Mmmmm, never heard of success in keeping panther grouper in brackish or fresh. Even the thread you listed doesn’t go on to keep it in anything other than full salt (unless I missed it) .
would think it’s easier moving everything to the lower limits of full salt if you want to keep true marine species but converting that scat will take a while at that size.
I trust your panther isn’t turning up any time soon cos that will need some acclimatising, especially if it’s coming from full marine and your gonna try brackish.
keep us updated.
another (larger) fish you can put in brackish are the shark catfish that are often sold for fresh water. They need salt as they grow too, but you might need to find some bigger ones.
FINALLY been waiting for someone to call me out on the grouper cod!
yeah it's an off-shot but, with meticulous consideration!
For the Tiger Scat I've been going back & forth for months debating on whether to keep him fresh or go brackish. Since I let go of the rays in April he's had the 150g all to himself so after deep diving into the topic further & a few good reads later I optimistically jumped the gun last week and now drowning the kool-aid. Plus they can live 15 yrs+ and I got him Nov. 2018 so he's pushing past juvenile stage getting to young tween/teenage yrs and I'm guessing if I were a crazy fish like this guy I'd probably want to go check out a new estuary or two.
That's the fun part of fish keeping really learning as we go & copy-cat'ing nature wherever we find it. Then we mix fish from one place in the world w/ another from the opposite and then we do it again and again then jump online & flex for the ppl. I think we're all guilty of putting our hobby to the limits every single person here hence the community name but when you find evidence in articles and put them together things start to make sense here & there. Check out the dude on YouTube that keeps Asian Aro w/ GT Giant Trevally I think that's pushing it but who am I to say it's not a great idea? It's bloody brilliant if they survived. I've even seen sturgeons in tropical tanks too but those may just be professionals trying to display the inventory. I don't think my plan is any worse or better but I think I'm in better range of long-term success with this new set up without influencer status.
The Panther Grouper article I came by was from an Australian site -
https://www.scfaustralia.com/blog/2020/4/7/barramundi-cod-mooloola-river
Here a pretty good sized Cromileptes Altivelis is found in mangrove conditions with other brackish fish like bream, mangrove jack, GT giant trevally, Australasian Snapper, grunts, etc. Even the person that caught the fish was surprised but that's proof enough for me to go in that direction.
I'm not saying I'm putting the panther in pure fresh, but yep I am trying to keep fish that are ok in lower salinity ranges in near-brackish to full brackish, and in a few years to full or just below 100% marine. As they're basically a Barramundi Cod, it means they're "catadromous" meaning they're born in the ocean but also live in freshwater. There's a pretty wide demographic range they're found in and depending on the exact type/area of cromileptes altivelis surely each type will have influence on lower specific gravity based on their region.
The Silver Scat though is sold as brackish but in Asia they're sold in markets everywhere straight from the ocean. Scatophagus Argus has at least 3 sub groups (MN909969) (KC790398) & (KF361860) - green, ruby or red, & the silver growing to be the largest of the 3. So really he's the only fish that's being put to the test as the range he'll be going in is less than the 1.020 brackish level, well i guess the grouper too. Now on day 5 of salt acclimation the SG is at 1.004 so within a week or so I'm trying to get the level to 1.010 -1.012 depending on how the Tiger Scat feeds. He eats like a horse still so as soon as I see him stop eating or just acting funny I'll know it's bc of the change. Goal is to stay in the 1.010-1.015 range for a few more weeks then by September gradually up to 1.020. 1 month acclimation time should be more than plenty for the Tiger Scat & Grouper should be here next week or so hoping by then Tiger is still super thriving.
But what will I really get? Who knows the difference between a scatophagus argus silver scat and selenotoca multifasciata? (KP738238)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8344227/
**In the ML phylogenetic tree,
S. argus from Beibu bay was first clustered with
S. argus collected from Yangjiang, Guangdong province, China. Then,
it was clustered with
Selenotoca multifasciata, which were classified into Scatophagidae family.
Siganus guttatus,
Siganus sutor,
Siganus canaliculatus, and
Siganus fuscescens formed another clade, which were classified into Siganidae family.
Ephippus orbis,
Platax orbicularis and
Platax teira formed another clade, which were classified into Ephippidae family (
Figure 1). The results showed that Scatophagidae has the closer relationship with Ephippidae thanSiganidae. This study will enrich the genome data of Scatophagidae, and will be useful for resources conservation and management of
S. argus. and on and on and..**
Will most def update aka happy to call myself out on good bad & uglies no doubt + by 1.015 specific gravity inext tankmates considering will be Indo Datnoid or Lates Calcarifer/Japonicus.
with the African Scat!
