Ooops, silver scats instead of tiger scats. What to do?

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Chicxulub

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Aug 29, 2009
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Well looks like I bit the big one today. I saw some silvery, striped scats and jumped all over them. I now know that they are not the African tiger scats, but rather the brackish silver scats.

What to do? See if they last? Return them? ??? A brackish setup is out of the question right now. How long should they last in fresh? I hope to have a SW tank up this fall.

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I've kept them in the past as they were my favorite scat species.I have kept them in brackish as well as freshwater and yours might last until you set up your salt tank and then you can convert them.
 
What are they in with? Can the system tolerate trace salt and high pH?

Be ready with green veggies. They'll tear up anything green (including plastic plants). Feed them green flakes and sticks like hyperactive tropheus.
 
Oddball said:
What are they in with? Can the system tolerate trace salt and high pH?

Be ready with green veggies. They'll tear up anything green (including plastic plants). Feed them green flakes and sticks like hyperactive tropheus.
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They're in my African biotope, Phil. I was after African tiger scats as a chrome-y looking analog for silver dollars. Thanks for the feedback! I have Hikari algae wafers for them.

I don't think that my current stock could handle trace salt, but I defer to your superior knowledge. The stock as of right now is a BATF, a frontosa (who is a butthole), two Paratiapia sp. small spot, a giraffe cat, a few Synos, a Papyrocranus afer and possibly some other stuff I can't recall right now.

Dumb question here- but from what I read, the specific gravity is what the scats need the salt for. Would regular aquarium salt work for this purpose? I normally add it every water change anyway. Most of the other things that are considered key- buffer, strong filtration, etc.; is already pretty much handled. The missing portion of my equation here to be successful with these scats is the specific gravity. If the aquarium salt won't work, I could see about taking them back to the shop.

I should have known something was off when they were only $10. :/
 
If you're just doing the recommended dosage on the container, that won't be enough. The low end of brackish is usually around 1.008, but of they're young, I feel they'll be fine in fw but definitely as they grow, they'll need bw. I had a few along with some green scats and silvertip sharks in my marine tank and they are REALLY fun to watch swim around in their schools!


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Not trying to derail or get off subject, but aren't all scats brackish ??
 
Chicxulub said:
I should have known something was off when they were only $10. :/
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Lol yeah you got that right,especially if you were looking for tiger scats.
 
I had a friend who kept with angelfish, of all things, many years ago. They lived for at least a couple years. I don't remember if he got rid of them or if they died. Come to think of it, they were green scats.
 
Well I might not have to worry about the longevity of these poor things. They've become target fish for Billy. May whatever god they believe in have mercy on their souls.

They sure are pretty though!

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