Growth Rate Of Scats?

[Dave Legacy]

In about an hour I will be going to look at a 200G Glass Aquarium(7'x2'x2') that will hopfully become my upgrade mangrove swamp tank. Considering the all the extra space I will have and that I only have 4 T. Jaculatrix Archers at this time I would like to expand my livestock and get some Silver Scats.

Can anyone tell me their growth rate? I understand that Silver Scats get only 4" in size as adults but I don't want my archers to get big enough to eat the juvenille scats. However my archers are only about 2.5" in length.

I was thinking maybe I'd bump my shoal of archers of to 7 and maybe get 6 silver scats. Would this be too many fish for this tank? Keep in mind my tank will only have about 12" of water(about 100G) and a bunch of live red mangroves, but no rocks.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[diademhill]

In about an hour I will be going to look at a 200G Glass Aquarium(7'x2'x2') that will hopfully become my upgrade mangrove swamp tank. Considering the all the extra space I will have and that I only have 4 T. Jaculatrix Archers at this time I would like to expand my livestock and get some Silver Scats.

Can anyone tell me their growth rate? I understand that Silver Scats get only 4" in size as adults but I don't want my archers to get big enough to eat the juvenille scats. However my archers are only about 2.5" in length.

I was thinking maybe I'd bump my shoal of archers of to 7 and maybe get 6 silver scats. Would this be too many fish for this tank? Keep in mind my tank will only have about 12" of water(about 100G) and a bunch of live red mangroves, but no rocks.

Thanks,
Dave

Scatophagus multifasciatus get to 12" and quite quickly IME. IIWY I'd get chromides instead of scats.

 

[CFC]

Ive never kept silver scats but if they are anything like their cousins then the growth will be very fast, the red and green scats i have have tripled in size in the last 2 years. I wouldnt worry about archers eating scats, their tall body shape makes them difficult prey for all but the largest predators.

 

[Dave Legacy]

Ok, I was reading wrong. I checked up and Silver Scats reach an adult size of 20cm which is approx 7-8" in size. That should be acceptable in this tank, maybe only 4 Silver Scats or something though.

 

[nmonks]

Hi David --

There are two silver scats, very difficult to tell apart, and the importers make no attempt to distinguish them. One, Selenotoca papuensis grows to a mere 9 cm long, and probably accounts for the times people have ones that stay quite small. Mind you, these are stocky, round fish, so even at 9 cm, this is a chunky, messy fish. The other species is Selenotoca multifasciata and it grows to 32 cm. I think this is the species most usually traded. If I recall correct, Selenotoca papuensis has a few (~4-5) thick bands on its flanks while Selenotoca multifasciata has more (~7-8), thinner bands.

I kept Selenotoca multifasciata for a while at university, and it grew from about 6 cm to 20 cm within a year. I kept them with archers. Should get along fine. As CFC says, even if they are relatively small, their spines and their shape should keep them safe.

Cheers,

Neale