Mono And Scat Tank Behavior

[Revision17]

I'm nearly done with college (one semester left, woo!), have a real job, and I'm moving out of my parent's house. So naturally, I'm most concerned about which large aquarium setup I should get now that I have no size constraints (well, as soon as I get loans and other crap paid off enough). I'm doing a bunch of research on the side, since it's a big, and somewhat permanent investment.

I've been interested in brackish water fish for awhile since there are quite a few neat oddballs. Mono and Scat tanks sound interesting (more interesting than say, the, "I sit around looking pretty and doing nothing all day" tetras), and I was wondering if anyone with one could possibly describe their behavior in their tank. Kinda like the mono/scat version of the story about how the pleco whacks the tiger barbs with it's tail to set 'em straight occasionally.

 

[CFC]

To be honest monos and scats do very little than hang about and look pretty, they're just bigger and a different shape. They are really just space fillers to occupy the middle regions of a tank while all the interesting fish hide away on the bottom.

 

[nmonks]

Hmm... not sure I'd concur 100% with CFC's comments above!

It depends a bit on the tank and what you're after. Monos and scats are schooling fish of the open water, so they are much more active than species that lurk among the plants. This is a good thing: many fish that are shy when kept on their own become much more confident where scats and monos are swimming about. In other words, scats and monos make great dither fish.

They're also great fish for coaxing difficult fish to eat. Since they'll both eat just about anything, other fish will learn from them and sample whatever is on offer. While this won't suddenly convert a stealth predator into something that eats flake, it does help with reticent or newly-introduced omnivores including damselfish, archers, puffers, tangs, etc.

Scats are probably easier to tame than monos, and can be trained to be hand fed. Do be careful though, as at least some scats are said to have venomous spines in their dorsal fins.

Monos provide colour. In a brackish water tank it's all very well having interesting brown or grey fish that hide a lot, but if you have to sell the tank to your family, a school of monos will do the trick nicely. They're lively, hardy, and great fun to watch. "Looking pretty" might not matter much to a hardcore fish collector, but for many people this is precisely why they keep fish at all! Monos especially are widely used in public aquaria just for this purpose.

It has to be said that neither species really works well in a small or cramped tank. They need space to look their best. Half a dozen monos or a trio of scats will fill a 150-200 gallon tank nicely, while leaving space for a few oddballs such as shark catfish or Siamese tigers.

Cheers, Neale

To be honest monos and scats do very little than hang about and look pretty, they're just bigger and a different shape. They are really just space fillers to occupy the middle regions of a tank while all the interesting fish hide away on the bottom.

 

[therese marie]

My Scat and Mono's have tons of "fishality".. They will follow my finger around the tank and are quite the beggars. ( they know when it is feeding time). I have to say my red scat is one of the coolest fish I have ever had..They all get along well.

 

[roddy]

Go for it I'd say, of the tanks I have the one that gets most attention apart from the marine one is the monos and scats. Maybe CFC has particularly laidback ones but certainly wouldn't say mine ever 'hang about' If you go for it I would suggest going for silver scats and try to keep an eye out for mono kottelati. Often see odd ones in with the normal, taken me a while but managed to get a group of them. They keep their colour better and stay smaller. Have a look at Neale's articles and they will help you spot the diff. Only thing I would say is given how fast they are and always hungry I'd suggest watching what else you put in so they get a chance. Even the large archers I have with them get pushed about at feeding time

 

[jonny5]

hmm i dont know about scats but i can give my 2 cents on monos.
Coloration wise they are kinda neat because they are pure silver with yellow tinged fins, produce very cool flashes of light turning dusk and dawn when the light strikes thier bodies just right. But all and all not very colorful.

behavior wise i find my fairly shy, not very personable for feed or interacting with the fish keeper, and they do get startled easily at night.

However, they do keep the tank nice and active, swimming around and darting about.

In terms of feeding behavior i find them quite enthralling. No brackish fish will go for a food item faster our harder, and when they do this as a group its neat.

They lurk a couple inches to a foot below the food then rappidly dash to it (if its a floating type) and then swim back to mid water column in the blink of an eye.

so low on color but neat lighting effects at twilight, not very personable, but very active and fast with a fun feeding behaviour.

 

[Verminator89]

Nobody noticed that therese marie revived a thread that is over 4 years old. Anyone, no?

Would love a mono tank one day though

 

[therese marie]

Nobody noticed that therese marie revived a thread that is over 4 years old. Anyone, no?

Would love a mono tank one day though

ha ha.. well when I do a search, I search for "fish" not dates.. lol

 

[Ranchu]

I only have two scats and they chase each other like hell.. maybe I should add more..

 

[iliveinazoo]

I only have two scats and they chase each other like hell.. maybe I should add more..

Yes, add at least 1 more, preferably 3 or more and they'll settle down