scats and slightly bw

[cpn_aaron]

I have a planted aquarium and I've been looking for a nice showy fish that enjoys the open areas of tanks more than my dense plants. My oodballs all enjoy the shelter and only my Cuvier's bricher swims around a large amount. My LFS recommended Scats which they would be getting in tomorrow (green and ruby). They said they should have some nice big ones that could compete well for food in my tank. However, I know they're brackish animals, yet many LFS keep them in fresh water. SO I was curious if they would be ok in slightly brackish. I have some hardy and tolerant plants which could probably handle a slight adjustment of salinity. I already add 1 tbspn per 10 gals of water into my tank just for general health of the fish with slime coat, electrolytes, and immune system. Would this 1 tbspn per 10 gal be sufficient since most sites say 1 tbspn per 5 gal? Thanks for the help.

 

[mogurnda]

Although some will call it heresy, I have kept scats in full FW for years. They do fine, and grow like weeds. The problem is that they love live plants. I mean, really love them. Like down to the roots in a few minutes.

 

[cdawson]

Whoever told you to put scats in with plants is an idiot and obviously knows nothing about them.
Scats + Plants = Scats.


Not a single plant you could even think of putting in with scats with last longer than a few minutes.
Even java fern becomes food pretty quickly, and I was told that they wouldn't eat it because it tastes bad to them. However, they got their name from eating human waste that was drained into the water where they live. I doubt they care what anything tastes like.

If you really want your scats to thrive, they need full on SW.

1tbsp per 10g is not enough to even register on the hydrometer, you'd need at least an SG of 1.010 to keep a scat happy long term. You also need to use marine salt, aquarium salt doesn't do the trick.

 

[cpn_aaron]

that was my other question, how they would react to a planted tank. I had been told them were herbivorous, but no one told me precisely how much. Something to think about. I like my plants more than them, so maybe another large non-cichlid open water fish will due. In my LFS's defense I neglected to tell them that the plants were live and not artificials. I'm blessed to have a LFS which is so heavily stocked, clean running, and full of knowledgable staff. Well, minus the boss's daughter, but everyone just avoids asking her anything. she's riding those coat tails.