scat

[boomboom]

I just recently purchase a green scat to add to my brackish aquarium
all the information that I have read says that scats are peaceful
non aggressive fish and yet today it has been chasing my young voliet
dragon around and stressing him right out . any advice

 

[greenmaji]

any information about the tank?
like how big is it, what kind of decor you have, any plants?

 

[boomboom]

The tank is a 33 gallon, with drift wood cave and another cave plus some artifcal plant

 

[greenmaji]

http://www.aquariacentral.com/species/db.cgi?db=fresh&uid=default&ID=0575&view_records=1

Your tank is kinda small for a scat.. 55 gallons is the recommended min. for them..
and they are known to be a bit aggressive.. where did you hear/read they were peaceful? Its not nessisarily a aggressive species, more of a stock with caution fish.

I dont know what a violet dragon is.. do you know any other common names for it?
It sounds like it might be a goby..

 

[boomboom]

yes he is a voliet goby, yes i do realize that but for the present monent the scat is about the size of loonie so I figure is will give my husband time to adjust to another tank just brought home a octagon 35 gallon last week for my freashwater babies. need to geivge the man a chance to digest this one

 

[greenmaji]

Never mind on the reading peasefull question.. they say beware on the temperment in the same breath.. LOL
that and the fish gets 13" long 8O

 

[greenmaji]

a loonie is one of your quarters up there right.. LOL
I would give the gobie more places to hide..
I read that the scats do well in pairs.. but introdusing a new on after much time will likely cause agression issues.
As they grow they need more salinity and once adult are full SW fish.. Im guessing you might have already knew that though..

 

[Toirtis]

a loonie is one of your quarters up there right..

Yuk it up....slowly the Sacagawea dollar will replace your bills...then you get a $5 coin, too.

Greenmaji is correct...I suspect that once the scat hits 6"+., he should be moved to a tank with similar large/aggro fish.

 

[aquakev]

I had 3 silver scats in a B.W. tank that was 45g and they out grew that tank in less than 9 months. and when i say outgrew, I bought them at about 1 inch and at the end they were six inches. From my experience, they were not aggressive, but defiantly not peaceful. They did end up eating any fish that showed the slightest sign of weakness though.

It seemed to me that as I raised the salinity they started growing faster?-thats what I thought at least.

 

[boomboom]

i end up removing my baby dragon but my efforts were to late he died tonight :
So if I was to get my scat a friend scat ( he has only been inthere for 2 days)
we this curve him from this behavior , due to the fact that I have another dragon in this tank he is about 4 months , and much larger than my baby. or do I need to just remove the scat

 

[Pufferpunk]

Since your tank is too small anyway for an adult scat, I'd remove the scat.

 

[greenmaji]

aggred

 

[boomboom]

he is not a adult he is only 1 inch and I really don't want im alone
he doesn't aeem to bother with the mollies, or the molly babies

 

[Pufferpunk]

So are you prepared to get at least a 55g tank, near SW conditions for this diner plate-sized fish, in the next few years? Also, be careful of it's dorsal spine, it packs quite a whollop if you get stabbed by it!

 

[boomboom]

yes, I do have a 55 gallon on stand by, but I need to be very quite about tanks right know, if anyone one has a spouse without the same passion, will understand the need fro tack.
But really I was fully aware of what size the scat would become I just wanted suggesting on relaxing the little guys, big guys attitude, and if I got him some scat friend would he chill.

 

[lyquidphyre]

Honestly, scats aren't going to be extinct any time soon.

The easiest thing you can do would be to return him to the fish store and once you have your 55gal set up, go back to the LFS and purchase another one.

This way, you can do a lot of research and get your 55gal tank just right with out losing any fish.

 

[flamingonhot]

if it were me i would still get rid of it. I personally think a 55 is still alittle too small.

Also like they said they are mostly in sw when they are full grown soif you do set up the 55 make it close to 1.024 as closely as possible and make sure that any tankmates yopu get will tolerate thaat high of salinity.

I think that scat tanks really should be dedicated to only them with a few individuals. They produce a lot of waste and get pretty big.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Like an oscar & goldfish pooping in your tank!