What do scats eat?

[albinomoray]

Here are a couple of pics of my new red scat. I was wondering just what do they eat? I was told they are vegetarians but I have seen him chase guppies and ghost shrimp.

 

[Oddball]

Plants make up a large part of the diet of scats. But, they are omnivores and are really good scavenger feeders. Their name (Scatophagus) literally means dung-eaters since they'll sift through detritus for anything that hasn't been fully digested by whatever created the detritus.

 

[Jesse]

Scats are omnivores, but love to nibble on plants. As Phil mentioned, their name literally means dung-eater. They are aptly named, as scats are notorious for hanging out near sewage outlets and dining on tasty raw sewage.

 

[haitwun]

Scats eat plant matter mostly so try to feed them some seaweed or romaine lettuce once in a while. They are great for keeping algae down in my tank.

 

[Fella]

Some people have reported that their scats have eaten java fern and died however. Watch out for that.

 

[oriolesdt09]

Mine ate frozen bloodworms and flakes

 

[davo]

maybe they died if the tank was medicated and had become concentrated in the plants... anyhooo, they do enjoy seaweed. Though people sometimes find it hard to feed them, as they prefer stiller food, so you could buy suction cups that clips them on if you have that problem. Usually they are ok though.

 

[albinomoray]

I started feeding mine kelp pellets. He likes them. I just wondered about things watching him chase guppies and ghost shrimp around. I have not seen him catch any guppies but he has caught and spat out ghost shrimp. I would like to keep live food in my brackish tank but kelp is ok. I feed my freshwater fish frozen blood worms.

Thanx everyone!!!

 

[RadleyMiller]

Some people have reported that their scats have eaten java fern and died however. Watch out for that.

Yes, Scats and Java Fern do not mix.

Mine get shrimp pellets, frozen food, freeze dried algae and algae wafers.