# Red Scat Habbitat



## Mr. White (Nov 7, 2008)

I have a red scat and have had him for a few months now but i recently found out that he is a brackish water fish. For the past 3-4 months he has been living in a full freshwater tank, there has been no problems and he is growing extemely fast and is now on of my largest fish. He swims well, eats well, and lives well, but he is not in the water he should be in.

What should I do?
Will I have to get another tank for him?
Will I have to convert my tank into brackish water?
or
Will he be alright if i start adding just a slight amount of salt so that my other fish will be alright as well.

If someone could help me it would be much appreciated.

Mr. White


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

IME, brackish fish are pretty resilient. i add epsom salt and table salt to my tank, with each water change, but get nowhere near 1.005 s.g. the 220 gallon tank holds a single scat, four tiger datnoids, and a few mono sebae. they all eat well, and are all growing faster than any freshwater types i've kept. brackish species are not so forgiving with regard to cycling issues, so keep guard on ammonia, 'trites and 'trates. scats can also become a belligerent tank mate as they mature, so that might be a more worthy concern for you. HTH.


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## Mr. White (Nov 7, 2008)

Thankyou so much for the help it really does mean alot to me. I tried asking the employees at the store i but at but they just tried to sell me another 30 gallon kit for my one fish.

So if I start adding small amounts of salt to my aquarium it should help my scat and not harm my other freshwater fish?

Mr. White


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

Mr. White said:


> So if I start adding small amounts of salt to my aquarium it should help my scat and not harm my other freshwater fish?


 not that simple...how big is the scat? what are the tank mates? any plants?


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## Mr. White (Nov 7, 2008)

Hes between 2.5 and 3 inches.
His tank mates are 2 jack dempseys, one flowerhorn, one green terror, one jewell cichlid, one horseface, one red tail balack shark and then some plecos.

In terms of plant I dont have any live ones.


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

Mr. White said:


> Hes between 2.5 and 3 inches.
> His tank mates are 2 jack dempseys, one flowerhorn, one green terror, one jewell cichlid, one horseface, one red tail balack shark and then some plecos.
> 
> In terms of plant I dont have any live ones.


 because pleco and bala are both salt sensitive, and your scat is still small, i would forego any considerations to treat your water with salt.
a prior measurement of gh would be prudent to determine if epsom salt could offer any benefit. 
hope this also helps:
http://www.fishlore.com/aquariummagazin ... -setup.htm


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## Bachachi (Sep 8, 2004)

The scat can survive in hard alkaline water, but the other fish you have require more of a neutral to acid pH with soft water. Also IMO the scat won't survive the aggression of the Flowerhorn as it gets bigger. I had one of these years ago, it was so aggressive I had to return it to the LFS.


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## Mr. White (Nov 7, 2008)

Thankyou for all the help and sugestions that you have posted, and i know the flowerhorn is really aggressive but more towards my plecos. My red scat is very resiliant and seems to be doing fine and just staying away from the flowerhorn. So to recap, in the end i will have to choose either my red scat or my other fish? in terms of the water composition?


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## Mr. White (Nov 7, 2008)

Thankyou for all the help and sugestions that you have posted, and i know the flowerhorn is really aggressive but more towards my plecos. My red scat is very resiliant and seems to be doing fine and just staying away from the flowerhorn. So to recap, in the end i will have to choose either my red scat or my other fish? in terms of the water composition?


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## lloyd (Aug 24, 2005)

Mr. White said:


> So to recap, in the end i will have to choose either my red scat or my other fish? in terms of the water composition?


 read this: http://fish.mongabay.com/species/Scatop ... argus.html

it has all your answers. i would not consider it cruel to keep it in freshwater until it nears 5-6"


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## Mr. White (Nov 7, 2008)

Thankyou for sending me that article it helped alot alonge with the other suggestions.

Thankyou


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