pictus cat size mixing

Background: The tank is a 75gal-space not really an issue, since I have three fair sized bala sharks, a smallish pleco, a monster pictus, and half a dozen little guys (danios, a neon, mollies, a funy looking orange thing; my tank is largely populated by donations). It comes to about 30 "fish inches" and no more than 50 full grown. At most I will be adding two baby balas in the next few months OR 3-4 small silver dollars. In addition, I plan on adding a 90 or 125 gallon aquarium and splitting some of them up in about 2 years when I'm out of school and have actual income and a permanant home. I'm not a big fan of overpopulation.

My issue: I recently adopted a gigantic pictus cat who outgrew his home tank (he's well over six inches--I think the guy was feeding him kittens and protein shakes). I did my research first, moved the small guys I care about that could get eaten to another tank, etc. However, during said research I noticed that pictus cats tend to do better in groups. Not suprisingly, he seems somewhat neurotic. Being a poor college student, I can't afford (or for that matter find) two or three more full sized pictus cats. Plus-they're a nightmare to catch and transport in decent shape at that size. If I got a couple of the little guys (1-2"), will he just kill them, or are they anti cannibalism? Furthermore, would small buddies make him happier, or will he just ignore the little critters? He hasn't seen another whiskered face in probably two years--do they become antisocial? (do I attribute too much intelligence to fish?--probably :lol: )

Has anyone tried size mixing this dramatic, or have any suggestions? I've never seen problems with size mixing balas (only big schooling fish I'm experienced with), but they're pretty sweet and peaceful guys to start with, unlike the eat-anything-that-sort-of-fits-in-my-mouth pictus mentality.