Katvis

About

The ornate pim (Pimelodus ornatus) is a large, active catfish from the river systems of South America, ranging across the Amazon, Orinoco, Paraná, Essequibo, and Corantijn basins, as well as the major rivers of the Guianas. In the wild it occupies main river channels, rocky pool bottoms, and areas near downstream rapids, often among submerged timber. It is a dusk-active predator, and that hunting instinct carries directly into aquarium life. Any tankmate small enough to swallow will eventually become a meal. That said, it is not aggressive toward fish it cannot eat, and does well alongside robust medium to large companions like rainbowfish, sizeable characins, loricariid catfish, and doradids. Slower cichlids can find its constant movement and probing barbels irritating, particularly at night. Like most shoaling catfish, a lone specimen tends to stay hidden during daylight and only grows more confident and visible when kept with a few of its own kind. New arrivals deserve some careful attention. Imported fish often come in poor condition after transit, and as a scaleless species it is quite vulnerable to whitespot and sensitive to many standard medications, so half-doses are wise when treatment is unavoidable. The pectoral spines are another thing to respect: they lock rigid, tangle badly in nets, and deliver a genuinely painful toxic sting if they catch your skin. Use a container rather than a net whenever you need to move these fish.