fish lovers: need help IDing him..

[Ginevive]

I had this catfish for years now; I got it for free from my friend when it began eating her other fish. He has been thriving in my 125g as a bottom feeder.. I can NOT find any ID on him. I searched a bunch of sites to no avail. Any help? He is about 6 inches long. It GROANS when you take it out of water!!!

[elevatethis]

Looks like a mature Pictus Catfish.

Here's one of mine:



I'm not 100% sure that its a true Pimelodus Pictus, but I do know that there are a few close relatives to them in the fish trade that are commonly available.

Whichever one he is, they should eat anything your throw in the tank, and they do like to school...

Also...is that the same tank you've got your oscar in? When I bought mine, the guy at the fish store specifically asked if I had an Oscar, I said no, but he shared a nasty story that involved a dead oscar that tried to eat the fish and choked on the sharp barbs that the catfish has...

[syclone]

Check the Syndontis line of catfish, from Africa. That would be my guess. I hope that helps.

[elevatethis]

I say either a pictus or this member of the sydontis family: http://malawicichlids.com/mw11003a.htm

They look very similar...check out the rear fins, as well as the barbs...the pictus has a set of very long barbs, whereas the sydontis has much shorter ones.

Either way, the spines on both pictus and sydontis are very sharp and could be deadly for your O should he choose to eat it.

[syclone]

Here is a good page that should get you started on finding out what he is.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog...?species_id=89

sorry, should have put that in my first post.

[Ginevive]

Thanks guys; I actually have another Syndontis; it is not the upside down kind, but rather a solid black, non-spotted one.
I had him with the Oscars, but I have moved him into my 55g tank;there really isn't much in there that he could eat. I have some bala sharks and an iridescent and a few aggressive gouramis.