish exported from S America as 'contaminants'.
3. Normal, watch it they're touhg to treat as they're scaleless fish . A normal dose of medications may well kill thme so anything you use, start with half a dose, and then add more a few drops at a time and watch for an adverse reaction
4. Yes, if you can find something he won't eat
5. You seem to be doing a good job. Catfish can live a long time, so 10 years should be achievable.
Try this link...
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/index.htm
Pan down on the families on the left till you come to Pimelodidae, then look at Pimodella pictus.

 

[Angelfish]

I used to have a pictus that I loved

Personally I think you might be feeding him a bit much, I used to feed mine three pellets a day, and he got really fat, I had to reduce the ammount of food I gave him.

I would also agree that 6" is around the max size. When I researched them (admittedly a while ago) a common age for the pictus I found was eight years.
They can be prone to ich, but I guess your guy is fine considering the length of time you have already had him.

BTW, the Rasmus are way cool

 

[Sillyfish]

thanx fot he help guys and the rasmus are the best Lauri is so hot ;D