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i have a

1 rtbs
2 german rams
2 loaches
6 black phantoms
1 severum
1 leapord highfin pleco

yesterday i bought a green scat and stupid me i did little research

i come to found out that there brackish

so i added a little kosher salt to the tank

about 3 tablespoons

can i make my water a little brackish without harming the other fish

can my other fish survive in brackish water?

please help

should i just bring the scat back?



55 gallon 1 rtbsm, 2 khuli loaches,2 gold rams 1m1f,1 leapord highfin pleco,6 black phantoms
2 odessa barbs ,1 tire track eel,2 green severums

Hi
Take the Scat back. The amount of salt that you will have
to add to the water will sicken, weaken, and probably kill
the other fish in the tank.
Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

anymore feedback?

55 gallon 1 rtbsm, 2 khuli loaches,2 gold rams 1m1f,1 leapord highfin pleco,6 black phantoms
2 odessa barbs ,1 tire track eel,2 green severums

hey did anyone ever keep a scat in freshwater with little salt successfully?

55 gallon 1 rtbsm, 2 khuli loaches,2 gold rams 1m1f,1 leapord highfin pleco,6 black phantoms
2 odessa barbs ,1 tire track eel,2 green severums

I would take it back or get another tank for it. Keep in mind they get 11"+ The profile says they are born in brackish and migrate to saltwater as the grow. I agree with Frank. Your going to kill your other fish or all of them if you keep on tinkering with their environment.

"Talk is cheap. Action can be almost as affordable"

Scat live in near full strength seawater as adults. Kosher salt, btw, is not a substitute for marine salt.

ok yea im bringing it back


55 gallon 1 rtbsm, 2 khuli loaches,2 gold rams 1m1f,1 leapord highfin pleco,6 black phantoms
2 odessa barbs ,1 tire track eel,2 green severums

Scatophagus argus is a euryhaline fish. This means that it has evolved the very adaptable osmoregulatory machinery to enable it to migrate to fresh, brackish and marine waters at will. However, it usually prefers brackish water as a juvenile, and adults will quite often migrate out to a fully marine environment.

Additionally, Scats are shoaling fishes, and should be kept in a group where possible. Because of the large adult size of the fish (a whopping 38 cm or 15 inches!) keeping even a small shoal of 6 will require a VERY large aquarium - you're looking at a 200 gallon brackish or fully marine setup for these fishes as a baseline setup for long term maintenance. They are also assiduously herbivorous, which means that they will devour most aquarium plants with gusto, though most freshwater plants won't survive the salinity levels that these fishes like, so that is somewhat of a moot point.

On the plus side, Scats are tough, hardy, will eat just about anything edible, particularly if there is plant matter contained within the chosen food morsels, and they can be garbage compactors with fins when they start to grow large, which means that they can produce a lot of waste out of the rear end - so the big aquarium will also need a chunky external power filter to keep the water clean.

To give you an idea what is required for these fishes, Liverpool Museum, not far from where I live, has 20 of these in a mangrove swamp biotope setup. That setup is colossal - it's a 2,000 gallon tank! Somehow I don't think many of us can replicate that kind of setup in the average home aquarium ... the fishes need it too because they're the size of dinner plates ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

i brought him back n got a tire track eel thank god before it was 2 late...he was real nice not like the pics u see on the internet of green scats



55 gallon 1 rtbsm, 2 khuli loaches,2 gold rams 1m1f,1 leapord highfin pleco,6 black phantoms
2 odessa barbs ,1 tire track eel,2 green severums

Good move! I understand the temptation though as scats are cool fish. I dont know what a tire track eel is Do they get very big like most fresh water eels?

"Talk is cheap. Action can be almost as affordable"

Tiretrack Eels can grow to nearly a meter in length, but due to their elongated body shape, they can be kept in a 100-120 gallon tank when mature. At least they are freshwater fish though, which automatically makes them a much better choice than Scats.

In my experience, however, most spiny eels tend to grow slowly and a Tiretack can be kept in a 55 gallon for several years. They are shy and not very good at competing for food in community tanks, so it will probably need to be specially fed.

After a few days (to give it time to settle in), offer it some small live foods after the lights are out to prevent the other fish from eating all of them. Spiny eels tend to be invertebrate-eaters, so they realish foods such as Ghost Shrimp, krill, and any sort of worm.

If you can train it take food out of your fingers during the day (it takes time, but is certainly possible), that makes feeding these guys a lot easier instead of having to do it after lights-out and fighting off the other fish. They don't have teeth in their jaws, so if they bite your fingers (and they probably will), it doesn't hurt at all.

---

I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

natalie thanks for the excellent response

55 gallon 1 rtbsm, 2 khuli loaches,2 gold rams 1m1f,1 leapord highfin pleco,6 black phantoms
2 odessa barbs ,1 tire track eel,2 green severums

Mastacembelid Spiny Eels are crepuscular fishes in the wild - they emerge from their hiding places to feed at twylight. So you Tyre Track Eel will need to be fed after "lights out" while you acclimatise it fully to its new home.

If you have bogwood root tangles for the Spiny Eel to occupy, it'll take up residence there. As a fish that likes shaded, secluded corners to hide in, it would be wise to provide shaded areas with floating plants as well, so that you stand a chance of seeing your Spiny Eel out in the open once in a while, because it probably won't venture frequently into brightly lit areas even once it's worked out that your aquarium is a nice safe home with lots of food and no predators to worry about. Live Bloodworm will probably be the best choice of food initially to fatten it up a bit and give it some strength, so that it starts to become more outgoing and inquisitive. Then you can wean it onto bottom feeder pellets containing shrimp or other animal matter.

You might want to think carefully about the compatibility of your Tyre Track Eel with the Red Tailed Black Shark you have in there. Red Tailed Black Sharks are robust fishes, and become increasingly territorial and feisty with age. Watch it like a hawk in case it decides that your Spiny Eel is an intruder and tries to beat it up. As the Spiny Eel is slow growing, it'll take time to reach a size where the Red Tailed Black Shark is no longer a major threat, and the Shark will grow a good deal faster into the bargain. The Loaches will also be competitors for food, so you will have to feed the Loaches first, then while they're busy snacking on their food, feed the Spiny Eel.

Finally, you'll need to identify your Spiny Eel. You have a choice of species that are listed as "Tyre Track Eels" because of the body pattern - the commonest being Mastacembelus loennbergi, with Mastacembelus favus being another choice, while sometimes Macrognathus aculeatus is sold under that name. Of the three,Mastacembelus favus has the most convincing "Tyre Track" pattern, and is also listed in Fishbase as a 70 cm fish, so it'll need a fair sized aquarium when it grows older.

There are some Spiny Eels from the Rift Lakes too - though usually these are sold as such. Mastacembelus shiranus hails from Lake Malawi, while the extremely rare and highly expensive Aethiomastacembelus ellipsifer hails from Lake Tanganyika. There is also an all yellow species whose scientific name I have yet to alight upon - if you find that one, it will be astronomically expensive, and chances are you won't see it for a LONG time yet!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

im gunna post pics of my tank real soon once i get a cam

i also got a nice newt tank =)

55 gallon 1 rtbsm, 2 khuli loaches,2 gold rams 1m1f,1 leapord highfin pleco,6 black phantoms
2 odessa barbs ,1 tire track eel,2 green severums

Considering the price of a fully grown say, fire eel, and that of a large ellipsifer, it's not really all that expensive nor rare. In times past, they used to come in at around 60 bucks--about 30 wholesale, which is, IMO, already fairly expensive compared to most places I've seen them on sale.